Mar 1, 2011 By Steve Ferris 2 min read

By a margin of less than $1,700, a Fayette County contractor was the apparent low bidder at Monday’s bid opening for the Morgantown Street sewer separation project in Uniontown.

Lee’s Plumbing and Excavating of New Salem submitted a bid of $294,126, which was just $1,683 less than a $295,809 bid from Bella Enterprises of Cecil.

Three other bids ranged from $400,334 to $675,972.

Project engineer Carl DeiCas of Chester Engineers of Moon Township opened the bids with Uniontown Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Mark Yauger and city public works director Phil Mahoney.

A representative from Bella Enterprises also attended.

Yauger said he would ask authority solicitor Samuel Davis to review Lee’s bid because the company did not fill out some forms in the bid document.

All the bids included the required 10 percent surety bond.

DeiCas said he will tabulate the bids before making a recommendation to the authority’s board of directors.

The board will be asked to award a construction contract for the project at its annual meeting on March 8, Yauger said.

He said the city has $300,000 in Community Development Block Grant money for the project.

Yauger said he would like to see the project completed in 60 days after work begins, but it could take up to 120 days.

The project involves installation of about 1,500 feet of storm sewer line underneath Morgantown Street from Fayette Street to Peter Street and underneath Peter Street from Morgantown Street to Beeson Boulevard.

In addition, the new line will run under a 20-to-30-foot section of South Street off Morgantown Street to connect to an existing storm line.

The project is the last major project mandated in a consent order issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection in 2001 that required the city to eliminate its combined sewer system in which storm water and sewage flowed through the same pipes.

Combined sewer overflow valves, which have been removed, discharged storm water and untreated sewage into Redstone Creek during heavy rains.

Yauger said the city might get permission from the Department of Transportation to begin a streetscape project on Morgantown Street after the storm sewer project is completed.

The streetscape project was originally proposed in 1997, but has been delayed for various reasons since then.