Ground broken for long-awaited Swan plan sewers
Dave Rafferty
Area Director USDA Rural Development, Lambert Rosenbaum addresses audience during the groundbreaking ceremony for the long awaited Brownsville Municipal Authority Swan Plan Sewer Project.
Dave Rafferty
Col. William H. Graham, Pittsburgh District Engineer US Army Corps of Engineers enjoys a laugh as he addresses audience during the groundbreaking ceremony for the long awaited Brownsville Municipal Authority Swan Plan Sewer Project.
Dave Rafferty
Congressman Mark Critz of the PA 12th District speaks at the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Brownsville Municipal Authority Swan Plan Sewer Project in Hiller.
LUZERNE TWP. — Local, state and federal officials gathered for the groundbreaking Monday for the Swan plan sewerage project that will serve 59 homes and the Patsy Hillman Park.
The $1.4 million project has been discussed for some 36 years, as was pointed out by several local officials.
?”I wouldn’t have been able to be at this thing if it had taken place when it originally started. I would have been in first grade,” said Luzerne Township Supervisor Gregg Downer.
Swan plan resident Joe Terraveccia said he’s been anticipating the installation since he built his house in 1975, delaying installation of the septic system until the end, hoping sewerage would be approved.
Terravecchia, who is now a member of the Luzerne Township Sewer Authority, sought help from state Rep. H. William DeWeese, D-Waynesburg, in 2006 and also started sending e-mails to then-Congressman John P. Murtha, D-Johnstown.
Persistence paid off, with the Brownsville Municipal Authority agreeing to handle both the construction project and the sewage treatment and DeWeese’s office helping the project obtain a $75,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Murtha’s office was influential in obtaining $500,000 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers through the Environmental Improvement Program, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture came through with a $488,000 grant and a $141,000 loan through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Lambert Rosenbaum, area director for USDA Rural Development, commended the local officials for working together and seeking funding from multiple sources. Rosenbaum noted that U.S. Rep. Mark Critz was Murtha’s chief of staff when the project was first brought to the USDA.
“Congressman Critz was on the other side. He bird-dogged for Congressman Murtha to find these funds,” Rosenbaum said.
Rosenbaum noted that the new sewer lines will replace failing on-lot septic systems, removing pollution from the yards, roads and local streams.
Under the contract with the Brownsville Municipal Authority the contractor, Fleming-Walker of Portersville, has 180 days to complete the project. The company submitted a bid of $791,810 to do the work, which includes installation of 11,000 linear feet of new sewer lines, which could bring the project in well below the original estimate of $1.4 million. Terravecchia noted that it was estimated to cost $68,000 in 1975.
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