North Fayette County Municipal Authority OKs plan for water facility
North Fayette County Municipal Authority on Tuesday agreed to begin preliminary planning for the construction of a new water treatment plant.
Richard Barnett, an engineer from Senate Engineering Company's Uniontown office, on Tuesday reviewed costs of purchasing water from another authority, rehabilitating the plant or constructing a new facility.
Barnett said the best option was the construction of a new plant. He said it would be most effective while providing the authority with the best control of costs.
The new plant would provide the authority with the ability to maintain control of the source of its customer's water.
That might not be the case if the authority were to purchase water from another source.
He explained, if another authority, likely the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County, were to upgrade its treatment plant, it would pass part of the costs to North Fayette. After 40 years, the Westmoreland authority could cut North Fayette off as well as limit the amount of water provided to North Fayette. Barnett pointed out that MAWC might restrict the water available to North Fayette limiting expansion of new industrial and commercial customers.
Robert Softcheck, authority manager, said the MAWC plant may need costly maintenance because of its age.
The expected cost of building a new plant will be about $28.9 million. Authority customers can expect to pay about $5.10 more per month to pay for the plant's financing, according to Barnett.
“Let's go,” said authority chairman Philip Mahoney after the presentation, adding he believes the authority board has shown “due diligence.”
The board authorized Senate Engineering to begin assembling a team of planners to begin the process. Barnett will return to the board in January to present the initial group of planners.
Ken Hillman, project manager for Senate Engineering, said he had informed Coastal Lumber Company the authority was interested in the purchase of 292 acres, part of which will be used for the construction of the new treatment plant.
Hillman said he had not heard back and did not have a figure for the cost of the property. However, an amount had been figured into the review of different proposals presented by Barnett.
Solicitor Doug Sepic was asked about the procedure and how much time it might take if the authority would have to go through eminent domain proceedings.
He said it can take six months and the authority would only be able to take a plot of land large enough for the facilities.
Barnett said the time from planning through completion of construction would probably be five years.
In other actions, the board:
• Approved a five-year collective bargaining unit agreement with the authority's union.
• Approved changes to the non-union and managerial employees handbook.
Karl Polacek is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at kpolacek@tribweb.com or 724-626-3538.
