VILLAS – Lower Township MUA (Municipal Utilities Authority) held its monthly meeting May 4 and considered a number of agenda items, all passed unanimously.
Among the consent agenda items was a resolution for a change order which was a replacement re-advertising for the final Schellengers Landing Road sanitary sewer. The resolution approved an amended contract price from $307,779.50 to $307,177.39 which resulted in a decrease of $602.11 in the contract price.
Among regular agenda items was a resolution which awarded a contract to Perna Finnigan, Inc. for Phase 1 improvements for the USDA East Villas Water Main and another resolution which awarded a contract to T & T Commonwealth Construction of Jackson for the Wissahickon Avenue sanitary sewer rehabilitation project.
For this latter project, Executive Director Michael Chapman, noted in his report to the board, that T & T was the lowest responsible bidder and while the contractor has not done work for us before, all indications are they have a good reputation.
For the East Villas project Chapman noted that ”bids have been advertised and opened. The lowest responsible bidder is Perna Finnigan in the amount of $2,687,285. The engineer’s estimate is $3,248,100. These are excellent prices. I spoke with Bob Finnegan and he was interested in putting his crews to work, close to home for the summer.”
Chapman continued with his explanation of the project that start of construction is expected in early June with completion anticipated for December 2016. He stated, ”We are going to attempt to allow new customers to connect as each street is complete.” He also stated that he is exploring temporary new financing with several regional banks rather than borrow all the funding at one time which could possibly reduce overall finance costs. Information packets will be mailed soon to new customers to inform them of the construction process, costs associated with connecting to the new water service and financing options.
DRBC Public Hearing
Chapman also reported that every five years the LTMUA must submit an application to be able to continue to draw water from surrounding aquifers. This application along with 18 others will be the subject of a public hearing by the Delaware River Basin Commission, one of the agencies that regulates the township’s MUA, that will be held May 11 at Washington Crossing Park in Washington Crossing, Pa. ”While this is just a formality, I plan to attend the hearing,” Chapman stated.
Improvements On-going for Meter Reading and Billing
Chapman noted, “As you are aware, LTMUA discontinued an outsourcing contract for meter reading and office staff for billings and contracts. Everyone is working very hard, learning new things and really stepping up to take control of our customer service. We have found a significant number of deficiencies, incorrect information which have led to inaccurate water billings. We are working hard to resolve these issues one by one. The can-do attitude of the LTMUA staff is very refreshing.”
Thanks to MUA Employee for Saving a Life
During the public comment period, a resident stepped forward saying, ”Due to regulations, I can’t name this employee or the potential victim, but during a check for a possible water main leak, an MUA worker entered a home and was able to save a woman’s life. Our MUA workers are really great.” No other details were provided at the time.
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.
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