Antrim public works director wants a quick fix

Public works director Carl Rundquist asked Antrim Township Municipal Authority for permission to conduct emergency repairs on lift station 17. He had obtained a proposal from one company, and thought time was of the essence.

“It costs more to be reactive than proactive,” he said on Oct. 27. “If it breaks, we will have to have a pumper out there while an immediate repair is done. I wish I had done this earlier.”

The pumps at the station had been subject to many breakdowns, and if both were out of order at the same time, there would be a major problem, he said.

ATMA members were leery of not getting three bids for the job. Chad Murray, Dale Hostetter,  Rodney Eberly and Bob Coladonato told him to get two more prices, but he had the power to act if an emergency situation occurred.

Coladonato presented an updated sewer service area map. The one ATMA approved in 2010 needed a change. The board had inadvertently left out a section by Harshman Road in Kauffman when it made recommendations to the board of supervisors four years ago. The supervisors rejected ATMA’s map anyway, but Coladonato hoped they would reconsider and adopt the 2014 version.

“Antrim Township often followed topography, roads, zones and property lines to set the sewer service area,” he said. ATMA instead went by serviceable areas surrounding the lift stations.

The other areas Coladonato showed that were different from the township’s map were on Grant Shook Road, Worleytown Road, Route 16 by Willowdale and tiny areas in State Line.

ATMA had already approached the township about accepting its recommendations, and the supervisors were open to doing so.