By MARISSA DECHANT
Staff writer
The Franklin General Authority passed balanced 2018 operating and capital budgets at the panel’s Tuesday meeting.
The sewer fund budget is balanced at $2,555,196, and the water fund budget is balanced at $2,362,100.
Neither budget includes a rate increase.
“To me, we’re wasting a pile of money if we’re contracting these projects out. … If we contract these out, I can’t wholeheartedly support that,” Dunkle said.
Authority chairwoman Ann Rudegeair and treasurer Marty Rudegeair said the projects are completed in-house, as long as city crews have the people and equipment available.
City Manager Tracy Jamieson suggested hiring a couple of more people to complete waterline replacement, with Dunkle adding that part-time workers could be brought in from April until October.
“I’m in favor of doing it ourselves. We need to bring some people on. I’m definitely open to looking into that,” Ann Rudegeair said.
Sinkhole project approved
The authority awarded a contract to Terra Works, of Clarion, for $18,012 to replace a portion of sewage pipe along Eighth Street.
The top portion of 20 feet of the corrugated metal pipe collapsed, city engineer Al Wodzianski said. The collapse was likely due to the pipe being elevated several feet when the Eighth Street Bridge was put in place, he said.
Wodzianski said the pipe has a lifespan of 30 to 40 years, and it was likely installed in the 1970s.
The pipe does not receive heavy use, so it will likely outlast its lifespan, he said.
Jamieson said that if it is not fixed, the pipe could cause sewage backup in basements.
“That’s the necessity of doing this,” Jamieson said.
