Minutes of Public Works Committee Meeting, April 25, 2005

In attendance: Committee members Jim Godderz, chair, Putty Willetts, and Borough Manager Jane Billings. Joanna Jacobs was unable to attend.

1. The meeting was called to order at 7:33 p.m.

2. There were no public comments.

3. Minutes from the September 27, 2004 meeting were reviewed and approved unanimously.

4. The first item of business was reviewing the proposed street repair and resurfacing projects and budget for 2005. There is currently $42,000 in the budget for repairs/resurfacing. The areas most in need of significant resurfacing include sections of Swarthmore Avenue, Walnut Lane, and Odgen Avenue. We have received no public requests for any specific areas to be addressed. There are also a number of potholes that need repair on Michigan and other assorted streets. Aqua has done significant work on Walnut and Ogden and we have negotiated with them to pay $16,500 for repairs to these areas, thereby increasing our available budget to $58,500. It is anticipated that this amount will be sufficient to cover the majority of the areas identified, but will exhaust the streets budget for the year. The current contract for street repair runs through June 30. The Committee will request authorization to bid out a new contract in June for the 2005 repairs.

5. The next issue of business was reviewing the proposed sanitary sewer repair and restoration. We do not have any specific plans or recommendations, but are currently involved in our annual review of sewer lines. Generally, approximately one seventh of the total sewer system is televised and reviewed to determine the state of the system and identify any areas that require repair or replacement.

6. The routine sanitary sewer maintenance will commence next month. This is the general preventative work and maintenance the Borough undertakes to keep the sewers in good operating condition and does not include any repair/replacement work.

7. The Committee then received an extremely interesting, yet somewhat troubling, report from the Borough Manager regarding the DELCORA sanitary sewer metering program. This program requires each municipality to contribute into a fund for a new metering program to determine the amount of sanitary sewer flow coming from each municipality using the DELCORA pump station and sewage treatment plant. Swarthmore’s sewage is fed into the DELCORA regional pump station in Ridley. Individual community assessments are determined by the Central Delaware County Authority (CDCA) which currently bills out on a per household basis which does not take into consideration the actual volume of sewage created, nor does it count the amount of street run off and/or clean water that gets into the sewage system, as is commonly referred to as I&I, or inflow and infiltration. In order to make the assessments more equitable and since there is currently no way to determine the specific volume of sewage emanating from any specific community, DELCORA is proposing to require each of the communities it services to install meters to be able to assess these volumes. The total number of required meters will be shared equally by all of the communities, with an expected cost for Swarthmore of approximately $63,000 for the purchase and installation of the meters. There will be an additional $36,000 annual fee to operate, service, and record data from these meters. Therefore total expenditure for meters and operating expenses would be approximately $100,000 for the first year. DELCORA is offering an opportunity to amortize these costs over a five year period which would equate to approximately $51,000 annually for five years to pay for the meters and operating fees for the first five years. The objective of this project is to provide incentives for all communities to reduce the amount of I&I they discharge in order to reduce their sewage treatment costs. Depending upon the volume of sewage actually deposited to DELCORA communities may pay more or less than their current allocation. In short, this project will result in a considerable initial increase in sewage treatment costs unless Swarthmore’s actual volume is substantially below the current allocation. Since Swarthmore now pays approximately $425,000 annually for sewage treatment, it would have to realize approximately twelve percent reduction overall to compensate for the annualized $50,000 increase in costs attributable to the metering project.

8. The final agenda item was a brief acknowledgement of the pending requests for equipment purchases. Among the items anticipated to be requested by the Public Works Department are a replacement pick-up truck, front-end loader, and a recycling trailer. Borough Council rejected the request from the Public Works department for a new pick-up truck to replace the 1988 ¾ ton Dodge truck that is exhibiting multitudes of mechanical and cosmetic problems due to other budgetary constraints, notwithstanding the inevitable increased costs required to keep the truck operational. The Borough Manager edified the Committee by informing us that this will be the last year of grants available from recycling programs that are funded by guaranteed tipping fees from landfills. The Borough is eligible to receive 90% of the cost of equipment that is used exclusively for recycling purposes, or for the portion of the equipment used for this purpose. Proposals for this grant are due by June 14 and Ms. Billings will submit a proposal for the front-end loader and recycling trailer that is used to assist the Borough’s recycling activities. Since this will be the Borough’s last opportunity to take advantage of this grant, we remain hopeful that we will receive and be able to use these monies to defray some of the expenses of these purchases.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Committee Chair Jim Godderz.