Borough to pay $13K to finish old project

SUSSEX — Sussex Borough will pay Michael Vreeland of the firm Guerin & Vreeland Engineering, Inc., $13,336 to complete the Clove Brook Watershed Manhole Rehabilitation Project.

The Council discussed heavily the needed expense and reluctantly voted for the resolution.

Vreeland will double check work already performed around three to four years ago under former Mayor Chris Parrott and complete the necessary paperwork to approve the Inflow and Inundation project.

Typically, an engineer certifies a project has been done well and gives the stamp of approval. However, due to a billing dispute with the previous engineers from the Route 23 Project, Hatch, Mott, & MacDonald, the group will not work any longer for the borough.

Prior to the meeting, Mayor Jonathan M. Rose asked Vreeland what would happen if the project was never closed out.

Vreeland explained that it could cause issues with future grant and loan dollars coming back to the borough from the state.

Rose explained to the Council that Vreeland will have to go into the field, open every manhole cover, double check the work completed, and compare to the original set of plans.

Councilman Salvatore Lagattuta said the Borough was “between a rock and a hard place” if the state would be unwilling to give back more money. “As much as distasteful” the borough needs to bring the I&I Project to a close.

In the past, 1.2–1.4 million gallons of sewer flow were sent to Sussex County Municipal Utilities Authority for 48 hours after rain events, through the ground water system. The borough pays per gallon of treated flow, and the amount should have been around 200,000–300,000 gallons.

The problem was caused because of cracks in the pipes. The I&I Project appears to have been successful and cost the borough about 1.1 million dollars to fix.

Rose said that the certification is an attempt by the state to prevent fraud. Plus, the engineer must be thorough because his engineering license is on the line.

Also per Rose, the $13K makes this a very expensive piece of paper which will “sit in a file at Trenton."