FRACKVILLE - The borough council opened four bids at Wednesday's meeting to complete road work started last year on Mahanoy Street.
Donald Cuff, senior project manager with Entech Engineering Inc., the borough's consulting engineer, announced the bids.
"We (Entech) were authorized previously by borough council to solicit bids for the paving of South Mahanoy Street, specifically the area designated under your CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) application," Cuff said. "It's a two-and-a-half-block area. A portion of it is basic repair and overlay, with the remaining portion just being overlay since the base work had been done previously."
The following bids were received:
- Hazleton Site Contractors, Hazleton, $62,999.
- M&J Excavation Inc., Bloomsburg, $76,521.
- Pennsy Supply Inc., Pittston, $88,455.
- Schuylkill Paving Inc., Schuylkill Haven, $87,000.
Councilman Charles Berger prepared to make a motion to accept the low bid, but Cuff requested that the bids be reviewed before a decision was made.
"I would ask you, if at all possible, as borough council, to turn those bids over for further review so we can confirm that sufficient funds are in the CDBG account," Cuff said. "Action can be done at the next council meeting."
Berger agreed and withdrew his motion.
Public Works Director Donald Zimmerman said the work will be done between Chestnut and Spruce streets.
In another street matter, Zimmerman reported that repairs of a sinkhole at Lehigh Avenue and Spring Street is the borough's responsibility.
"A hole opened up at Spring and Lehigh Avenue at Route 924," Zimmerman said. "I contacted PennDOT (state Department of Transportation) multiple times on it. They had four guys who looked at the hole and called me back and said it's not their responsibility. He was supposed to send me a letter that anything involving a drain is our responsibility. I told him where the hole is compared to the drain is eight to nine feet away. He said that anything underground where there's a drain we don't fix."
Zimmerman said the hole is at the west side of Spring and Lehigh.
"We'll need to cut out that length of Spring Street and close it off so we can see exactly what is going on underneath there," Zimmerman said. "We have to bring it up in two-foot lifts, pound it down, base it and top it. Right now, I have a cone over to keep from driving over it."
Zimmerman said that the road crew has been cold patching the potholes, and if any residents see a bad pothole, they should call borough hall at 570-874-3860.
The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Frackville Cub Scout Pack 790 members Cody Shaner and Zane Pennington, who were accompanied by Webelos leader Robin Shaner.
