Not So Fast on Pump Station Project: Contract Rescinded

A resolution which was approved at the Aug. 9 Borough Council meeting to award a contract for the long-anticipated North Street Pump Station renovation was rescinded Monday for what is being called "material misrepresentations" made by the vendor.

The council approved unanimously the rejection of the bid by APS Contractors, which was in the amount of $477,970 for the base bid for the renovation, as well as transformer and odor control work.

Borough Attorney Joe Mezzacca said Councilman Sam Cerciello raised some questions about APS after the contract was awarded that were relevant to their performance. He said the information was brought to Borough Administrator Ray Codey's attention, and that he did some further investigation.

"That led us to conclude that we have a basis to rescind this legally," Mezzacca said.

Mezzacca concluded by saying they could not say any more publicly at the meeting other than they are rescinding the contract.

"I just want to say one thing and I'll end it: why do these things happen?" Cerciello said.

Mayor Mary-Anna Holden told Cerciello that he was correct, and that council spoke in executive session about putting together a procedure to do further checking on companies who submit bids.

"There are so many companies now that are so hungry for work," Holden said. "And they bid on jobs, and we check out the references that they give us. But thanks to the work on the ground by Mr. Cerciello, who did the right thing by bringing it to Ray Codey's attention so he was able to research it so we were able to act tonight. And that's following the procedure, and that's being successful."

Mezzacca said that he did agree the procedure needed to be looked at and tightened.

The second bid for the project, which was by Scafar Contracting, was also rejected by the resolution on Monday, saying it exceeded the estimate of the borough engineer.

With all bids being rejected, the borough will go out to bid again for the project.

For months residents have expressed their wish to see the pump station renovation completed, at one point citing a Feb. 20 incident on Fairview Avenue when a deodorizing block was lodged in the sewer piping after the netting the block sits in became unattached. The backup caused by the block resulted in what multiple residents called a geyser of sewage rising from manholes.

"It was disgusting to say the least, but that's not the only problem we have," Beth Bagley, of 23 Fairview Ave., said at the March 11 capital budget work session at the Madison Public Library. "On a day-to-day basis we have smells on the street that fluctuate back and forth between raw sewage and the deodorant bricks they put in, which basically makes my driveway smell like a port-a-potty. I hate to be disgusting, but that's the reality of the situation, and it's not just me."

The station was also brought up at the March 22 council meeting, when illegal connections to the station by residents were discussed. Such connections overburden the station and have even created sewage back-ups.