Chris Franklin is a busy man.
As the CEO at Aqua America, he's hip deep in a couple of local controversies - the deal that will see DELCORA, the county's wastewater agency, merge with Aqua for a cool $276 million, and Aqua's continued pursuit of Chester Water Authority.
But he still found time to give me a call Monday.
Franklin wanted to talk a bit about the column that I wrote Monday in my Letter From the Editor that reviewed the two raging controversies.
As always, he wasn't confrontational. We had a great conversation, but as usual he did have a couple of points he wanted to make.
First, he wanted to stress the part of the DELCORA deal that will protect DELCORA customers for 10 years from any spikes in rates after the purchase by Aqua. A rate stabilization fund has been built into the plan, using some of the $276 million to protect the rate payers.
A lot of those who have opposed this deal have raised the notion that Aqua will raise their rates. Franklin wanted to be sure people know that's not the case, something our stories have pointed out.
He also wanted to revisit the visit he paid to me a couple of years ago here in our office. This was after the Chester Water Authority Board rejected an unsolicited $230 million bid to buy the iconic Delco water utility.
Franklin made it clear in our talk that his company had moved on and was no longer interested in Chester Water.
But, as he pointed out in our phone conversation Monday, that was before the city of Chester put out an RFP (Request for Proposal) for entities who might be interested in buying the company.
Obviously, that brought Aqua back into the hunt.
The whole deal is now tied up in court, with suits and countersuits between this troika of heavy hitters - Aqua, the city of Chester, and Chester Water Authority.
While I had him on the phone, I told Franklin there was a personal question I wanted to ask him. He could either answer it or not.
I reminded him that I am a native of Oxford, in southern Chester County. Right outside town is where the Octoraro Reservoir sits, on the Lancaster County border. That's where Chester Water draws all that sparkling water they deliver to customers in Delaware and Chester Counties.
I did a lot of things in that reservoir as a kid - swim, boat, fish. It's a long tradition in town.
The one thing I hear again and again from people in Oxford and out in that area is their fear that if Chester Water is acquired by Aqua, they will close the reservoir to the public.
So I asked him.
His response: "Aqua has never closed a reservoir."
Rest easy, folks.
As for the drama surrounding DELCORA and Chester Water Authority? Don't look for that to go away anytime soon.
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