Bids come in low

 Bids for the Madison Street water main replacement project came in lower

than the pre-bid estimate of $800,000, and members of Greencastle Area

Franklin County Water Authority awarded the job to the lowest responsible

bidder March 2.

In a postponed meeting from February, Gregory Rock and Jason Gerhart

conversed with Robert Miller via speakerphone in order to have a quorum.

Gannett Fleming engineer Rachel Govelovich said the nine bids ranged from

$578,231 to $797,240.

³We were pleased with how the bids came in,² she said. ³The competitiveness

did help.²

Wexcon Inc. from Mohrsville edged David H. Martin Excavating, Chambersburg,

by $1,000. Because all the paperwork was in order, solicitor Jan Sulcove

said the board did not have discretion to select the local company for the

project.

Wexcon will commence work once its bonding and insurance is in place, and

documents have undergone a final engineering and legal review.

Another step done

GAFCWA accepted a letter of credit for Heritage Estates West, as final

details on an agreement with the developer were achieved. Tom Mongold had

submitted a $100,000 check to help finance the water main extension to his

subdivision on Buchanan Trail West.

Authority manager Kenneth Womack was reluctant to give Gannett Fleming the

green light to start design work until the next payment arrived May 2.

Govelovich said they could advertise in August, start construction in

December and be finished by mid-March 2012, which would not interfere with

PennDOT¹s scheduled work in the area.

In other business, Womack said delinquent water/sewer bills had been sent

out for the last quarter, under the new rules for penalties on non-payment.

In the past the authority would typically stake 110 properties, but only

have to shut off service to seven or eight customers. There were now two

tiers of fees to encourage timely remittance, and a $20 charge if a notice

of termination was posted. The reconnection fee also increased from $30 to

$50. He hoped the stiffer fines would curtail late payments.

GAFCWA will also meet on its regular date of March 21.