By Gene Robbons, Managing Editor
Progress on a sanitary sewer service project for 40 homes in the southeast section of the township has ground to a halt because the construction company has left the job.
The Township Committee declared OTS-NJ, LLC, based in Jackson, in default Aug. 11 for failing to perform its obligation under the contract it signed in February.
The township will mow pursue the bonding company, Aegis Security Insurance Company, to finish the work under a bond it sold to OTS.
In a resolution, the township says it was advised by the superintendent of the project that OTS was closing the company. Committeeman Frank DelCore said the township was “clearly disappointed” with OTS.
Sewers will be installed in a 30-year-old developments in two nearby areas: four homes on Willow Road, 11 on Winding Way, six on Spring Valley Drive, 11 on Camden Road and seven on Euclid Avenue.
In July 2014 the Township Committee passed an ordinance to appropriate $1.65 million for the sanitary sewer extension project by bonding for the bulk of it ($1,567,500 in bonds or notes). The money would largely be repaid by a special assessment on the homeowners whose properties would benefit.
Health department director Glen Belnay said construction was begun in April on the Euclid-Camden area and the lines were installed, although “not in a timely fashion,” said Mr. Belnay.
The work moved to the Winding Way area for about two weeks, with some critical work of tying to the existing manhole completed before the company stopped, he said.
Trenches filled with rough stone remain on Winding Way. It makes for a dusty, bumpy ride, conceded Dr. Belnay.
Since the default, he has pushed every day to get work moving again, said Dr. Belnay. The bonding company brought a temporary contractor in to repair a storm drain on Winding Way, he said, and there have been meetings with the company, state Department of Environmental Protection, township engineers and two contractors interested in bidding on the job, he said.
Dr. Belnay said he has been emphasizing the public health emergency of a high water table, failing septics in the area and replacement costs of $40,000-$50,000.
He said he has been coordinating information with local homeowners and he was anxious to hold a meeting with the 39 homeowners as soon as work was rescheduled.
No laterals from the house to the street can be completed until the work in the street is finished and the project accepted by the Municipal Utilities Authority.
He said the project is one of the smaller, but tougher, ones he’s shepherded through the years.
He said “sure hoped” to pull off completion of the project by this fall.
“We’re picking up the pieces,” he said. “We’re going to get it done.”
In 2014, costs were estimated at $848,637 to install the sanitary sewer system, and a projected $386,279 to mill and repave the streets.
Dr. Belnay scurried in the fall of 2013 to convince at least 70 percent of the homeowners to agree to join the project. The township was trying to keep the cost at about $25,000 per property.
Residents have been given information that estimates costs of $9,000 to $14,000 to connect a home to a sewer line at the street, plus 20 years of payments for money that will be borrowed.
