Tamaqua borough saves on road repair

Taking a novel approach to road repair has resulted in the borough of Tamaqua saving approximately $120,000 and has restored a section of road that was in dire shape. A few months ago the borough approved the rental of paving equipment to be used by borough workers to repair a stretch of Owl Creek Road that was the regular subject of complaints by residents.

Together with a consultant, Lester Fenkner, of McAdoo, who was hired at a rate of $20 an hour for no more than 50 hours, members of the street and water departments completed the repairs to the road.

Councilman Ron Bowman, who was instrumental in moving the project forward, was pleased with the results.

“I commend our guys, and I commend Rob (Jones, the borough’s assistant manager) for how they worked together,” he said.

The project was budgeted at $184,000 and actually came in $162,400.

Borough Manager Kevin Steigerwalt said that if the project had been bid out, he expected bids in the neighborhood of $280,000 for the same work. The borough workers also completed the paving of Pleasant Row while they had the equipment.

Steigerwalt said that there is still some shoulder work to be finished. The borough is also hoping to be able to budget the funds to tar and chip the entire stretch of Owl Creek Road from Route 309 to the county line next year.

As the budget season approaches, the borough got some other good news in the form of the bids for heating oil. The borough received two bids, on from Papco, of Aston, with a fixed price of $2.1958 per gallon and one from Fegley Oil Company, with a fixed price of $2.399 per gallon. The borough accepted Papco’s bid, which is significantly less than the $2.50 per gallon that the borough paid in their last contract.

The borough also received a reduction in their insurance rates due to changes in the rating of the borough’s fire department and rate changes in the workman’s compensation rates. Steigerwalt called the reduced rates “pretty good news for the borough.”