Major sewage project likely ahead for Monessen

Mayor Ron Mozer warns it will be a “huge logistics issue” once it begins.

The Mon Valley Sewage Authority gave a presentation Thursday to Monessen City Council on what the city can expect from a potential sewer separation project this year.

The authority and the city have been in discussions regarding the project for more than 10 years. It is aimed at addressing sanitary sewer overflow in the city and is projected to cost around $3.8 million.

Mayor Ron Mozer explained that the city was originally required by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to install an equalization tank to address a sanitary sewer overflow issue originating from the Grand Boulevard area of the city. According to sewage authority representatives, when discussions first started for the tank project, it was estimated to cost around $4 million. After several years, the estimation went up to around $8 million.

Due to the high cost, the city and the authority started to look at sewer separation as an alternative solution. Currently, the city has a combined sewer system along Grand Boulevard. The sewer separation project would involve creating two separate lines for stormwater and sewage.

During Thursdays presentation, authority representatives stated that they had estimated costs for building a new, separate sewer line or a new stormwater line. However, because they are a sewage authority and do not handle stormwater, they would need to amend their bylaws and charter to construct a new stormwater line.

Due to the complications of building a new stormwater line, they recommended building a new sewage line for the separation project. Both projects have similar estimated costs of around $3.8 million.

Building a new sanitary sewer line would require major work in the neighborhoods along Grand Boulevard. Building a new stormwater line would involve work being along Parente Boulevard.

“Oh, it’s going to be a major impact,” Mozer said.

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“Oh, it’s going to be a major impact. And I don’t know how they’re going to do it. They’ve got to manage traffic. They’ve got to get people in and out of their houses.”

MAYOR RON MOZER “And I don’t know how they’re going to do it. They’ve got to manage traffic. They’ve got to get people in and out of their houses. It’s going to be a huge logistics issue, and it’s something that I don’t think that they’ve solved yet.”

The sewage authority hopes to start the sewer separation in the summer or spring of this year. Authority representatives emphasized that the city needs to begin the project as soon as possible to utilize grant funds received for sewer separation.

Mozer emphasized that the city and the authority have been given till the end of next year by the DEP to complete the project.

According to Mozer, to allow the authority to move forward with the sewer separation project, city council would have to approve a change to the cooperative agreement between the city and the authority. Mozer said their current cooperation agreement still mentions the tank project, and they would have to change it so it applies to the sewer separation project.

Under the cooperative agreement, the authority is collecting a $27 sewer line maintenance fee for customers in Monessen. Mozer explained that due to the agreement, $5.50 is going toward the sewage overflow project, and the rest goes to the city.

Concerns

Councilman Anthony Orzechowski raised the concern of what would happen if the project were to go over its estimated costs. Authority representatives said they have around $4.75 million available to do the project.

“Let’s look for a second and say, as you go along in this project, change orders start coming in,” Orzechowski said. “What are you doing once it eclipses the $3.8 million?

“I’m asking point blank, the $3.8 million, if, when this gets close to the end, and there’s all kinds of change orders and it costs more than that, who’s paying it? That’s all I want to know. I want to simply know. I don’t want somebody coming back from the sewage authority or anywhere else and say, ‘Hey, city, we got to raise whatever because we’re short $700,000 or something like that.’” Authority representatives said they have contingency funds in case the project exceeds its estimated costs. They emphasized that they believe that the project will stay within the boundaries of the money they have saved for it.

Mozer said council is working on having one of its members as a liaison with the sewage authority to help oversee the progress of the project.

Steve Walko, chairman of the Mon Valley Sewage board, encourages people to come to its board meetings to ask questions. It will take place 4:30 p.m. Monday at 20 S. Washington St. in Donora.

According to city Solicitor Joseph Dalfonso, they could potentially have a new agreement for council to vote on by its next regular meeting Jan. 22. Dalfonso also mentioned that this might be the best option for the city unless they want to face the cost of the equalization tank project.

“The mayor said there’s no alternative, but there is,” Dalfonso said, “It’s not a good one. It’s to build an $8 million or $9 million EQ tank on Parente Boulevard, which will 100% cause the city to increase the line usage fund by $4 or $8 a month.”