Reading sewage plant costs discussed in closed meeting
By Don Spatz | Reading Eagle
The cost of Reading's new sewage treatment plant may be substantially less than the $250 million estimate because of a potential change in its treatment process, city officials have said.
But City Council, under lawyers' orders, discussed that change Monday for more than an hour behind closed doors to keep the U.S. Justice Department from hearing about it, according to sources.
The city is under a consent decree - forced on it by the Justice Department and federal and state environmental agencies - to replace the sewage treatment plant on Fritz's Island because of longtime problems with the existing plant.
City Solicitor Charles D. Younger used the "litigation" clause to keep Monday's discussions private.
That exemption in the state Sunshine Act allows elected bodies to call an executive session to discuss their position in litigation.
A reporter objected that the litigation clause did not apply, but Younger said the meeting would be conducted in executive session anyway.
According to several sources, however, nothing about litigation came up, only a potential change in the way the new plant handles solids in the waste stream.
A so-called value-engineering team of experts, looking at the plant design created by city consultant Black & Veatch Inc., has suggested that if the change is made, the city could save millions of dollars.
How much the new plant would cost with that change was not discussed, although Monday's meeting earlier had been billed as one in which those new costs would be announced.
Two years ago the city got approval from the federal and state agencies to use a different process, and the city would have to seek new approval from those agencies.
But several sources said the agencies had not been told of the potential change by Monday, so Younger and city attorney David Binder, who's handling the sewer plant project, tried to keep it from them by holding the discussion in executive session.
The approved design would heat the leftover solids, or sludge, to dry it. The sources did not outline what the specific change was.
The cost of Reading's new sewage treatment plant may be substantially less than the $250 million estimate because of a potential change in its treatment process, city officials have said.
But City Council, under lawyers' orders, discussed that change Monday for more than an hour behind closed doors to keep the U.S. Justice Department from hearing about it, according to sources.
The city is under a consent decree - forced on it by the Justice Department and federal and state environmental agencies - to replace the sewage treatment plant on Fritz's Island because of longtime problems with the existing plant.
City Solicitor Charles D. Younger used the "litigation" clause to keep Monday's discussions private.
That exemption in the state Sunshine Act allows elected bodies to call an executive session to discuss their position in litigation.
A reporter objected that the litigation clause did not apply, but Younger said the meeting would be conducted in executive session anyway.
According to several sources, however, nothing about litigation came up, only a potential change in the way the new plant handles solids in the waste stream.
A so-called value-engineering team of experts, looking at the plant design created by city consultant Black & Veatch Inc., has suggested that if the change is made, the city could save millions of dollars.
How much the new plant would cost with that change was not discussed, although Monday's meeting earlier had been billed as one in which those new costs would be announced.
Two years ago the city got approval from the federal and state agencies to use a different process, and the city would have to seek new approval from those agencies.
But several sources said the agencies had not been told of the potential change by Monday, so Younger and city attorney David Binder, who's handling the sewer plant project, tried to keep it from them by holding the discussion in executive session.
The approved design would heat the leftover solids, or sludge, to dry it. The sources did not outline what the specific change was.
