ERIN – Town officials had always hoped to delay digging up sections of Scotch and Daniel Streets to install new storm sewers until it was time for sanitary sewers, but they can’t wait any longer.
“We have a big problem with water, and it almost flooded the public school,” said Mayor Allan Alls at the Oct. 15 council meeting.
The town received nine bids for the storm sewer project in a tender this fall, ranging from $330,634 to $681,507. The work is expected to be done in the coming weeks.
The contract went to low bidder Nabolsy Contracting, though Councillor Mike Robins expressed concern that it was $83,577 below the second-lowest bid.
Finance director Ursula D’Angelo said infrastructure director Nick Colucci has worked with the firm before, references were checked and the town requires a performance bond to ensure work is done satisfactorily.
The town had allocated $520,000 in the capital budget for this project.
The area between the current and former public school locations has had drainage problems for many years, with water not flowing to Main Street due to a broken storm water line on the old school site.
Alls said the water would now be directed along Daniel and down Scotch for discharge into conservation lands.
With the surfaces of Daniel and Scotch in extremely poor condition, CAO Nathan Hyde said staff will be presenting council with an “interim solution” for the roads, anticipating the eventual transition to a wastewater system.
