DPW yard to be cleaned up this month

The Vernon Township Council on Aug. 10 awarded $17,500 contract to Excel Environmental Resources to remove debris from the township’s DPW yard on Black Creek Drive.

Business Administrator Charles Voelker said the removal would most likely begin in the middle of August and take about two weeks to be completed.

He said the pile should be removed by Sept. 1.

“This is the one pile of the 16 that we knew was going to have to have removal,” Voelker said. “The other ones could be remediated without removal. This one we knew had to be removed.”

Voelker said the process has taken a long time because he asked Excel for a plan on how to remove the pile and how much it would cost in June.

The state Department of Environmental has asked to see what has been removed.

“This is the last thing on their checklist,” Voelker said. “They also want to see other parts of the property where other things have been removed.”

Township Council President Harry Shortway said the debris would have to be removed regardless of the township’s plan to build a bicycle pump track on the property.

He said it’s been a six-year process, and the pile has been there for decades, and the township has an obligation to remove it.

“The pile that is being removed is not the location of where the pump track is going to be,” Township Engineer Cory Stoner said. “It’s at a different location and the pump track has always been proposed at the same location.”

Voelker said since 2016 the township has removed more than 5,000 tons of debris.

Mayor Howard Burrell said the process has taken so long because of the Covid-19 pandemic and because Excel had done all the testing work and township officials wanted to continue with the company.

Voelker said, going forward, the township would not leave piles.

“The only reason we kept some of this material around was so we could use it if it passed testing,” he said.