Borough: Nothing in works to bring back Pumpy
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL FILE - The Pumping Station Dam in April of 2020.
SHENANDOAH – Shenandoah Borough has nothing in the works to revitalize the Pumping Station Dam, known to locals as the Pumpy.
“At this present time, borough council has nothing to vote on,” John Thomas, councilman, who sits on the Building and Grounds committee, said at Monday’s council meeting. “There are no discussions, no nothing.”
An article in Sunday’s Pottsville Republican outlined discussions held at a recent Greater Shenandoah Area Chamber of Commerce meeting regarding the former recreation area in East Union Township near Girard Manor. The article’s headline said a “new initiative” was “underway.”
“That is not borough council,” Thomas said of the apparent initiative. “If and when the time comes to decide what to do with the Pumpy, a special meeting will be held, but when people do something outside of borough council, it is not borough council.”
Thomas said a movement has been ongoing for years to bring back the once-popular fishing spot.
The Pumpy has sat in a state of disrepair since around 2010, when the dam was deemed deficient. Without $2 Million to remedy the situation, the borough closed the dam as a recreation area and it is often drained.
Shenandoah Borough has owned the facility since the early 20th century when it was a primary source of drinking water for the borough-owned Shenandoah Public Water Works, a predecessor to the current Municipal Authority.
When MABS was formed in the 1940s, merging the three companies, the Pumping Station Dam became a recreational area under the purview of the the Shenandoah Pumping Station Project Booster Club, the Pumping Station Recreation Committee, and most recently, the Shenandoah Pumping Station Preservation Association.
A 1961 article in the Shenandoah Evening Herald described the facility as “among the finest trout waters in the state.”
Following a brush fire which burned much of the grove at the dam, East Union Township Supervisor Kyle Mummey approached the borough about a potential revitalization. An agreement was drafted but not executed, and East Union briefly considered taking the dam by eminent domain.
During the public portion of Monday’s meeting, Donna Gawrylik asked if the borough had been fined for the state of the dam property.
“There were no fines for the Pumpy,” Mayor Andrew Szczyglak said.
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