News

July 9, 2009

West Pittston hires firm for sewer repair work

IAN CAMPBELL Times Leader Correspondent

WEST PITTSTON – Council voted unanimously Tuesday to award a Honesdale firm a more than $6 million contract for the first phase of the borough’s sewer repair work.

Pioneer Construction was the lowest bidder for the project, at $6,153,109.50, and that means that the borough may have the chance to move forward sooner on the second phase of the project because the amount for the first phase was less than what council had expected to pay.

Five other firms also bid, with the highest more than $11 million for the job of dividing sewer lines along a core area of Philadelphia Avenue and surrounds.

The second phase of work would likely tackle lines in the area of Luzerne and Exeter avenues, council President Brian Thornton told residents of those areas during the meeting. Because the entire project had been expected to cost in the range of $20 million, it was not feasible to have funded the entire scope of work at once, and the disruption to residents if the borough had tried to do it all at once would have been immense, he said.

The council’s plan is to carry out a complete rebuilding of the combined storm and sewer lines throughout the borough, resulting in their division in order to cut down on system failures and sewage overflows.

Most of the residents at the meeting supported the plan as long overdue.

Residents are likely to pay an increased sewer fee, Thornton said, but that amount would depend on whether the borough received state grant funding. A $4.7 million grant has been applied for, and a decision is expected later in the month.

With a loan and the grant the borough could have access to about $14 million in funding, Thornton said.

The borough also approved a resolution to pay for immediate project costs from the general fund until reimbursement is made from the loan and the grant. In addition, the borough authorized an easement and right of way agreement for a new line to go through West Pittston Little League property between Fifth and Sixth streets as part of the project.

Tweet	Follow @TLnews

This story also appears on the following websites...