Good news for the Bradford City Water Authority came earlier this week with the announcement of a $660,000 grant for an upcoming project.
Awarded through the Local Share Account program, which is funded through state gaming revenue, the grant is for replacement of a water line along U.S. Route 219.
Steve Disney, executive director of the authority, said, “The authority is very excited to learn of the LSA grant award to Bradford City Water Authority in the amount of $660,000 for replacement of a water line along Route 219 from Minard Run Road to East Warren Road. This section has been very problematic for us and we are looking forward to addressing the issues.”
A few miles down the road, another part of that same water line is on target for replacement. A project to replace part of an 8-inch water main on a portion of South Avenue between Owens Way and the cul-de-sac on the “old” South Avenue was awarded to low bidder Continental Construction Co. Inc. of Ridgway earlier this week for $497,152.50.
“Essentially it is all the same 8-inch ductile iron water main that has been very problematic for us over the years due to numerous leaks and breaks,” Disney explained after the meeting. “We’re just trying to tackle individual segments at a time, targeting the worst segments.”
The authority had been awarded an ARPA grant of $265,000 for this part of the project, and must provide matching funds to meet the project cost.
At the meeting, Disney gave an update on the Marilla Brook Crossing project, explaining that contractor Cummins Construction has not addressed issues regarding complaints received regarding the restoration of this project.
“Formal written correspondence was issued to Cummins Construction notifying them of the restoration failures,” he said. “The contract specifications clearly illustrate the requirements for lawn area restoration. The board set a deadline for these restoration activities to be completed, that deadline is October 31, 2024. If they are not satisfactorily completed, the authority will proceed to address them and associated costs deducted from Cummins contract.”
In an update regarding the water meter replacement project, Disney said the authority conducted the required planning and consultation meeting with PENNVEST and the Department of Environmental Protection. The deadline for this meeting was Oct. 30 for this project to be considered for funding at PENNVEST’s January meeting.
“At that January board meeting, PENNVEST will decide which projects get funded and if those funds will be 100% loans or loans/grants,” Disney said. “Many factors go into their grading scale including current debt and rate structures. Original project costs under Johnson Controls was near $5.5 million, however, funding being considered for this project currently has been reduced to $4.12 million.”
Two documents, required by PENNVEST to request funding, were approved.
The authority has successfully formulated and uploaded its Service Line Inventory to the DEP by the deadline, which was Oct. 16. This service line inventory is constantly changing as customers are added or closed out, and the authority will provide annual updates to DEP.
Ken Kane, of Generations Forestry, provided an update on the timber inventory. The recent string of warm, dry weather has allowed good progress to be made on the boulder blowdown timber sale. Weather permitting, it should be completed within the next two weeks. The Firth ash salvage project is 100% complete. A fourth-quarter timber sale of approximately 500,000 board feet is being planned on the Interstate Parkway areas that received an ash salvage harvest in 2018-19. The overstory will now be removed.
