Borough has design plan for sewer plant, hopes to break ground by year’s end

By Kaylee Lindenmuth

SHENANDOAH – Last September, the borough received a $5.4 Million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to replace the aging sewage treatment facility near William Penn, though updates have been few since. 

According to borough council president and sewer authority chair Leo Pietkiewicz, the sewer authority has a design plan for the facility, and is evaluating financing proposals to cover costs beyond what the grant will cover.

“There’s two proposals that came back to us. Once was, we take a bank loan and use the money as we go, or we get an upfront loan, and we’re looking at both of those options,” said Pietkiewicz.

The borough announced at their September 13, 2018 meeting that the USDA’s Rural Utility Service awarded the borough a $5,474,000 along with a $12,532,000 loan to replace the 1974 sewer plant. The loan came with a fixed interest rate of 2.3750%.

Pietkiewicz said the borough won’t know when ground will be broken on the new facility until they finalize their financing plan, but he “would like to see it breaking ground by the end of the year.”

“It’s going to go around the existing plant. We will be able to build the new facility on the property around the existing plant and then tie in,” said Pietkiewicz.

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Kaylee Lindenmuth

Kaylee Lindenmuth is a Shenandoah native with a passion for journalism and the community she calls home.

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