Energized MetCom Director Seeks Vision

New eyes and a broader vision of the value a utility can be to its community are what Scott Bundy hopes to  bring to his new position as head of St. Mary’s water and sewer corporation.

“It’s not directly part of government,” is among the first things Mr. Bundy has learned to say in his new position as director of St. Mary’s Metropolitan Commission.

Mr. Bundy has worked in water and wastewater management for his entire career, spent mostly in New Jersey. He has served as the executive director of two other water and wastewater utilities. He concedes that the St. Mary’s County Metropolitan Commission is an unusually constructed agency.

Although established outside of government, the sanitary district is only permitted to operate within areas delineated by county government. “We have very little control over our destiny when it comes to deciding where and when new customers will be connected to our systems,” Mr. Bundy says of the integration of county planning with the sanitary district’s direction or expansion. “We’re here to operate and maintain the systems and to expand those systems only as endorsed by county leaders.”

Historically the relationship between government and MetCom has been contentious at times. It is almost always misunderstood by the public, often by builders and developers, and even by the institutions that guide the agencies in charge of MetCom’s destiny.

Mr. Bundy is the first director of the 50-year-old sanitary district’s history to have come from outside its ranks. Mr. Bundy said St. Mary’s is “lucky at this point in its history to have someone like me here [at this time],” and apologized for sounding immodest. “What I mean is, it’s a good time for outside experience – fresh eyes.”

There are nearly 100 employees of MetCom and the tradition of promoting from within has developed a public sanitary district of a sterling operational caliber, Mr. Bundy said. The biggest problem he sees with his agency is that the public is unaware of the exceptional quality and quantity of services they receive for the price.

“I think we do a really good job of delivering our services to customers. We’re not so good at getting our message to them. And we have to get that message out, let the customer know what we do and how well we do it.

“We’re engaging employees here, to engage more with the public, to properly represent us,” he said. “Agencies like MetCom struggle to tell their story.”

He believes it is a good time to start telling a strong St. Mary’s County story and hopes to bring his new eyes and his sterling utility to the effort.

“There is a certain synergy here, people sensing they need to do something,” he said. “New people in energizes the discussion, energizes the community.

“How, as a utility, how can we energize and support that vision [depends on] what that vision is.”

To learn more about St. Mary’s County Metropolitan Commission, visit its Leader Member page.