After several years of discussion and planning, the members of the Allentown Borough Council took a significant step toward upgrading the municipality’s infrastructure when they voted 5-0 on Oct. 22 to award a contract for the construction of new waste water treatment facilities.
Council President Thomas Fritts called the governing body’s action a “monumental” achievement for the borough.
Fritts was joined by Councilwoman Angela Anthony, Councilman Robert Strovinsky, Councilman John A. Elder III and Councilman Rob Schmitt in voting to award a $3.95 million contract to Pact Two LLC, Ringoes, for the facilities improvements.
Councilman Michael Drennan was absent from the meeting.
The council’s vote will set in motion the construction of upgrades to Allentown’s failing waste water treatment plant on Breza Road. The improvements have been labeled a package plant.
Borough Engineer Carmela Roberts, whose firm, Roberts Engineering Group, Hamilton, designed the upgrades, said that more specifically, new components related to the treatment process would be installed and existing components related to the treatment process would be upgraded at the plant. Additions to the building will also be made.
Roberts has previously explained that after waste water that enters the plant has been treated, the resulting clean water will be discharged into Doctors Creek.
The project anticipates an 18-month construction schedule with completion expected in mid-2021, Roberts said.
The road to the awarding of a bid for the construction of the waste water treatment improvements has not been an easy one for municipal officials.
During the past two years, borough officials hired an engineering firm to design the improvements; ended Allentown’s contract with that firm after issues relating to the firm’s performance were identified; engaged Roberts Engineering Group to design the improvements; sought state approval for the plans; put the project out to bid; received and rejected bids that were deemed too high; asked Roberts to negotiate a lower cost with the firms that presented bids for the work; and finally awarded a contract.
According to municipal officials, the borough engineer’s estimate for the new waste water treatment infrastructure was $3.3 million.
The companies that submitted bids on Aug. 2 were: Pact Two LLC, Ringoes, $4.9 million; Quad Construction Company, Lumberton, $5.1 million; Eagle Construction Services Inc., Burlington, $5.1 million; and Clyde N. Lattimer and Son, Berlin, $6.9 million.
The $3.95 million contract the council members awarded to Pact Two on Oct. 22 reflects a decrease of $964,000 from the company’s bid in August.
Roberts said changes were requested of the contractor as part of a modified scope for the project.
The requested changes included: remove disk filtration, ultraviolet (UV) disinfection and filter pump station from the contract; reduced electrical conduit to filter building (because of removal of disk filters and UV units); reduced piping between the IFAS tank and filter building (because of removal of disk filters and UV units); keep the existing chlorination system in operation; and reduce the proposed clarifiers from 41 feet long to 35 feet long.
She said, “We are still increasing the treatment capacity of all clarifiers and will meet DEP requirements; we will reduce the clarifier wall height by 6 inches. The wall will still be above the 500-year flood elevation; we are still removing both existing sand filters from the filter building. This will allow for more space for storage or future improvements/additions.
“This plant will be an upgrade to all the components of the existing treatment plant as well as the addition of new treatment units, and the UV and disk filters that are being removed were never part of the plant designed by (the first engineering firm),” Roberts said.
“It’s been a decade trying to get this done,” Fritts said of the project. “We had a problem last year (with the first engineering firm). We were hit with Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) fines. It was a battle. It took a year to remove (the first engineering firm).
“With Roberts Engineering Group, we put together a package plant. We have refined the project and we got it under $4 million. To me, this was monumental. It is a DEP-approved plan,” Fritts said.
Mayor Greg Westfall said, “We (current borough officials) inherited a sewer plant that wasn’t working. As a result of previous inaction, we had fines of $154,000 and $41,000. I am happy to see this moving forward today. The key is the ammonia (that was causing a problem) is being taken care of.”
Discussion ensued about the process borough officials had followed to reach this point, prompting Anthony to say, “You can’t keep looking back. You have to move forward.”
Wil Borkowski, a former councilman, thanked the members of the council for working together to reach a point where a contract for the improvements has been awarded, and he said, “It’s nice to see (people working together) in our town.”
Council members have authorized the issuance of bonds or notes in the amount of $4.6 million to finance the new waste water treatment infrastructure. Officials said the project is being funded through the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank.
