Connellsville road paving moves ahead with resource partnership
Marc Soisson (left) of Connellsville, Bobby Maloy of Dunbar and Jake Farris of Connellsville, along with several other city workers, re-pave an alley between South Eighth and Ninth streets in Connellsville after the city approved the re-surfacing of several streets for the first time in years due to improved money management.
City workers re-pave South Eighth Street in Connellsville in a cooperative effort with neighboring municipalities in the G-13 Conference.
CONNELLSVILLE 鈥� The recently completed resurfacing of several streets and alleys marks a revival of the city蘑菇视频 paving program.
With the help of manpower and equipment from the city蘑菇视频 municipal partners in the G-13 Conference, the first major paving endeavor in the last six or seven years was completed last month, just before the flooding that devastated the city. None of the work was damaged during the flooding, officials said.
鈥淚t蘑菇视频 amazing. It was a very beautiful thing to see,鈥� Mayor Greg Lincoln said about the paving work and the finished streets with fresh surfaces of smooth, black asphalt.
Improved accounting allowed officials to know how much money they had to spend on paving from the city蘑菇视频 $234,000 Liquid Fuels account, Lincoln said.
Getting manpower and equipment from four G-13 members to work with the city蘑菇视频 public works staff was the key to getting the work done, he said.
Workers from Connellsville Township, Springfield Township, Bullskin Township and South Connellsville joined city workers to pave Banning Street, a section of South 12th Street, a section of West Green Street, a section of Queen Street, a section of Woodlawn Avenue, Henderson Lane, a section of Sampson Street and the alley connecting South Eighth and South Ninth streets between Wendy蘑菇视频 and the Independent Slovak Citizens Club.
Using the shared labor allowed the city to complete the work at a cost of $51 per ton of asphalt, which is much less than the $85-$100 per ton cost most municipalities pay to hire contractors to do the work, Ohler said.
Lincoln estimated that the paving project cost the city $30,000 to $40,000. That is a bargain compared to the more than $100,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money the city will spend on repaving East Fayette Street and East Gibson Avenue, he said.
CDBG rules require paying prevailing wages to contractors.
This summer蘑菇视频 paving project was successful despite an equipment breakdown.
The workers started using Connellsville Township蘑菇视频 paving machine, but it broke down. The city rented a paver and an equipment operator from Maloy蘑菇视频 Paving of Dunbar to help complete the work, said Councilman Tom Karpiak, the public works director.
He said cooperation among the municipalities was vital to the effort.
鈥淭his is a relationship I began to build years ago. It蘑菇视频 really worked out well,鈥� Karpiak said.
Collins Avenue was paved last year through the G-13 partnership, and city workers helped with work in Bullskin and Connellsville townships last year, Ohler said.
The city, Connellsville Township, Bullskin Township and South Connellsville have filed a joint application for a state grant to buy a crack sealing machine, he added.
Karpiak said another city street was paved two years ago with the G-13 partners.
More streets will be paved next year, but the streets haven鈥檛 been selected yet.
Karpiak said he will wait to find out where utilities plan to make water and gas line repairs because the utilities pave the sections of the streets they dig up to do the work. The city could pave the rest of those streets so entire streets get resurfaced, he said.
The city蘑菇视频 Liquid Fuels allocation will increase to $317,000 next year and a greater share of that money will be available for paving, Lincoln said.
He said the $11,000 monthly electric bill for the city蘑菇视频 streetlights is paid from the Liquid Fuels account. West Penn Power is converting the lights to LED lights, which will reduced the bill by $40,000 a year, he said.
鈥淚t will free up more money for paving. Next year, we will do more streets,鈥� Lincoln said.