MORGANTOWN – Public Service Commission staff has recommended that two formal complaints filed against Preston County Public Service District No. 1 be consolidated into a single case.
Staff made the recommendation to the PSC in memoranda filed Monday in both cases.
Both complaints come from PSD1 customers. Penny Nicholson, who once worked for PSD1, filed her complaint on March 10. Michelle Hatch filed hers on April 21.
The complaints are not identical but contain similar allegations. Hatch cites states codes PSD1 allegedly failed to follow and other alleged misdeeds, including failure to report suspected fraud, failure to try to recover funds, misconduct, neglect of duty, incompetence, colluding by having “little meetings” at the chairman’s house with an employee, violation of open meetings law, falsifying paperwork and meeting minutes, signing falsified paperwork and minutes, and failing to follow PSC Records Preservation and Retention Policy.
PSD1 has denied the allegations in both cases and seeks to have them dismissed.
The memos say that the utilities analyst assigned to them has observed that both cases involve similar allegations and should be consolidated for final processing and disposition by the commission.
Legal staff agrees with the analyst. “Consolidation would promote administrative efficiency and support the orderly conduct of the commission’s business by allowing the related matters to be heard and decided in a single proceeding. In turn, this would conserve the time and resources of the commission, the district, and the individual complainants, while also ensuring a consistent approach to the consideration and disposition of the underlying issues.”
Staff said it will be filing a motion to this effect.
As it happened, the PSD1 attorney also filed on Monday to have the cases consolidated, citing the same reasons. “Processing two cases individually with the same questions of fact and law will be duplicative and wasteful of commission and party resources. Moreover, consolidation of the cases will allow one ALJ [administrative law judge] to process both cases in an orderly fashion. In other words, consolidation will serve judicial economy.”
Staff told the PSC it continues to investigate both cases. The memos also note that the state auditor’s Public Integrity and Fraud Unit began a forensic audit of the PSD1 last fall that remains ongoing.
The staff recommendation and PSD1 motion now await a PSC decision.
