May 16, 2008 By Christine Haines 4 min read

CALIFORNIA – California Borough Council Wednesday in a special session ordered Chester Engineering to temporarily halt all work on the second phase of the sewerage project, which is the construction of a new treatment plant. “There is such a difference between what is projected by one engineering company over another as to what the cost of the sewerage project will be. We’re talking about millions of dollars,” said Sheila Chambers, who made the motion to halt the work. “I’m worried we are paying for plans that are going to be useless to us.”

Chambers said the borough needs plans for a treatment plant it can afford, that meets state requirements and that will last 30 to 50 years.

Councilwoman Shelly Roberts said estimates for the first phase, which included improvements and expansion of the sewage collection system, were about $6 million, but when the project was let for bids, the actual price jumped to $12 million.

“Now Phase II is being estimated at $13-14 million by Chester, and that’s just the estimate,” Roberts said.

“We asked if they could design a plant for $5-6 million and we haven’t heard back. Fayette Engineering did it for Brownsville,” Chambers said.

Council President Jon Bittner noted that the borough is under contract with Chester for $1.5 million for design work for Phase I and Phase II.

“We’re at the $1 million mark now and $500,000 had been set aside for inspections. Are we in breach of contract if we stop them now?” Bittner asked.

Solicitor Keith Melenyzer was not present at the special meeting.

“This is only a temporary halt,” Chambers said.

Council voted 6-1 in favor of halting the design work, with Bittner casting the only dissenting vote.

In an unrelated matter, engineer Art Brower of Fayette Engineering presented information on using a decibel meter for measuring sound in noise complaints. Brower noted that the noise level while the council members were talking was 65 decibels at normal conversational tones. The noise ordinance sets maximum noise levels at 70 decibels. Brower suggested that the borough forego using a decibel meter for citations.

“I talked to some solicitors and they said it’s best to leave it to the discretion of the police officers. When you get an officer saying there’s been disorderly conduct, it’s hard to refute in court,” Brower said.

Council last week had made a motion to bring in a consultant at a cost of $250 to discuss the use of a sound meter for code enforcement, but council found that the consultant would actually charge an hourly fee of $250 from the time he left his office until the end of the meeting, which could have cost the borough more than $750, Bittner said. The motion to hire the consultant was rescinded.

Brower suggested leaving the ordinance on the books so that if it is needed an expert could be brought in to provide certified readings that would then be turned over to the solicitor.

Brower also noted that he and Melenyzer have been working on a new ordinance regarding road bonding. He said the current ordinance does not specify how bonds should be calculated and there is not a fee for bond applications.

“When somebody submits something like this, you should charge a fee. You’re going to have some time tied up in this,” Brower said.

At council’s direction, Brower is drawing up a chart of bonding fees for the various grades of roads in the borough based on how they are constructed and the cost to repair them with those same construction methods.

“Trucks do a lot more damage than people imagine, especially at stop signs and going up hills. You can actually have the road ripple,” Brower said.

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