SHARPSVILLE

Council awards water basin repair contract

After a lengthy discussion Wednesday evening, Sharpsville council agreed to pay Graciano Corp., Pittsburgh, $54,000 to repair the two coagulation basins at the borough’s water treatment plant.

The contract was awarded only after council President Alex Kovach stepped down temporarily as president to second the motion made by Councilman Robert Piccirilli; Mayor Kenneth P. Robertson cast a tie-breaking vote. Council members Thomas Lally and Luann Anglin voted against the contract. Council members Guy Moderelli, Jack Cardwell and David Lapikas were absent from the meeting.

The coagulation basins hold water as it comes out of the plant and is chemically treated. Impurities settle out of the water in the basins. Each basin holds 20,000 gallons of water, said Borough Manager Mike Wilson. He said the basins were built when the plant was built in the early 1950s and concrete walls are starting to deteriorate with age. Wilson said the basins had maintenance work done on them about 20 years ago.

The project was originally authorized in June 1999. The original engineering design determined only the top portions of the basins needed repairs, but the engineer suggested accepting alternate bids for the whole basins, Wilson said.

Council rejected all bids when they were opened May 8 because they came back varied, as council received both base and alternate bids, Wilson said. The lowest base bid at the time came in at $60,000, but due to confusion with the contractor and a clerical error, the price ended up as $70,000, Wilson said.

Lally and Mrs. Anglin both cited confusion as a reason for voting against the project. Lally said thought the contract was for the whole basins and he did not know the bottom portions of the basins were deleted from the project. He was also upset when no one knew how many square feet the basins were.

Both Kovach and Piccirilli said they were satisfied with the bid the way it was and voted in favor of it.

Wilson said if council decides to seek new bids, the work would not be done until next year. He said work should start within the next couple of weeks.