Around the Borough - September

(9/2011) The Carroll Valley Sewer and Water Authority is in "very preliminary" discussions with Crest Associates to upgrade the borough’s sewer plant.

The borough is under court order to reserve enough capacity in the existing plant to serve the proposed development by Crest Associates. This is being done. The plant has enough capacity for the 107 lots in development along Sanders Road. However, Crest Associates would like to change the development’s configuration so that it is mixed homes types rather than all single family. This would increase the number of homes to around 400, which the sewer plant is not capable of supporting.

"They realize single-family homes are not what people are going to buy with the recession and coming out of this with future market," said Carroll Valley Borough President John Van Volkenburgh who also chairs the Sewer and Water Authority.

The new development would include townhomes and condominiums as well as single family homes.

In order to have the capacity to service the additional homes, the existing plant would be demolished and a new state-of the-art plant would be built. Crest Associates would pay for this new construction.

Council and Sewer and Water Authority member Ken Lundberg said, that while this benefits Crest Associates, it is also a plus for the borough.

For one thing, it upgrades a sewer plant that will probably need to be upgraded in the near future. "The last we had it repaired we had to have gears manufactured by somebody because they aren’t making them anymore," Lundberg said.

It will also use new technology that doubles the production of enzymes and bacteria that will allow to the plant to handle more sewage without a large increase in size.

Both Lundberg and Van Volkenburgh point out that there are still lots of questions that need to be answered. However, having someone else pay for the upgrade could save the borough the millions of dollars that alternative solutions could cost.

Council to discuss final quarter reductions

Borough Manager Dave Hazlett told the Carroll Valley Borough Council members that he will have a presentation for them this month to look at the options the borough can undertake in the last quarter of 2011 to close the $88,000 deficit that the borough currently has in its budget.

Borough ponders paying workers comp for Fountaindale Fire Dept.

Besides being in a deficit for 2011, the Carroll Valley Borough Council has to find a way to fund repairs to two roads that were damaged in April’s flooding and a new issue that was presented to them during the August meeting.

The borough pays a portion of the workers compensation insurance premiums of the Fairfield Fire and EMS personnel since the company serves the borough. However, Fountaindale Fire Company is the first responder to a portion of Carroll Valley and the borough has not contributed toward their workers compensation premiums.

Borough Manager Dave Hazlett said, "I think it’s questionable that the borough owes it."

That point aside, he also doesn’t like the fact that there is no current agreement delineating financial responsibility and the borough is being billed after the fact by the county. As it stands, though Fountaindale is only first responder to a small area of Carroll Valley, the amount that the borough is being asked to pay is roughly the same amount that it pays to Fairfield Fire and EMS.

While Hazlett said he is not necessarily against paying a portion of the premium, he thinks that the company could probably get a better deal that it currently has.

He also pointed out that with the borough’s budget the way it is, it will be hard for the borough to make its usual annual donations to the companies.

No action was taken, but it was acknowledged that the involved parties will need to sit down and work out a solution.

Find out how the Carroll Valley Police operate

On Sept. 13 at 6 p.m., you can come to the Carroll Valley Borough Office to meet Carroll Valley Police Chief Richard Hileman, III. He will be on hand to answer any questions you might have about how the borough’s police department operates.