Sewer authority begins planning expansions
REDSTONE TWP. – Only two years after opening, the Redstone Sewer Authority is looking at the next two possible phases of expansion. Chairman Dwayne Thomas said plans for plant and pump station expansions needed to bring in portions of Luzerne Township into the system are currently available in his office in Republic. Thomas said the plant needs to be ready for when Merrittstown, Tower Hill 2, Thompson, PennCraft, Keeney Row and Weinbrenner Avenue are brought into the system sometime in 2004.
“The reason we’re expanding our plant is because we’re adding those communities,” Thomas said.
The authority has also approved a feasibility study for sewer line expansion along the Route 40-Route 166 corridors. Widmer Engineering will conduct the study. The study area will include Route 166 from Route 40 to the treatment plant in Allison and Route 40 from Route 166 west to the area of Foodland and the surrounding businesses.
Thomas said the area includes Brownsville General Hospital, the Hunter’s Ridge apartments and the Cox-Donahey Elementary School. There is no scheduled construction date for that phase of the expansion.
In other matters, the board approved the 2003 budget of $401,716, with reductions in a number of areas including sludge disposal and insurance. Thomas said the sludge disposal was previously over-budgeted based on projections, but two years of actual usage have helped the authority come up with a more realistic figure.
The authority’s insurance premium for the year will be going down by $1,900 over the 2002 expenditure. Thomas said it was discovered that the current year’s policy includes extra coverage for the sewerage lines, which is not needed.