Borough seeks grants, picks sewer contractor / By Martha Knight

The Port Allegany Borough Council adopted a flurry of resolutions and made project related decisions Monday night.

In one decision the five members present agreed to accept Greenland Construction, Inc., of Clearfield as successful bidder on this summer’s sanitary line replacement project.

Greenland’s base bid of $537,427 topped the not-to-exceed amount for the project, so engineer David Neill of EADS Group recommended adjusting the scope of the work to bring Greenland’s contract within that limit.

The borough will pay 25 percent of the project cost, receiving the remainder through a PennWorks grant obtained jointly with Liberty Township. The township is using its much larger grant on a project that will extend water and sewer lines two miles southward from the borough, into an area along Route 155 South.

The borough funding will utilize a portion of the reserve fund dedicated to just such projects.

Sewer laterals will be replaced along part of Mill Street, Harrison Street between Elm and Hickory, part of Hillside Avenue and all of Hickory Street.

Another application for funding was approved, with borough manager Dick Kallenborn and other staff to handle details, to receive state funding to cover land acquisition for the flood protection project. The application, due within a week or two, is to the Department of Community and Economic Development, and would tap revenues from shale drilling impact fees. Kallenborn said it would not be drawn from McKean County’s portion of Act 13 fee money, which the county will distribute to municipalities for eligible projects.

The flood mitigation grant will require a 15 percent local match, Kallenborn said. He noted the borough has $100,000 set aside for its contribution toward the dike project. The borough is responsible for land acquisition and rights-of-way.

A potential source of $200,000 for that purpose, the Appalachia Regional Commission (ARC), may not be practical, Kallenborn said, because of provisos that could cost as much as the grant: additional impact studies, and a “federal administrator.”

The borough will receive a 75 percent reimbursement from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) for its costs of replacing sewer and water lines affected by PennDOT’s reconstruction of the South Main Street bridge over Lillibridge Creek next year.

The replacement lines will be drilled under the streambed, Kallenborn said. Also, water lines will follow a more practical circuit.

In another resolution, Karen Reed was appointed formally to the position of borough secretary. Predecessor Susan Roboski’s retirement became effective after last month’s meeting, but the council already had agreed that Reed would fill the position.

Reed opened five bids on the 2006 Chevy Impala police car, recently replaced by a new cruiser. The car was awarded to part-time patrolman Kyle Day, whose bid of $2,000 topped the others.

High school students Casey Vollnor and Christian Moses, both 11th graders, attended the meeting as part of their American Government course. They took notes, and asked questions in the general public comment portion of the agenda.

Kallenborn reported that water runoff is being addressed by cleaning and replacing some sluices. Heavy rain falls have washed out some berms, requiring restoration work. Blacktop is being applied to mend pavement cuts made for utility repairs.

The borough manager’s report also mentioned work done by civic groups to provide floral décor downtown. Borough labor and “a dedicated veteran” had cleaned the veteran memorials on the Square, but often “we can’t get [volunteer] help to do things,” Kallenborn lamented.

Vice-president Sam Dynda presided in the absence of Andrew Johnson. Judy Taylor was the other absentee.