ALLENTOWN – The borough’s engineer defended her firm’s reputation in front of Allentown Mayor Greg Westfall, Borough Council members and members of the public in a heartfelt statement she read during the Oct. 23 meeting of the governing body.
Carmela Roberts, president of the Roberts Engineering Group, said she has 36 years of experience in her field. She said that during the course of her company’s employment with Allentown it has obtained grants for borough projects, provided competent and professional engineering services and received awards in recognition of its work.
The Roberts Engineering Group has now been charged by Allentown officials with designing a new waste water treatment plant to replace the borough’s aging and poorly operating treatment plant on Breza Road.
Roberts said the design of the new treatment facility is about 40 percent complete. She and representatives of the borough were expected to meet with New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) staff members on Oct. 29 to discuss issues related to the design and construction of the new treatment plant.
Roberts said she expected the pace of the design phase to pick up following the meeting with the DEP.
Reading from her statement, Roberts said, “I am here because I repeatedly hear and see disparaging comments about me and my company. I have repeatedly seen and heard information being presented in a way that paints me and what I do inaccurately and in the worst way.
“I cannot let this go on any longer. I am an engineer and I typically avoid being put in a political position. However, due to the blatant misinformation spreading around the borough, it has become too difficult for me to avoid speaking out publicly.”
Regarding her firm’s involvement with the treatment plant, Roberts said, “Once it became apparent that (the firm previously hired by Allentown to design the new plant) did not fully understand the scope of work required of them and started requesting change orders to their contract, you lost faith in their ability to complete the required work and comply with an administrative consent order.
“Mayor and council removed (that firm) from the contract and asked Roberts Engineering to complete bidding, construction administration and inspection. We took that project as designed by (the previous firm), got it approved by the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust, advertised, and received bids, all within the original deadline,” she said.
In the spring, the council received two bids for the project and both bids were $1.9 million above the estimate that had been prepared by the previous engineering firm, Roberts said. She said the bidders subsequently indicated the plans that had been developed by the previous engineering firm “were unclear and ambiguous.”
Ultimately, the mayor and council unanimously rejected the bids and authorized Roberts Engineering to redesign the project, which Roberts said she began to do on June 1.
Since that time, she said, “We have been stalled as the mayor has questioned our proposals or has contacted the DEP without our knowledge and has looked into other ways to change the treatment plant.”
Roberts said potential changes in the treatment plant’s design and location would add significant costs to the project and for that reason her plan calls for the new treatment plant, known as a package plant, to occupy the space that is occupied by the existing treatment plant.
“Since June 1, Roberts has researched deeds, Green Acres requirements, grants, loans, alternative project sites and alternative treatment processes, all because the mayor does not trust my or my company’s expertise. I am continually defending myself and my company against wild ideas that don’t take the entire project scope into consideration,” she said.
“I enjoy what I do as an engineer. I like working with and for Allentown. I ask that we move forward together and that the lies that go on in the background be stopped. If there is a question, anybody can call me or my staff. If people in town want to call and ask me what the truth is, feel free, because it is far better for me to spend the time telling anyone what is really going on than having so much bad information and so much disparagement, contempt and outright lies spreading.
“Mayor, I ask you specifically to stop presenting things in such a way that makes me and Roberts Engineering Group, LLC, look the worst. It is not true what you are telling everyone. It is not true that we have cost the borough money. It is not true that we are not capable of engineering all the things you have going on here in the borough. It’s not true and it’s time to stop,” Roberts said.
When Roberts finished reading her statement, Westfall asked her when the design for the new plant would be completed. Roberts said her team is moving forward with various aspects of the design and said she would have a better idea of a completion date following the meeting with the DEP.
Councilman Rob Schmitt told Roberts, “The council has had total faith in you since Day 1.”
Council President Thomas Fritts said, “The council is never going to move that plant (to a different location). I appreciate everything you have done. This council is unified on what has to be done, regardless of who ran with who during an election.”
Roberts said the estimate for the treatment plant designed by the previous engineering firm was about $2.2 million. The two bids Allentown received from firms interested in undertaking the project were each about $4.1 million.
She said her current estimate for the package plant her firm is designing is about $2.8 million. Roberts said the DEP must approve the plant’s design and would be responsible for issuing permits related to the facility.
Madeline Gavin, a former councilwoman, spoke in support of and commended Roberts, saying the engineer “is a professional and should be treated as a professional. We were ready to go with the plant in 2013. Here we are in 2018. It’s been one delay after another.”
Borough officials said Allentown has paid a $154,000 fine issued by the DEP as a result of excessive levels of ammonia in water being discharged from the treatment plant into Doctors Creek. One reason for building a new waste water treatment plant is to have a facility that complies with current environmental regulations and will not result in fines being issued by regulatory agencies, according to municipal officials.
