2012 Sanitary Sewer Maintenance Program

Welcome back!

At tonight's Borough Council meeting, I seconded a motion to accept the bid from Utility Services Group (USG) to perform our Sanitary Sewer Maintenance for the amount of $9,906.65. This motion was passed by unanimous consent.  This amount is well under the budgeted amount of $25,000 the Council had previously approved for this project.

We received five bids for the program, ranging from the accepted bid to $26,758.75.  The winning bid comes from a company in Camp Hill which has done this type of work for other local municipalities. The bid includes Linear Cleaning of 12,605 feet of municipal lines, the cleaning of 47 manholes and visual inspection via camera telescoping of the 8" diameter pipes (12,605').  This maintenance is necessary to keep accumulations from building up inside the piping. USG was one of the only companies to actually come to our Borough and inspect the work they were bidding on, in order to have all the information necessary to give the most accurate, and in the end, best bid.

The alternate bid was also awarded to USG for the amount of $2,515.60. This bid includes the same services, but for 3,220 linear feet of pipe and 11 manhole covers.  The alternate bids ranged from the accepted bid and $6,735.00.

The disparitiy between the bids had to do mostly with the company's proximity to our area. The other bids from companies outside the area included travel and lodging costs for the workers, which inflated their amounts.

In other business, the Council will be putting together the 2013 Budget for the next meeting to be held on October 24th. Borough Manager Scott Cook will be meeting with Council members over the next two weeks to gain input on the budget so that it can be presented by the next meeting.  Also, Borough Solicitor Campbell informed the Council that the ordinance proposed previously concerning couches on porches could be incorporated into current ordinances for rubbish and debris accumulation on properties. Council approved advertising the amendment to the current ordinance for a future vote.

I am happy that the Council was able to save the Borough over $15,000 in budgeted expenses on the Sanitary Sewer Maintenance program. These savings can be put to use to provide other much-needed services for our citizens, such as the Internet Communications Platform Resolution which I have been trying to pass through the Council the past few months, participation in the Hanover Area Regional Economic Development Committee, new membership in the Adams County Council of Governments (McSherrystown is one of only three municipalities in the county who is not a member), as well as other worthwhile endevors.

I invite anyone who has comments, questions or concerns to contact me via email at councilmanbolton@gmail.com.  Thanks for reading my post, and thank you for allowing me to serve the community.

David "Scotty" Bolton
McSherrystown Borough Council member and citizen