Township Supervisors Approve Sewage Part Replacement
Fox Hollow residents are not experiencing any sewage problems despite the local treatment plant needed a part replacement.
by Jonathan Weaver
East Franklin Township supervisors unanimously approved the purchase of a piece of equipment at its Fox Hollow treatment plant.
Working Supervisor and Plant Operator David Stewart said the comminutor – similar to a grinder pump and used to cut up raw sewage before purification treatment – has been patched for years with plastic parts for economic reasons, but now the metal housing needs repaired.
“We don’t have to buy one – we just have to repair it,” Stewart said.
The rusted machine took about three hours to take apart, but will be put back together in about an hour by Stewart with the new parts.
The seven parts needed – including a drum, two bearings and two seals - will ultimately cost more than $1,700, and will be ordered from Dynatec Machine in Florence, Ky. factory-direct as soon as paperwork is completed.
The machine, required by the Department of Environmental Protection, is not causing any problems for Fox Hollow residents, as Stewart put another mesh basket inside.
“That comminutor was put in in `07 at a cost of $6,250 – so it lasted eight years,” Stewart said. “I was getting ready to buy a whole new comminutor because I couldn’t find parts.”
A control panel failure at the Boltz pump station also caused him to order a new disconnect switch.
Work crews went from plowing salt and shoveling snow, but now Roadmaster Ron Lithgow said employees are patching leftover potholes and putting limestone on dirt roads
Crews are also replacing six-inch street signs to larger eight-inch ones as required by Pennsylvania Department of Transportation incrementally.
Starting in either November or December, Lithgow said employees have been replacing about six street signs per month. The new requirement affects the entire township
Supervisors also agreed to hire Cottrill Arbutina and Associates of Beaver to fulfill the township and township real estate audits for 2014, 15 and 16.
It’ll cost about $1,000 for the 2014 audits, but the cost will rise about $300 each year after.
Trash week will be held Wednesday, April 29 through Saturday, May 2
Local News | jweaver March 25, 2015
