Because more than half of these utilities also provide water treatment and sewer services, it seemed like a natural fit for MEPAK to partner with the Municipal Water and Waste Water Association of Kentucky (MWWAK).  

A younger, but equally important, association in its own right, MWWAK had recently started looking for an organization with which it could 

On July 27, 2007, the boards of MEPAK and MWWAK held their first official joint meeting to ratify a Joint Operating Agreement and create a Joint Operating Committee.  Not surprisingly, the partnership has flourished ever since!

MWWAK brought its 30-memberstrong association alongside MEPAK's 29 members to form the Kentucky Municipal Utilities Association (KMUA).  The organization's members take pride in providing low-cost, efficient and reliable service to nearly one million citizens throughout Kentucky.

The two organizations agreed to a two-year trial period, after which a full merger is expected in July 2009.  In the meantime, both organizations will retain their respective boards of directors and remain separate organizations.  At the joint board meeting in July 2007, MEPAK Executive Director Libby Marshall retired, and Annette DuPont-Ewing was hired as executive director of the new KMUA.  

KMUA's 59 members provide essential services - electric power, water, waste water, natural gas and telecommunications - in their respective communities.  These locally owned, locally operated utilities are governed by city officials or independent utility boards appointed by city officials, and they are now represented in Frankfort and Washington by KMUA.  Like its two predecessors, KMUA continues to share knowledge, support progress, and influence governmental affairs, but now with greater grass roots support, strength and numbers.