$12 million sewerage project approved
FAIRCHANCE – The Fairchance Georges Joint Municipal Sewage Authority approved a $12 million project to provide sewerage to 90 percent of Georges Township and a portion of Fairchance in part to correct malfunctioning sewerage systems in the area and in anticipation of future growth. The move was approved by a 4-1 vote with authority board member George Null voting against the motion at a sewage authority meeting continued to Wednesday. Authority board members Floyd Laubham and Kevin O’Brien were absent from the meeting.
Null said in a prepared statement read to the authority that he was not willing to saddle his fellow neighbors with the cost to operate the system.
“We will have the highest sewage bill this side of the county,” he said, naming the rates of other townships and boroughs.
Null said residents will pay $34 to $40 per month to cover the expansion project.
Sewage authority board Chairman Joe Angel said the authority couldn’t back out on the project without taking the risk of losing grant money.
Authority board vice chairman James Reckard asked Null for a solution, which he failed to provide.
Treasurer of the authority, Dennis Eicher, said they could postpone the decision to the disagreement of other members.
According to the authority, the project will provide public sewage service to 1,694 homes, 1,200 of those homes existing sewage authority customers.
The authority said the project will raise customers’ bills, but Angel could not give an exact amount until additional funding dollars – more than $1 million is in the works – for the project is secured. The authority said they have contacted local legislators and available grant programs, and additional meetings with funding agencies or local legislators and representatives are scheduled this week.
Eicher did say that if no additional funding is secured, existing customers could see a $15 increase in their monthly sewage bills.
To pay for the project the authority has so far secured a $1 million PennVEST grant and more than $1.9 million in funding that consists of a United States Corp of Engineer grant and another PennVEST loan, according to a financing sheet prepared by the authority’s engineer Bruce Chambers of Gaydos-Chambers Associates.
Additionally, the authority has calculated receiving $214,500 in tap-in fees at $500 apiece to pay for the project.
Four separate contracts were awarded Wednesday night. Shallenberger Construction of Connellsville was awarded three of the contracts, while the authority awarded Kukurin Contracting the largest contract of over $3 million.
Kukurin will install sanitary sewer along Oliphant Furnace and Old Wynn Mountain roads at the cost of $3,428,824 to the authority. The project is planned to pick up a 150 homes expected to be built in a new development on 110 acres along Burgessfield Road, according to Eicher.
Shallenberger was awarded a contract to install a sewage lines from Fairchance, pass the Fayette County Vocational-Technical School to the intersection of routes 857 and 119 at a cost of $2,682,275 to the authority.
Shallenberger was also awarded a contract for $481,743 to install a relief trunk sewer used to relieve overflow in the system, and a contract for $250,000 to construct a vo-tech pumping station in order to pump sewage up the Route 857 hill.
A fifth project – sewage treatment plant construction – has been included in the $12 million overall cost, while work on that project is ongoing.
Angel said the sewer project will attract developers and businesses to the area because of the anticipated expansion of Route 43.
Angel said awarding the contracts was a big step forward for the authority. He said the authority has been planning the project for the last two years.
How much residents bills will increase could be decided and voted upon at the Monday, Oct. 10, sewage authority meeting held at 6:30 p.m. in the Fairchance borough building.