EBENSBURG — Borough Council awarded a Butler County company a contract Monday night to complete a large-scale wastewater infrastructure project.

Sippel Development Co. Inc. of Zelienople was the lowest of seven bidders on the project with a base bid of $8,420,967.

In October, the borough was approved for a $9 million Pennvest loan for the project.

Pennvest — the Pennsylvania Infrastructure and Investment Authority — awards grants and low-interest loans to municipalities for water and wastewater upgrades.

Council President Doug Tusing said that while neither the borough nor its engineer, L.R. Kimball, has worked with Sippel Development before, he is confident in the contractor to complete the project properly.

“We are comfortable with the work they can complete,” Tusing said.

Sippel will be responsible for the completion of sanitary improvement projects that will cover “nearly 80 percent of the borough.”

Sippel’s original bid was for the the replacement of 60,500 feet of main line piping at a total of $8,973,073.

After the Ebensburg Municipal Authority reviewed the project, Tusing said the authority recommended that the borough eliminate part of the project that was to be done on West High Street.

“It would be very disruptive to complete the project there,” Tusing said, referring to the large influx of traffic on West High Street.

Tusing also said that West High Street was recently resurfaced, and the borough did not wish to once again pave the road after completion of the project.

Only a “small portion” of West High Street will be affected by the infrastructure project, Tusing said.

Council also addressed concerns of unresolved easements for the project.

When the project was first announced, “approximately 300” easements were sent out to affected properties.

Tusing said that many of the easements have been resolved, but about 50 remain unresolved.

With the project expected to begin in April, Tusing said that residents “need to resolve” easements in order for the project to begin.

“For anyone that has an outstanding easement, it’s in their best interest to handle this civilly and not have to go through a legal process,” Tusing said. “It’s imperative that all residents cooperate to get this resolved.”

If residents fail to have easements resolved, Tusing said the borough will take legal action.

“We’re going to file condemnations within the next week or so,” Tusing said, adding that the project cannot begin until condemnations are filed. “We have to move forward with this project.”

After receiving an audit of the 2017 budget in which council found recent decreases in water revenue, changes to the borough’s water rate structure may soon be addressed.

Borough Manager Dan Penatzer said that revenue from water distribution has dropped because of “recent customer repairs and strategies.”

The borough has over 2,000 customers, Penatzer said, but an estimated 30 percent of revenue comes from five large customers.

With repairs being made to leaking waterlines and customers finding more efficient ways to save water, Penatzer said revenue has continued to drop for water sales.

One major customer, Penatzer said, recently began recycling water, which impacts the borough’s revenue.

“Our expenses have stayed the same,” Penatzer said. “Unfortunately, with our customers cutting down on their water usage, our income has gone down.”

Because of revenue decreasing, Penatzer said that water rates for residents “may increase.”

Penatzer did not say when or by how much the borough will plan to alter water rates, but he said he “does not expect increases to be substantial.”