Metro

Several Reservoir Road residents lambasted Blair Township Water and Sewer Authority engineer Dave Cunningham of Keller Engineers at an authority meeting Wednesday over issues with a sewer project, including a missed a deadline that will keep the authority from using a $2.5 million American Rescue Plan Act grant as initially intended, while putting at risk another $3.8 million Community Development Block Grant for a second phase.

The residents demanded an audit of approximately $600,000 the authority has spent on engineering for the project and called for the authority to fire Keller and to proceed under a new engineering firm.

After that criticism, the board adjourned into an executive session, following which Chairman Jacob Wible declined to discuss what was decided — although the authority can still do the two-phase project while forfeiting only about $500,000 to $700,000 of the ARPA grant and none of the CDBG grant, provided a significant percentage of residents provide free property easements for the work, in contrast to a lack of cooperation with easements so far, according to Cunningham.

The problem with the ARPA deadline for spending the money by Sept. 30 snuck up on the authority largely because Cunningham assumed until about six months ago that it could be extended, as it had been funneled through the state Department of Community and Economic Development, which had always been willing to extend, he has said previously.

Cunningham learned subsequently that it would take an act of Congress to extend the deadline, and despite the efforts of U.S. Rep. John Joyce, no such act was to be forthcoming.

Meeting the deadline wouldn’t have been a problem if not for the state Department of Environmental Protection reversing itself on prior assurances that the township wouldn’t need to rework its Act 537 sewer plan, coupled with delays caused by easement language for the CDBG grant and a requirement for a house-to-house analysis to get PENNVEST funding for a Phase 3, which has for now been postponed, Cunningham has said.

A few months ago, the authority obtained permission to repurpose as much of the ARPA money as it can for sewer projects that were on its capital projects schedule, provided the money could be spent by the deadline.

That ARPA money would be able to replace money that the authority would otherwise be spending over the next five years, such that the money it replaces can go toward the Reservoir Road project, in the form of capital reserves and loans, according to Cunningham.

Because the ARPA program requires a one-third match, the total amount of the projects involved need to be more than the grant money available.

The authority can pay the match out of its reserves, although it has been offered loans amounting to $700,000, Cunningham said.

It will eventually need a loan to handle the full Reservoir Road project, he said.

To use up as much of the ARPA money as possible, the authority plans to spend $363,000 to replace 2,100 feet of sewer line from the intersection of Newry Lane at the Winds through a farm field behind the township offices into a line that goes toward the Hollidaysburg sewer plant, approximately $200,000 more to continue that replacement for 1,700 additional feet; to spend $256,000 to install lining in 3,200 feet of eight-inch line in the Applewood section of the township; to spend $800,000 on installation of five “force” mains that carry sewage that needs to be pumped uphill along Reservoir Road; and $500,000 for five pump stations — new ones along Reservoir Road and replacements for three areas that are already sewered, Cunningham said.

The force mains can be installed on the Reservoir Road project now because they don’t cross streams and so don’t require environmental permits.

There is also the possibility of spending $300,000 for pipe to be used for the Reservoir Road project, although that proposal is on hold due to concerns about securing the pipe and the potential for issues created by its being stored for a significant period before being installed, Cunningham said.

Given the need for the one-third match, the authority would need to spend about $3.7 million on collateral projects to be able to use the full $2.5 million ARPA grant, Cunningham said.

The time pressure now is related to the $3.8 million CDBG grant for Phase 2, which can only be done if Phase 1, the segment that the ARPA money was intended to fund, is done first, because Phase 1 connects indirectly with the Hollidaysburg sewer plant, the destination for the sewage.

The project will need to be underway in significant fashion by midsummer 2027, according to Cunningham.

An extension in spending that money past the current deadline of 2027 will be available, if that progress is occurring, he said, citing a conversation with a county representative who handles CDBG issues.

Permits for the Reservoir Road work will take four to six months, he said.

The biggest challenge will be the easements.

Currently fewer than 20% of the 147 property owners from whom easements are required for Phase 1 and 2 have agreed to donate them.

Residents at Wednesday’s meeting accused the authority of doing a poor job of communicating that need and of assuaging concerns of customers from whom the authority needs the easements.

But there have been four meetings to which customers from whom those easements are needed were invited and at least four sets of letters that spoke of the need for easements, Cunningham said.

The first two meetings had “weak” attendance, and the last two drew “barely anyone,” he said.

The first two sets of letters were easement specific, and the last two were more general, but should have made it clear to those from whom easements are needed what needs to be done, Cunningham said.

The response has been so bad that early in Wednesday’s meeting, board member Ed Silvetti suggested abandoning the project — a suggestion that drew an angry response from some residents.

Some time later, those residents, expressing dissatisfaction with the easement efforts the authority has made so far, called for house-to-house visits so that everyone knows what is expected and what the easements will involve.

The board indicated it will send staffers to do just that.

The residents need to come around on easements soon, according to Wible.

The authority can’t afford the legal fees, the court costs and the reimbursements that would be involved if it needs to use eminent domain to obtain all the easements currently outstanding, officials said.

The authority probably needs at least half the easements to be donated to proceed with the project, Wible said.

That status probably needs to be achieved by the end of this year, so that the authority can exercise eminent domain for the holdouts, given that it can take six months for the process to play out, said solicitor Patrick Fanelli.

The sewer project has been proposed due to the many failing on-lot septics along Reservoir Road.

While some Reservoir Road residents have expressed opposition to the proposed project, mainly if they’d recently spent thousands of dollars updating their on-lot systems, all the ones who spoke Wednesday appeared to be in favor of the work.