Dunbar Twp. panel to pursue delinquent accounts
DUNBAR TWP. – Dunbar Township residents who have not paid either or both of their $38 a month user fee/tap-in fees will soon be getting letters to pay up or suffer the consequences. Lou Falton, treasurer of the Dunbar Township Municipal Authority board, said Monday that the 44 residents will pay or have their water shut off.
“Letters will go out tomorrow on the matter,” Falton told the board of directors. “If the residents choose not to pay, then they will have to suffer the consequences of their actions.”
Falton said residents began getting the $38 a month user fee bill about three months ago, and while most residents have paid, the 44 residents mentioned above haven’t sent in a dime.
In other matters, the board discussed sludge removal at the new sewerage treatment plant. Falton said he contacted Redstone Township to find out how much sludge they have removed each year and was told that they have it hauled away every other month.
“They said they had about 14 tons removed each time, and I think that’s a fair estimate of what we are going to have since Redstone Township’s project is about the same size as our,” said Falton. “I solicited several phone bids and the first two, from local haulers, seem to be about the closest to what we are looking at.”
Falton said the other two contracts were high. Falton would not say who the local haulers were since the board didn’t vote on the measure.
In other business, engineer Don Reho said RUS (Rural Utilities Service) officials have approved a change order for the quarter-mile sewerage extension project on Bell Drive. Reho said the $80,000 project should get under way soon.
The board rejected, by a 2-1 vote, a request by Reho to release $11,000 to DT Construction of Dunbar. Board members Ron Grimm and Dwaine Gordon voted against the measure while Falton voted in favor of the motion.
Grimm said no more money would be released to DT Construction until they take care of several punch list items.
During the public comment period, several residents asked questions about their property and said that even though the weather hasn’t been good, they still think that the sewerage contractors have had time to correct problems on their property. Walter Madarish of Crawford Avenue said the contractors were able to dig up his yard in the rain and wanted to know why they couldn’t put it back together in the rain.
Dick Widmer, vice president of Widmer Engineering Inc., said the contractors have been doing their job in spite of the rain and said that he has gone from a 20-page punch list to a 2-page punch list.
Residents Tony and Helen Dellavechia said water is pooling on their property and they are afraid that mosquitoes are going to spread the West Nile virus.
“Every time you turn on the television or pick up a newspaper all you hear about is the West Nile virus and how it is transmitted by mosquitoes,” said Helen Della-vechia.
“All we want is for the pipes that were removed by the contractors to be put back the way they were so that we don’t get the water anymore,” said her husband.
Resident and tax collector Marigrace Butela asked the board if they attended the recent seminar at Penn State University on the West Nile virus. Falton and the others said no and Falton said he didn’t even receive notice of the seminar.
Butela gave the board some information that she picked up at the seminar.