The minutes of the June meeting were approved and the payroll and invoices approved as presented. Bills included $6,000 to Lisa Guthrie for the audit.
Mr. Lingenfelter gave the engineer's report. The Authority has given Notice of Intent to Award bids for the Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade to Lobar, Inc. (general construction, $9,208,000) and G R Noto (electrical, $923,000). The bonds and insurances from the contractors have been received.
Because the combined value of the bids exceeded the Opinion of Construction Costs by $2,054,900, the Authority decided to ask for additional funding from PennVest. The additional fund "are on the docket" and are expected to be approved on July 22 by PennVest.
If the increase is granted as expected, the project will move forward. A Letter of No Prejudice will allow the Authority to proceed with its own funding until Penn-Vest funds are approved.
The project also needs a submission for Disadvantaged Business Enterprise from PennVest. The submission has been in their possession for a month and the approval is expected shortly.
After the funds are approved, the Authority will hold a conference call with PennVest on July 23, at which time a date for the closing will be scheduled.
If all goes as expected, the contracts will be signed and a pre-construction meeting will be held, perhaps on August 10. The Authority will not issue a Notice to Proceed to the contractors until all the approvals have been given and all is in order. The contractors will provide preliminary schedules of work to be performed.
Canton Borough and Canton Townships are guarantors of record of the borrowing for the project. Additional approval will be needed from those municipalities because of the extra funds to be requested. This will be explained to the elected officials before approval is requested.
Mr. Lingenfelter noted that under the new revised floodplain maps, part of the Authority's property lies in the floodplain (although not any section where construction will take place). Because of the presence of the floodplain, Canton Borough must issue a floodplain permit in order for the project to proceed. Since the fee is based on a percentage of the cost of the project, the permit fee would be around $20,000. This will be discussed with the Borough.
Mr. Hilfiger reported that no bulk water was sold to gas drillers in May or June, although 389,000 gallons (valued at $6,200) was sold to bulk haulers in June and an additional 75,000 gallons ($1,200) in July. In 2015 a total of 12,200,000 gallons has been sold, valued at $195,000.
Three RBC units are in operation at the Sewage treatment Plant, The effluent still is within the levels set by the permit. During the recent storms, the plant experienced high flows, so checks are being made for infiltration and inflow.
The power station for the former Swayze facility experienced a power outage and Penelec installed a new transformer. The station was operated with a generator for one day.
The tank was rebuilt, new controls, piping and pump were added to the grinder pump at Scott Palmer's. In all, thirty-one grinder pumps have been refurbished with new internal piping and rebuilt or new pumps, and fifteen also have new controls. Plans are for a few of the remaining twenty units to be rebuilt each year.
So far, the Authority has spent $1,045,556 on the sewer plant upgrade. $728,500 has been borrowed from the water end of the business. $158,073 was borrowed from the sewer equipment replacement fund and $158,983 fro general sewer funds. Nothing has been used on the line of credit from First Citizens Community Bank.
$600 was received from Bradford County Collections as restitution in the Brenda Mott Case. This makes a total of $77,392.46 returned and leaves a balance of $251,651.44 as per the civil suit agreement.
Bradford County Collections also submitted $37,50 to the Authority in June as restitution in the Jerry Chilson case.
The Authority collected $2,169 in stormwater surcharges for Canton Borough in June.
The board held an executive session after the meeting for legal matters.