On the (Re-Paved) Road to Higher Water Rates

One could be forgiven for believing most matters of discussion at a water and sewer authority have to do with matters of water and sewage.

And to be sure, they do.

In that particular vein, the authority board unanimously (absent David Renn) officially approved the 14 percent hike in water and sewer rates that it tentatively approved in May.

The average household will pay about $35 more per year for water as the result of the vote.

The increase will generate additional revenues of $350,000 in 2017 and about $700,000 when the new fees have been in place for a full year by the end of 2018, according to Robert Plenderleith, the borough’s utilities administrator.

Much of that will go into the authority’s capital budget, which is being used according to a regularly updated five-year plan to repair and replace aging infrastructure in a water and sewer system now nearly 100 years old.

Repairs to that aging infrastructure -- and in particular the re-paving of the streets once that infrastructure is in place -- was of particular concern during Tuesday's authority board meeting.

Member Tom Carroll confirmed that when the authority re-paves a borough street after pipe work has been done, it is done "curb to curb."

Public Works Director Doug Yerger also said that when borough roads are re-paved from the liquid fuels fund simply because it needs it, it too is re-paved from curb to curb.

But if drivers of High Street were hoping for the same treatment, they will be disappointed. The $4 million water line re-placement that began last year and will continue on Aug. 2, when connections along Washington, Adams and Bailey streets will begin.

As engineer Tom Weld explained, because High Street is owned by the state, the curb-to-curb rule does not apply, so only the northern side of the street will be re-paved.

The final paving schedule for High Street will "hopefully" be finalized by the end of the month, according to Yerger.

As for keeping those streets clean, that's not happening any more.

Also under Carroll's questioning, Borougth (and authority) Manager Mark Flanders confirmed the last three years of annual street sweeping was paid through a $500,000 settlement with the Pottstown Landfill several years ago in exchange for treating the closed landfill's dwindling leachate run-off.

But after using some of the money to buy the trademark blue recycling containers, the rest went toward removing the 160 to 212 tons of grit off the streets each year.

"But that money is now exhausted," said Flanders. To pay for more street sweeping would require something else not being paid for.

Carroll offered the opinion that dirty streets keep "the kind of people we want to attract" from buying homes in the borough, and instead leads to residents who "don't care."

"I take pride in the upkeep of my house," said Carroll. "Seeing what's going on in other towns, if I could sell my house and get out of this town I would because I am tired of looking at the filth."

On that happy note, here are the Tweets from last night's borough authority meeting.

Paving the Way on the New Road of a New Day

Ever since I bought my house in Pottstown, I have been mildly puzzled by the fact that one block of my street looks like it was hit by a steady barrage of mortar shells, but my block is, by comparison at least, as smooth as glass.

Of course, because like many streets in the borough, mine is one-way, I have to drive through the mine-field to get to my block.

In fact, when returning home, I usually turn in one block away from mine and take a cross street so as to avoid that mine-field.

Now granted, this is less of a hardship for me, then for my poor neighbors who have no choice but to put their car suspension at risk if they want to park in front of their house.

So today I bring good news. That block is one of the roughly 23 blocks scheduled to be paved this season, along with five more scheduled to be repaired.

The map was provided to Borough Council on Aug. 8 and to me, after some cajoling, on Aug. 15 by Doug Yerger, the borough's director of public works.

Now, I understand I need to temper my excitement with the understanding that nothing is guaranteed.

Yerger told council that he had money available, as usual, from the "liquid fuels fund." This is derived from the state tax on gasoline and must be used for road-related expenses.

But he could not tell if the money available will be enough to complete all the roads shown on the map.

"We had estimated $600,000, but we've got a little over $500,000 a little, so we'll have to cut back a little bit. We'll get as much done as we can," Yerger said.

I don't know about you, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and maybe I won't have to keep taking cross streets.

Below is a list of the streets scheduled for paving as best I can make out from the map:

• Glasgow Street, from Walnut Street to Elm Street;
• West King Street, from Berks Street to halfway between Potts Drive and Gabel Street;
• Gabel Street, from High Street to King Street;
• Fifth Street, from State Street to Johnson Street;
• Johnson Street, from Sixth Street to Seventh Street;
• Fourth Street, from York Street to North Hanover Street;
• Wilson Street, from Farmington Avenue to North Hanover Street;
• Penn Street, from King Street to Buttonwood Alley;
• Warren Street, from High Street to Chestnut Street;
• Adams Street, from King Street to Chestnut Street;
• Adams Street, from Jefferson Avenue to Jackson Street;
• Beech Street, from Adams Street to Thomas Street;
• Price Street, from Rambler Street to Bellview Street;
• Cedar Street, from Rambler Street to Beech Street;
• Hillside Street, from Maple Street to Rose Court;
• Rose Court, from Cherry Lane to Sunrise Drive;
• Prospect Street, from Spruce Street to Charlotte Street;
• Mineral Street from Logan Street to Feist Avenue.

On the schedule for repairs are:

• Berks Street, from Walnut Street to West King Street;
• West Street, from North Franklin Street to North Washington Street;
• Grant Street, from Morris Street to Jackson Street;
• North Washington Street, from Wilson Street to Prospect Street;

Well, I think that's all of them. 

Good luck Public Works, let's hope the weather holds, costs are low and work speedy.