Sewer plant contracts approved

(7/10) The Emmitsburg Board of Commissioners approved two contracts at their July 2 meeting as the municipality winds its way towards completion of a new wastewater treatment facility.

The commission voted to award the facility construction contract to Conewago Enterprises Inc. Hanover, Pennsylvania, in the amount of 13,430,780.

The commission also awarded Rummel, Klepper & Kahl, LLP, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, a contract to provide construction management and inspection in the amount of $840,763.

The votes for each were unanimous, with commission member Patrick Joy absent.

Both commission-approved contracts have to be sent to the US Department of Agriculture (DOA) and the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) for their reviews and approvals before the contracts can actually be consummated.

The town is being requirement by the state to construct a new facility to enable the Emmitsburg to meet federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards, all the result of efforts that environmental agencies claim will help clean up the Chesapeake Bay.

The new facility is expected to be online in "late summer of 2014," with construction slated to begin in 2012, and will be located in the area of the current treatment plant east of Route 15 on Creamery Road.

Town Manager David Haller previously stated that the state-of-the-art project will cost around $20 million, and about "$50,000 more per quarter to operate than the existing plant."

Of the anticipated $20 million price tag, $14.5 million will be provided to the town via grant money from the MDE and the DOA. In addition, DOA will be providing the town with a $5.5 million loan bearing a 2.4 percent interest rate payable over 40 years.

The commission previously voted to implement a user rate increase needed to pay for the balance of the cost for the new facility that won’t be covered by grant money, and for any accrued debt service.

The rate increase will occur in two phases. The full rate increase in is expected to generate $1,105,923 by the time the new plant goes online in 2014.