Apr 27, 2007 By Jenny Susa 3 min read

WEST BROWNSVILLE – The Center West Joint Sewer Authority voted Thursday to table action on bids that were opened recently, since the lowest bids were about $9 million over the projected cost of the authority’s upcoming project. Chairman Dan Kendall said that while the board had expected for the numbers to come in over budget, they were all surprised to see the bids come in as high as they did.

Kendall said that the prices of materials have “increased dramatically” since the authority first set the projected price of the project in 2001.

The authority’s engineers will now explore other options for the authority that will enable them to continue with the project at a lower cost, including having sewage treated at Brownsville or California so that the treatment plant can be eliminated.

Kendall said that he believes that going with Brownsville would be the board’s most viable option.

“That’s just the opinion of one man on this board,” said Kendall, adding that the authority would likely have to create an agreement with another municipality to avoid “hitting the public” with high charges.

The board voted unanimously to begin preliminary discussions with Brownsville about an inter-municipal agreement, and Brownsville’s engineers assured the board that Brownsville’s plant has the capacity to handle the sewage from the new system.

Board members noted that another option may be splitting the sewage between Brownsville and California, since some areas the project will cover are closer to California.

Board member Scott Campbell said that some local residents were concerned that if the board chose that option, there would be a split billing system, and some people might have higher monthly fees than others. Kendall said he did not think the board could implement a split billing system, and all customers would have to be charged the same rates.

Engineer Bob Bible, who was absent from the meeting, told Kendall that they within about a month which direction the project will go.

“When we started in 2001, Brownsville and California were not options for us,” said board member Terry Seddon. “It may work to our advantage that things are the way the are.”

He said that it would make the project simpler if they don’t have to build a plant.

In other matters, solicitor Jack Purcell said the authority will be in court on May 17 to defend the action they took to condemn the property of Eileen Dochinez in order to obtain a right of way needed for the project, because the property owner could not reach an agreement with the authority.