Everson discusses paving | News

Frazier said a drain on Short Street is badly clogged, and drainage in the area of Painter Street Extension also needs repaired.

Additionally, a sidewalk needs to be finished from a portion of Shipley Street to the alley, and a driveway apron installed.

He said those projects need to be completed before paving begins so the borough isn’t tearing up new pavement to make those repairs.

The borough is expecting an influx of revenue because of the pending sale of its sewer lines to the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County, but even so, Solicitor Mark Rowan cautioned against excessive spending.

Rowan asked how long paved streets remain in good repair and was told 10 to 15 years.

Rather than paving every street now, Rowan estimated that if the borough paves roughly 8% of its roads each year, all of the roads will have been paved by the time the first set would need to be paved again.

That way, he said, the borough won’t need to put out one large sum of money — which it may not have — for paving in another 12 years. Instead, it can budget less for paving each year.

Rowan said his plan would mean the borough would need to patch more streets initially, with less patching over time, and residents would need to be patient for a little while.

“But it won’t take that long for it to make a difference,” Rowan said. “It’s not that big a borough.”

After discussing which streets were most in need of repair, Frazier moved to ask engineers, The Eads Group, to put together a bid package to pave Short and Price streets, Dzambo Alley, alleys between Brown and Painter streets and between Graft and Brown streets, and a portion of Painter Street Extension. The motion passed.

Council also agreed to ask The Eads Group to put together bid packages for the stormwater drainage project and the sidewalk project.

Other approvals included:

• A motion to accept a bid for $6,400 from Skowronek Landscaping & Excavating in Mt. Pleasant to make improvements to a parking lot at Centennial Park, including moving a wall

• A motion to accept a bid for $8,000 from Skowronek to improve drainage at the playground in the park; and

• Motion to ask for an updated bid from Gorski Construction for roof repair and renovations at the borough building and to move forward if the bid does not exceed $125,000, the amount for which the borough received a grant. Councilwoman Mindy Dugger said when the company submitted its original bid, it was unclear that the grant was only to be used for an adhered rubber roof. Gorski’s original bid was for a different type of roof.

Dugger notified council that the Westmoreland Fayette Municipal Sewage Authority signed off on the sale of the sewer lines. Both Everson and Scottdale boroughs have now approved the sale as well, with East Huntingdon Township setting a special meeting on July 27 to vote on the issue.

In other business, council:

• Agreed to pay $185 to send Frazier to a roadway management training session Oct. 17-19 at Seven Springs.

• Announced it can no longer pick up brush. Mayor Joe Dugger said Upper Tyrone Township can no longer take the brush, as it was given two weeks by the Department of Environmental Protection to clean up its burn pile.

• Announced it is sponsoring a raffle ticket to help support the planned 2024 Everson Borough Day. Tickets are $5 each, with the winner receiving $1,400. The tickets go off on Aug. 19. They can be purchased by contacting the borough office.

• Agreed to reimburse Linda Gigliotti up to $200 for the purchase of a bicycle to be raffled off at the summer lunch program.

The next voting meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 15. Shawn Conway, field director for Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, will attend to provide an overview of federal grant programs for which the borough may be eligible.