Borough to improve sewer system

By: Cara Latham
   ALLENTOWN — Officials here have taken the first steps toward improving the township’s sewer utility by introducing an ordinance that would provide a maximum of $1.4 million for upgrades.
   The measure introduced at the April 17 Borough Council meeting enables officials to seek bids on the project. Officials won’t know the type or extent of the work that needs to be done — whether it’s above or below ground, if it will cause any road closures — until bids start coming in for the project in the next several weeks.
   "Each company that bids may have different procedures," he said. "Once the bids are received and reviewed, we would know the starting procedures and timeframe."
   The bond ordinance, covers a maximum of $1.4 million for the improvements, but $1,330,000 in bonds would only be appropriated if the borough needed to spend the money, he said. The borough has to put up 5 percent, or $70,000. According to the ordinance, the life of the bond is 20 years.
   
   "We put the bond in place, but we don’t borrow the money until we have a bid, and its out for bid now," he said.
   Borough Chief Financial Officer Bob Bennick said the 5-percent share covers initial costs. Once borough officials see where the project will go, they can sell a note based on what they need. When the project is complete, those notes will turn to bonds, he added.
   Because borough officials do not yet know what kind of preliminary work is required or which parts of the system need to be upgraded, they also don’t how long it will take to do so, or how extensive the problem with the sewer facility is, which is why the Borough Council appropriated a maximum $1.4 million toward the work, he added.
   The dollar amount came from an estimate from the borough’s engineer.
   
   "Your sewer pipes are all beneath the ground," Mayor Fierstein said. "The first step is to determine which storm water, if any, is getting into the system, and if there’s any breaks in the sanitary sewer system as well, so it’s strictly a determination that needs to be done before you would know what you’re going to need to replace."
   The ordinance, if adopted, would allow them to provide the funding to determine storm water entry into the sewer system and identify sewer piping that may need to be replaced due to a number of factors — age, the weight of traffic, or changes in weather, he said.
   "It’s part of the stormwater management requirements of the state of New Jersey from 2003 to 2004, and it’s a multitude of things," he said. "It’s to locate the defective storm drains that may not have been found and mapped. It extends to making certain repairs and improvements at the sewer plant. It’s a project that is extensive."The state requires the borough to replace equipment that is no longer as efficient as the standards that it is setting today, similar to standards that are set on vehicle fuel emissions that are constantly changing, Mayor Fierstein said.
   The mayor said that improvements had not been made to the borough’s sewer facility since the 1980s.
   A second reading and public hearing of the ordinance is scheduled for May 1 at 7 p.m.