Supervisors to take action on late water line
LEMONT FURNACE – The North Union Township supervisors on Tuesday said Mount Independence residents should have had public water by now and agreed to take action against all three contractors working on the water line extension because it is nearly three months behind schedule. Supervisor Curtis Matthews said construction contracts for the Mount Independence water line extension required the work to be finished by July 17 and that date included a 60-day extension the supervisors previously granted to one of the contractors.
The work is nearly done and could be completed in a week or two, but testing the water system could take another week or two, Matthews said.
Work started last fall after the supervisors awarded contracts to three companies using an $800,000 grant from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, two state grants totaling $167,000 and $100,000 in Community Development Block Grant money to pay for it.
Stefanick Construction of Dunbar received a $219,900 contract to build two 60,000-gallon storage tanks and a $155,380 contract to build two pump stations.
Carl Fekula of Elizabeth was awarded a $174,900 contract to install a water distribution line and Abeck Electrical of Wilmerding was awarded a $167,700 contract to install electric controls for the two pump stations.
The work was proceeding at a good pace until recently when none of the contractors appeared to be on the job, Matthews said.
Township engineer Garrett Mechling of Fayette Engineering said he sent letters to the contractors warning them about the possible late fees.
Matthews said the contractors returned to the project, but the work should have been done and residents should have had water by now.
“This could go on forever if we don’t put penalties on,” Matthews said.
Supervisors unanimously authorized solicitor Donald McCue to send the contractors letters saying their current payments for work on the line will be withheld for 45 days, the township will retain a sum equal to 1 1/2 times the value of the uncompleted work and the township will begin assessing a $500 fee for every day the work is not finished beginning on Oct. 26.
Provisions for those penalties are included in the construction contracts, supervisors said.
“There ought to be substantial movement in the next three to five days,” said Thomas Kumor, chairman of the board of supervisors.
The supervisors approved various payments to two of the contractors before deciding to withhold the money for 45 days.
Those payments were $35,868 to Abeck, $11,362 to Abeck, $8,093 to Stefanick and $6,347 to Stefanick.
Based on the contracts, Fekula has $82,000 worth of work to complete, Abeck has $9,000 worth of work left and Stefanick has $8,000 in work left to do, said Mechling.
He said the contractors told him they could finish the work in a week.
In unrelated business, McCue said he will file a response to a lawsuit that Central Tax Bureau, the township’s former tax collector, filed against the township.
The township sued several businesses that failed to pay their mercantile taxes and all except one are making monthly payments on the money they owe, McCue said.
Central Tax then filed the suit seeking to collect the fee it would have received if it had collected the mercantile taxes, he said.
“They want fees for money not collected. We said they’re not entitled to it,” McCue said. He said Central Tax filed a similar suit against the Laurel Highlands School District.
In other business, the supervisors:
n Approved a sewer permit for a Sheetz convenience store and car wash that will be built at the intersection of Route 51 and Northgate Highway. Construction will start in the spring.
n Approved outdoor yard waste burning until the next supervisors meeting on Nov. 9. Burning is permitted from dawn to dusk Mondays through Saturdays.
nSaid they received a $1,500 grant from Steps to a Healthier Pennsylvania to buy signs and maybe do some other work at Eberly Park.
n Scheduled Halloween trick-or-treating for 6 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 31.