The Greater Pottsville Area Sewer Authority on Wednesday decided to take a step to repair a sewer line in the area of “Mady’s Small Bridge,” which is being replaced by the state Department of Transportation.
The authority decided to enter into talks with the contractor, Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc., State College, which the state hired to replace the bridges to do the work, Timothy R. Yingling, the sewer authority’s executive director, said at the meeting at its offices at City Hall.
“I’m seeking approval tonight to enter into a time and materials agreement with Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc. — they’re doing the bridge replacement project down there on Route 61. We had a combined sewer line that ran right down 61 and it discharged right in the middle of the bridge. When they built the new bridge, they couldn’t put that sleeve back through it. It’s not allowed. So we have to relocate off to the side of the property where they ripped down those two buildings,” Yingling told the authority at the meeting.
While the line in question was once a combined storm water and sewer line, it will be separated. “PennDOT is putting in new storm catch basins there, so we have to get the sanitary component to get back to the interceptor in the river. We’re still going into that interceptor, we’re just going down further away from Route 61,” Yingling said.
“If we don’t get in there and get it done on time, then we can be fined by PennDOT for holding the project up. So I’d rather just have that contractor do it,” Yingling said.
“I hate to give anybody a blank check,” Ian H. Lipton, GPASA chairman, said.
“No, he’s going to send us their rates and everything. I just met with them today. They’re going to give us their hourly rates and also a rough estimate of what it’s going to be. And they said we can cap it too if we want to,” Yingling said.
“And you vetted this company? They can do this?” Lipton asked.
“Yes. They’re doing the work for PennDOT right now. I originally thought they’d have to go through PennDOT, but PennDOT said ‘no,’ it was just between the authority and that contractor,” Yingling said.
“Any idea, Tim, how much?” Edward Brennan, the authority’s solicitor and an attorney from Pottsville, asked.
“I’m going to speculate about $10,000. It all depends on what they run into,” Yingling said.
“So it’s below our bidding number,” Brennan said.
According to Act 90 of 2011, purchases and contracts over $19,400 require municipal authorities to advertise for formal bids. Information about the bidding thresholds is available at the website for the Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Association at www.municipalauthorities.org.
“My concern is if he says ‘it’s $42,000,’ then I think we may have to bid it. It’s not really an emergency, unless there’s a time frame,” Brennan said.
“The only requirement is we don’t hold up the bridge project,” Lipton said.
“That’s what I was trying to say,” Yingling said.
The two bridges, called the Mady’s bridges, were deemed structurally deficient in 2001 due to abutment issues.
Located in Pottsville, “Mady’s Small Bridge” over the Schuylkill River is 79-feet long and 62-feet wide. It is a single-span, steel I-beam bridge. The replacement will be 100-feet long and 62 and 1/2-feet wide.
Located in Palo Alto, “Mady’s Big Bridge” is a 314-foot-long, 64-foot-wide, four-span concrete-encased steel I-beam bridge over the Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad. It will be replaced with a two-span concrete bulb-tee beam bridge that measures 63-feet 10-inches wide.
The $10,568,416 project awarded to Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc. is slated for completion in November, Ronald J. Young, press officer for PennDOT, District 5, Allentown, said Thursday.
“August 2017 was the original completion date, but Hawbaker agreed to accelerate work to get it done this coming November,” Young said.
The project is “70 percent complete,” Young said.
The authority Wednesday voted unanimously to enter into talks with Hawbaker about the sewer line project.
“The motion was to authorize you to discuss it and negotiate,” Brennan said.
“The agreement will be approved by the board?” authority member John D.W. Reiley asked.
“Yes,” Lipton said.
“You have to act at a public meeting to approve the contract,” Brennan said.