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Controversy surrounds Reade Township Municipal Authority

New board appointee barred from entering authority’s offices

Officials with the Reade Township Municipal Authority are set to meet tonight amid ongoing disputes and questions regarding the water authority’s leadership.

The authority board, which controls water for several hundred customers in part of northeastern Cambria County, remains below full capacity after one new appointee said she might not take up a seat.

Kate Malon, appointed by township officials last month to sit on the board, faced legal concerns after board members said they had already banned her from entering the authority’s offices. Malon, a former authority employee, was forbidden to enter the office after she allegedly accessed customers’ documents after business hours.

It remains unclear whether Malon will attend tonight’s meeting. Last month she told the Mirror she would likely resign, but officials on the board apparently haven’t received a formal notice of resignation.

Malon didn’t answer a call to her home Wednesday.

Board member Jim Thompson said authority members had contacted state police about the possibility she would attend. The case involving her is no longer active, he said, and she was never charged with a crime over the office incidents.

“We don’t know whether she’s going to show up tomorrow or not,” Thompson said Wednesday. “We’re not sure what’s going to be happening here.”

The authority faces a series of ongoing political issues, with board members accusing each other of ethical and legal violations. At a meeting last month, at least one guest openly asked about removing and replacing a board member, according to preliminary minutes.

Some of the ongoing issues in Reade Township stem from past attempts by the neighboring Glendale Valley Municipal Authority to buy the system. At last month’s meeting, ongoing debates over that attempt devolved into bitter arguments over board members’ loyalties and goals.

One guest “stated that too many crooked things have gone on here for a long time, and it needs to be stopped,” the minutes read.

Thompson said the authority is working to move past recent problems: The board is paying off outstanding loans, he said, and damaged wells have been repaired.

Mirror Staff Writer Ryan Brown is at 946-7457.

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