MILLTOWN — The aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 led borough officials on a journey to move the electrical substation to higher ground.
Larry Citro, chairman of the Milltown Electric Advisory Committee, said at a special meeting on Sept. 17 that he vowed as a councilman three years ago to make sure what happened during Irene never happened again. Citro made this promise as he was sitting at a public meeting at the American Legion where hundreds of people aired their frustrations of what happened during and after the storm.
Irene brought torrential rains in August 2011 that overflowed area waterways, flooding nearby streets as well as the borough’s electric substation, resulting in a nearly weeklong power outage. Borough officials shut down the substation in preparation for the floodwaters, which reportedly rose halfway up the transformers.
Officials and contracted electricians then spent five days drying and repairing the substation before restoring power.
Milltown is one of eight municipalities in the state that operates an electric utility for the benefit of its residents and businesses.
Fast-forward to last week, when the Borough Council unanimously voted in favor of a resolution awarding a contract for the construction of a new electric substation.
Borough officials entered an agreement with Welsbach Electric Corp. for the Borough Electric Utility Flood Mitigation project, which includes the construction of a new electric substation for a sum not to exceed $12,368,122.
While Citro said he would have liked the process to have taken a shorter amount of time, he noted the hard work and effort of borough officials with the residents of the electric advisory committee that started with Mayor Gloria Bradford and continues now with the support of Mayor Eric Steeber.
Citro said the committee held numerous meetings with Borough Engineer Michael McClelland and his team at CME Associates, dealing with land constraints and monetary issues.
In May, the Borough Council agreed to move forward with an emergency contract that expedites the construction of a new substation and the purchase of equipment.
McClelland said the reason for the emergency contract was the unpredictable pattern of the weather. The emergency contract would “shave four months off” the process of building the new substation, he said.
In 2013, the borough purchased the Schwendeman log cabin property adjacent to Albert Avenue and Mill Pond Park for the purpose of a land swap with Middlesex County for property adjacent to Borough Hall on Washington Avenue. On Dec. 16, the borough acquired the 1.3 acres from the county for the new substation.
The use of the property on Washington Avenue will allow for the new substation to be built on higher ground, outside of the flood plain, according to the New Jersey State House Commission, which had jurisdiction over the land swap.
In exchange, Milltown will convey the former Schwendeman property — 2.6 acres on Kuhlthau Avenue — to the county.
Councilman Randy Farkas referred to the contract agreement with Welsbach Electric Corp. as “epic.”
The councilman said the first night of Irene as he was laying sandbags, he made the decision that he would work on moving the electric substation to higher ground.
“It, has been frustrating at times. … Tonight we are one step closer to reality,” he said.
Farkas said borough officials thanked state Sen. Bob Smith, the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders, the electric substation committee and many more for their help in getting where the borough is now today with the electric substation.
“Milltown’s future begins today,” he said.
Steeber said that, as government officials, it is sometimes best to just get the “heck out of the way.”
“All the professionals stepped up from the very start,” he said, adding that the process was done right.
At the end of the night, borough officials and the people who attended the meeting gave a round of applause.
Contact Kathy Chang at kchang@gmnews.com.