New OWASA Director Looks to Continue Helping Community Beyond Pandemic

Before this summer, there had only ever been two Executive Directors in the Orange Water and Sewer Authority’s history.

The first, Everett Billingsley, served in the position for 19 years. The second, Ed Kerwin, stepped down in June after 24 years on the job, where he led the agency through growth in the community.

Todd Taylor, who now is the third executive director, is no stranger to the job. Having served as the General Manager of Operations for OWASA since 2013, he already knows much about the day-to-day functions. The new role allows him to work more directly with the community the agency serves, which he says he’s excited to do. 

Taylor says despite Kerwin stepping away, the community and its customers can expect to continue to see the agency exceed water quality expectations, meet customer service needs and value their employees.

“[Ed] was always fond of saying,” Taylor says, “‘Even though we’re the only show in town as far as water and sewer services go, if our customers could choose, we’d want them to still choose us.’ And that’s always stuck with me.”

OWASA’s role in the community has been highlighted amid the coronavirus pandemic. The service agency let customers know early in the outbreak it would be suspending utility shutoffs for those with overdue bills, an effort to both ease financial burdens and maintain public health.

While other communities’ water services have begun to lift their own service disconnections following the expiration of a statewide moratorium on such practices, OWASA has not.

Taylor says his agency will follow the guidance of the county government and its state of emergency order. He says with people at home now more than ever, and some laid off from work, residents will be given initial leeway when things begin to return to normal.

“Whenever that state of emergency is lifted,” says Taylor, “we’d like to give customers 30 days after that before we resume any sort of normal bill collection procedures.”

In addition, the service agency’s Care to Share program has been helping community members who struggle to pay their utility bills. The program, started by Kerwin, takes donations from generous customers and redistributes them to families behind on payments.

But Taylor says he plans on helping steer the agency to serve the community in even more, broader ways. He says a next step for OWASA is finding ways to continue lessening its environmental impact and staying updated to maintain efficiency.

“There’s influences outside of our control,” Taylor describes, “such as climate change and changes in technology, and we’ve got to keep our finger on the pulse of those. In the coming years, when we look ahead we need to make sure we’re staying in tune with those.”

One benefit of having been with OWASA for years? Taylor says having relationships in place with the local governments and entities like UNC makes the transition of roles easier.

“They know me,” he says of the community customers, “so there’s not that initial learning phase [to figure each other out.] I think it’s good that we can immediately start working together and start using those relationships to help out in the community.”

You can learn more about Taylor on the OWASA website.

Photo via OWASA.

Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees. You can support local journalism and our mission to serve the community. Contribute today – every single dollar matters.