Authority puts sanitary sewer project out for bid
BULLSKIN TWP. — Bullskin Township/Connellsville Township Joint Sewerage Authority agreed this week to solicit bids for an estimated $86,000 sanitary sewer project in Bullskin Township.
The authority took action on the matter after reviewing the project’s design phase presented by Glenn Wolfe, office manager at Widmer Engineering Inc. of Connellsville.
Wolfe initially estimated the project at $60,000 to provide sanitary sewers to four houses, however, the authority agreed to extend the pipe to pick up six additional houses on Garden Street for an extra $26,000 to complete it in one phase instead of two.
The authority took on the project in October after failing systems in the area were creating a health hazard from raw sewage.
Wolfe said Widmer is currenty preparing right-of-way agreements the property owners will need to sign.
According to Wolfe, the project is challenging because the authority is using general fund money to pay for it.
In an unrelated matter, Wolfe suggested the authority scale back the size and scope of an estimated $11 sewererage project to several areas in Bullskin Township from three phases to two because of limited federal funding. The second phase includes a section of Route 982, Skate Lane, Longanecker Road and a portion of Pleasant Valley Road in Bullskin Township.
Wolfe said the authority submitted combined funding applications for each phase in 2009 to the U.S. Rural Department of Agriculture, but were not awarded any economic stimulus funding.
Wolfe added the Agriculture Department only received $35 million from this year’s state budget, in addition to changing project requirements.
Wolfe said he hopes to meet with officials to further discuss the authority’s project application.
“I’d like them to outline exactly what they want from us,” said Wolfe.
In an unrelated matter, Wolfe said testing to determine the source of increased storm water flow in the sanitary system in Merit Manor in Bullskin Township remains on hold.
According to Wolfe, the authority may need to install inspection ports on the lateral sewer lines to determine where the water is coming from after smoke and dye testing inside the inlets was unsuccessful.
In other business, the authority heard from Corey Giles of West Penn Power that the company is looking to tie into the authority’s public sewer system because the on-lot system it has is failing.