TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—The Township Council voted 3–2 to introduce an ordinance that bonds for $700,000 to repair erosion around two concrete sanitary manholes on Musquapsink Brook —identified as a “critical sanitary issue” over a year ag—and agreed to reduce spending on improving roads to cover the unanticipated expense.
The council voted 3–2 to introduce a total $1,010,000 bond ordinance April 30. The ordinance appropriates $1,010,000 and authorizes bonding for $961,000. Attorney Kenneth Poller said the bond ordinance needs four votes for final passage.
Following an initial unanimous vote to introduce the bond ordinance, later in the meeting councilman Tom Sears and councilwoman Daisy Velez asked that the bond ordinance introduction be reconsidered. Sears and Velez voted against reintroduction, hoping to add $500,000 for road upgrades to the bond ordinance. However, Council President Michael DeSena, Vice President Steven Cascio, and Councilman Michael Ullman voted to introduce the $1,010,000 bonding ordinance.
Besides the $700,000 for restoring the brook near two exposed sanitary manholes, it also authorizes bonding for improvements to many municipal fields, and offers funding for fire department equipment and vehicles for the public works department.
A public hearing on the bond ordinance is set for May 20.
The other projects funded include: $146,000 for improving municipal fields and facilities; $30,000 for upgrades to Clark FIeld and Sherry FIeld; $72,000 for upgrades at Gardner Field; $32,000 for new pages for EMS and fire department; and $30,000 for two mason dump truck bodies for public works.
Before council voted to introduce the bonding for the unexpected $700,000 cost of remediation for two sanitary manholes along the Musquapsink Brook, Council President Michael DeSena said he was “disheartened” to hear about the cost at such a late hour at the council’s final budget meeting held on April 17.
Mayor Peter Calamari and Administrator Mark DiCarlo had raised the unexpected expense at 12:17 a.m. at the April 17 session, five-plus hours into a meeting that began at 7 p.m.
“It just upsets me that the $700,000 for this emergency repair was not given to us until the final night of the budget (sessions),” said DeSena.
He said though capital outlays are discussed near the end of budget meetings, “But if we have something of that magnitude in the future please bring it to our attention as soon as possible because having it dropped on our laps the last night of the budget meetings, at late hours, it was a little disheartening,” DeSena said, as Calamari asked to respond.
Calamari said they did not receive a cost estimate from Boswell until a week before the final budget meeting on April 17. DeSena said the council should have had the cost estimate numbers when Calamari received them, not at the end of a long, last budget session.
He said “It was a big thing to swallow at midnight that night to have $700,000 that we didn’t even know about.”
Calamari did not explain why the council was given the cost estimate a week after the administration had received it from Boswell Engineering.
After DiCarlo revealed the nearly $700,000 estimate for emergency stream repairs, DeSena said, “You guys really found every way to kill my 10% possible.”
The council majority had promised during their November 2023 campaign to reduce the overall municipal budget by 10%. DeSena and Calamari have clashed over budget cuts during at least eight budget meetings held this year. The council majority includes DeSena, Vice President Steven Cascio, and Councilman Michael Ullman.
At the April 17 budget meeting, Cascio suggested the 2024 capital road improvement program be suspended to accommodate the unexpected $700,000 cost. However, council later agreed to keep $225,000 in 2024’s capital budget for road upgrades, while appropriating $700,000 towards the needed sanitary manhole project.
Grants consultant David Biunno, of GLD Associates, said April 30 that he had submitted a federal grant request for $699,095, the full cost for the critical sanitary manhole project along Musquapsink Brook. Costs for the proposed project included an estimated $639,095 for brook restoration, plus $60,000 for Boswell engineering costs, including bidding and work site inspections.
Biunno noted because the Musquapsink Brook flows into the Oradell Reservoir, a source of drinking water for 800,000 bistate residents, that may help in securing federal dollars. He said he would also submit a state “budget resolution request” via Sen. Holly Schepisi’s office.
Biunno noted he would participate in and work with Calamari in setting up meetings with Sen. Schepisi and Fifth District Congressman Josh Gottheimer’s office to press for funding on the critical sanitary manhole project. Council members mentioned that any grant funding secured could be used to help offset funds not used for road repairs and paving.
Answering a question from councilor Michael Ullman, DiCarlo said the $700,000 project would include sediment shoals removed “down toward the lower end of the high school” and removing some tree obstructions. He said the two exposed sanitary manholes requiring streambank restoration were in the brook behind the Chelsea assisted living complex.
In April 2023, Pascack Press reported “Drone study highlights brook obstructions, recommends ways to improve flow, stem flooding,” Michael Olohan, April 17, 2023, Pascack Press.The article detailed 45 downed trees, 33 sediment shoals and 14 areas with eroded stream banks. Readers can find the story by searching “Musquapsink Brook” on our website.
We reported the Boswell drone study “lists other ‘critical sanitary issues’ where the brook either runs near or around a sanitary sewer structure or sewer line that could potentially expose human and household wastes to the stream flow or allow stream flow to enter a sanitary sewer line.”
The Boswell drone study, dated February 2023, can be found on the township’s website.
“The current condition of the bank near critical sanitary issue (7-1) should be reconstructed with the utmost priority. A flooding event could result in a failure of the sanitary system causing approximately 25% of the town’s untreated sanitary flow to discharge directly into the Brook,” reads the Boswell report.
We reported then, “The exposed sanitary manhole — exposed to brook flows on three sides — appears south of Washington Avenue and west of Pascack Road, but the report only provides “northing” and “easting” coordinates. One report photo of the site shows a newer-looking residential complex in the background that appears elevated behind a white composite fence.”
The report also lists a second sanitary manhole exposed to the brook that risks failure and potential contamination of the brook, sanitary system and downstream waterways, which leads toward Oradell Reservoir. Repairs on both manholes are included in the Boswell brook proposal. A public records request for the Boswell manhole proposal was not immediately returned.