By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
ALLENTOWN The Borough Council voted to authorize up to $33,000 in emergency spending to cover the cost of Hurricane Irene-related repairs to roadways, utilities, the water system and the sewer treatment plant.
”This is basically an estimate; we don’t have all the costs in yet,” Mayor Stuart Fierstein told the council Sept. 15 prior to the approval of two resolutions.
The first resolution provides up to $20,000 to pay for work at the water plant, sewer treatment plant, and for repairs to utilities and roadways. The bills are from CRJ Inc., the borough’s emergency on-call contractor; John B. Holden of H20 Inc., which manages the water plant on Church Street; and Hatch Mott MacDonald the borough engineer and manager of the sewage treatment plant on Breza Road.
A portion of the spending is for preventative work done prior to the Hurricane Irene, such as sandbagging the water plant so that it did not flood as it has in previous storms, Mayor Fierstein said. The borough will spend the money to repair some of the damage that occurred to public property near the Old Mill on South Main Street.
”There is damage that has been done to several areas including the entranceway to the park; the pavers have collapsed,” Mayor Fierstein said.
The second resolution authorizes payment of $11,000 to Pumping Services Inc. for the repair of two broken effluent pumps at the sewage treatment plant, Mayor Fierstein said. The new pumps have already been installed, he said.
Due to the emergency nature of the needed repair work the projects did not have to be competitively bid, borough officials said.
State law allows municipalities to bypass the competitive bidding process if the project is needed to protect the health and welfare of citizens during an emergency, borough official said.
The Borough Council voted 4-0 to adopt the resolutions. Councilman Dan Wimer was absent.
