Authority struggles with project costs
WEST BROWNSVILLE – Members of the Center West Joint Sewer Authority said Thursday that they had no choice but to downsize their upcoming project to cut costs, but the areas that are not getting service right away will be picked up in a second phase. While the authority is making every attempt to get additional funding and Chairman Dan Kendall said he knows they will qualify for some financial aid, he also commented that the project will still have to be done in phases in order to be affordable.
Kendall said the authority received a peer review of the project from Widmer Engineering, whom the authority hired to provide some objective opinions. He said the company provided them with 12 different options, and he believed the most reasonable one would be keep West Brownsville, Blainesburg, and part of Centerville in the initial phase of the project, while eliminating Low Hill, Binnstown, and areas of Malden until the second phase.
Kendall said that he has been told that RUS, the board’s funding agency, would make the second phase of the project a top priority.
Remote pump stations would be located in West Brownsville and Denbo.
Although the authority has been considering options of having sewage treated at Brownsville or California to eliminate the cost of a plant, board member Susie Zebley pointed out that Widmer Engineering seemed not to favor going to either of those places.
“They felt that we should go with our own plant,” said Zebley.
Kendall said that according to Widmer’s figures, it would be cheaper for the authority to have its own plant.
He commented that if the board should choose to follow the option they had discussed, it would cost roughly $16 million.
“I think that looks like the most logical thing to do,” said Kendall.
The board’s engineer, Bob Bible, said that he would review information Widmer provided and give the authority an opinion within the next week, as well as advise them on how to start the permit application process.
Kendall said the board should know in February how much grant money they will get to help with the project.
He told the public that in the “best case scenario” they would be able to break ground by the end of this year.
In other matters, the board reorganized, leaving Kendall as Chairman of the board. Scott Campbell moved that Bill Worthington take his place as Vice Chairman and the board voted in favor of it. Terry Seddon remained board secretary.