The state Department of Environmental Protection has surprised
local officials with a letter detailing the drafting of a revised
consent order and agreement that would include fining
municipalities for failure to reach a sewer service agreement.
The notice, sent Aug. 7, notified the Bradford Sanitary
Authority that a revised consent order and agreement – imposed in
2007 due to missed deadlines and sewage overflows – was currently
in draft stage.
“I had no idea this was coming, by the way,” authority Chairman
Dan Hartle told his fellow board members as he discussed the
revision during the group’s monthly meeting Tuesday.
The area municipalities – Bradford City, Bradford Township,
Lewis Run, Foster Township and Lafayette Township – and their
respective sanitary authorities have still not come to a sewer
service agreement, which was supposed be submitted to DEP by June
9. The sewer agreement is to detail how the municipalities will
finance and tackle the Act 537 Sewage Facilities Plan – a blueprint
for updating Seaward Avenue’s aging sewage treatment plant, raising
its maximum capacity, and eliminating all sewer overflows.
Bradford Township Supervisor Chairman Don Cummins has requested
another special meeting between local officials and a
representative of the Department of Environmental Protection to
further discuss the sewer service agreement. Hartle agreed at
Tuesday’s meeting that it is a good idea, but he wants to take
“another stab” at fixing the language of the current sewer
agreement proposal before resorting to another special meeting.
Unless the stalemate ends soon, losses could start piling up for
local government.
According to figures supplied by local engineer Al Vanderpoel, a
municipality would be fined $1,000 per month for each sewer
overflow. A $15,000 fine would be imposed if all overflows are not
eliminated by 2014.
Bradford City, Bradford Township, Lafayette Township and Lewis
Run would each face a $100 daily fine until they pass their
respective Act 537 plans.
Foster Township – the only local municipality to have a
completed Act 537 Plan – would be fined $300 daily until it amends
its plan to include the sewer service agreement. A first-day fine
of $5,000 would also be imposed on the township – all this despite
Foster Township being the only municipality to successfully pass an
Act 537 plan, in 2005.
“It doesn’t make sense to me,” Vanderpoel said.
As a concession, DEP would release new sewer hook-ups, known as
EDUs, to the townships under this revised consent order and
agreement. The agency has been withholding EDUs under the current
consent order and agreement as a punishment for overflows and
missed deadlines.
“There’s a number of projects being held up, most notably
Pitt-Bradford wanting new dorms,” Vanderpoel said. In June, the
university requested 33 EDUs to facilitate a new dormitory, but
DEP’s restrictions have stalled those plans.
The municipalities have until Sept. 22 to respond to DEP’s draft
revision. All five must agree on the revision for it to be enacted,
though that seems unlikely at this point. Cummins has already made
it known that Bradford Township will oppose a revised consent order
and agreement.
One bright spot of Tuesday’s meeting was the announcement that
the authority has received official confirmation that it will get a
$1 million H2O grant from the state. The cost of the sewage upgrade
project has been estimated to be in the $20 million range, which
would likely result in a sewer tax hike for area residents.
According to one of the more recent drafts of the sewer service
agreement proposal, the project’s cost would be split up as
follows: Bradford City, 57 percent; Foster Township, 18 percent;
Bradford Township, 16 percent; Lafayette Township, 5 percent; and
Lewis Run Borough, 4 percent. But Lewis Run has contested those
numbers, which has delayed a finalized sewer service agreement.
“It seems to me the DEP doesn’t have a technical problem with
the Act 537,” engineer Jack Rae said. “It’s just not an approvable
agreement because it doesn’t have a financing plan yet.”
Area officials unhappy with possible
changes
Area officials have not reacted favorably to the possibility of
a revised consent and order agreement from the state Department of
Environmental Protection.
“Obviously, the municipalities were trying to work together
efficiently as possible to be in full agreement,” Bradford Mayor
Tom Riel said of the sewer service agreement the municipalities are
still trying to hammer out. “But you’re talking about five
municipalities, and you can’t force them to agree with the rest of
the municipalities. We have no control over their way of
thinking.
“For the DEP to want to fine and punish all of the
municipalities … is just wrong.”
Four out of five of the municipalities and their respective
sanitary authorities have signed the agreement’s various forms in
hopes of moving on and being free from DEP restrictions. However,
Lewis Run Borough has refused, saying it doesn’t necessarily want
to pay the cost percentage outlined in the agreement to finance the
Act 537 sewage treatment upgrades.
“I want everything spelled out: what it’s going to cost us;
what’s going to be done,” said Lewis Run Borough Council Chairman
Frank Langianese. “We want some say in the final plan.”
In other comments made Tuesday, Bradford Township Supervisor
Chairman Don Cummins was steadfast in his criticism of the
potential changes.
“It’s time for legislators to get involved here in this
process,” he said. “This was a consent order and agreement that
nobody wanted in the beginning. Nobody wants to sign this other
one.
“Nothing seems to work for these people at DEP. It’s a
bureaucracy out of control.”
In recent months, Cummins has complained about DEP withholding
new sewer hook-ups to the community, halting positive growth.
“It’s a detriment to the economy,” he said. “It’s already cost
us jobs and developers that won’t come in (to the area).”
Cummins also believes that, under the current rules of the
consent order and agreement, municipalities will be able to
eliminate these surcharges.
“With that said, we’re never going to get out of this consent
order unless something is done,” he said.
Lafayette Township Supervisor Chairman John Ryan declined to
comment on the revised consent order and agreement until he spoke
with Bert Clark, head of the Lafayette Township Sanitary
Authority.
Foster Township Supervisor Cary Kaber, who has been involved in
the ongoing Act 537 discussions on behalf of his township, was not
available for comment on Tuesday.
