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New PWSA leadership dedicated to transparency, righting the ship

The PWSA will look much different in the future as it works to deal with aging pipes, crippling debt and problems with customer billing.

Debbie Lestitian and Bob Weimar are the two who will try to move the embattled utility toward a more promising future.

“We have a bold plan and we've already began to implement it and it's just a matter of carrying it through,” said chief administrator Debbie Lestitian. “As far as specifics like boil water alerts and things like that, it's going to take time.”

Only Channel 11 sat down with Lestitian, who is in her first day as chief administrator.

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She served on the PWSA board while working in Mayor Bill Peduto's administration as the city's human resources director.

Among the recommendations from a blue-ribbon panel and the auditor general was a call for the PWSA to operate independently from the city.

“Irregardless of whatever your role is with the city, you have a duty to the authority and the ratepayers,” she said. “For me, it really wasn't a conflict.”

The change comes as the PWSA begins a major overhaul of how it's run, which now includes making regular performance and financial reports to the state's public utility commission, the only municipal authority to do so.

The new leadership team says that will be done with transparency.

“We intend to make the basic information that we're sending to the PUC available to the public,” said interim executive director Bob Weimar.

Weimar says his goal is to make sure the PWSA remains as transparent as possible.