ALLENTOWN – The Borough Council has taken a significant step on the road to upgrading Allentown’s waste water treatment plant by authorizing the Roberts Engineering Group to advertise the project and seek bids from companies that want to do the work.
Council members took the action during a meeting on April 10.
In 2017, the council adopted an ordinance appropriating $3.03 million for significant upgrades at the treatment plant and authorizing the issuance of bonds in that amount to finance the project.
The treatment plant is off Breza Road. Officials have said one issue to be addressed by the upgrades is a situation in which the level of ammonia is over the limit set by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for discharge into Doctors Creek. Allentown has been fined more than $150,000 as a result of that violation.
The treatment plant improvements will bring the water being discharged from the plant into compliance with DEP standards, officials have said.
Borough officials have acknowledged the treatment plant improvements may be the most expensive project they will ever undertake.
Borough Engineer Carmela Roberts has said Allentown expects to receive funding in the form of a loan from the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust (NJEIT). The interest rate is in the range of about 1 percent, she said.
Councilman Rob Schmitt has said the bond issue will provide the funding Allentown officials will use to pay back the NJEIT loan over several decades.
Mayor Greg Westfall has said Allentown’s waste water treatment plant was built in 1968 and upgraded in the early 1990s. He said the plant “has not been and is currently not meeting DEP standards for several water quality parameters.”
Going out to bid on the improvements “is a significant step in this project. Ed Gillette, who designed the improvements to the treatment plant, will work with the Roberts Engineering Group to help oversee the upgraded plant,” the mayor said on April 11.
Council President Thomas Fritts said authorizing the Roberts Engineering Group to seek bids for the waste water treatment plant improvements “only proves that cancelling the contract with (a previous firm that had been hired) was the right move. … The project is back on schedule and moving along perfectly. … Roberts Engineering had been involved with more than 20 NJEIT projects and was more than $65,000 less than (the previous firm) on all work prior to construction administration.
“This is a hard loss for our taxpayers. This decision resulted in a 245 percent increase in construction administration from (the previous firm’s) original bid because they did not include critical components required for NJEIT funding. Our residents deserve to know the truth and if they would like a better understanding they may reach out to me at [email protected],” Fritts said.