Borough receives bids for sewer plant replacement, may mull rehab instead
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - A pipe inside the Shenandoah Sewer Plant shows obvious age on August 8, 2025.
SHENANDOAH – The planned replacement of the Shenandoah sewage treatment plant has been crawling since federal funding was approved in 2018. Borough officials said Monday it may never hit the finish line.
The Shenandoah Sewer Authority, at a meeting only attended by the Sentinel, opened bids for the project on Sept. 24.
Two general/mechanical contractors and five electrical/HVAC contractors submitted bids.
The low bidder for general/mechanical was Performance Construction Company at $33.6 Million. For electrical work, Northend Electric was the low bidder at $4.4 Million.
The lowest possible cost of the project, with the bids received, would be $38 Million.
Shenandoah has just over $18 Million in federal funding to replace the plant, through a $5.4 Million grant and a $12.5 Million loan.
Borough Manager Mike Cadau, at Monday’s borough council meeting, signaled council may abandon the project in favor refurbishing the existing half-century old plant.
Cadau said, though, that may not be accepted by the federal Environmental Protection Agency or the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
He said there was a consent decree in 2020 regarding environmental compliance issues at the plant and that hasn’t been followed, either. Cadau said the plant had relied on a retired operator’s certification for several years.
“The big concern with this, right here, right now, is that we have been out of compliance, we haven’t built a sewage treatment plant in eight years, the interest is compiling,” Cadau said. “This is a complete and total mess.”
In discussions, Cadau said he and others had the impression that the patience of federal and state regulators has run thin and renovating the plant may not be an option.
“For eight years, we don’t even have a shovel in the ground,” Council Vice-President Mike “Zeckie” Uholik said. “We have nothing being done down there. That’s a lot of wasted time and money.”
Cadau said work has been ongoing diligently on the project and “there’s a lot of hands in this.”
“Everybody’s got their hand into this, but nothing’s being done,” Cadau said.
He added that the hope is that a contractor will get down to $25 Million.
“I still think, personally, $25 Million is not sustainable, I don’t think we can handle that in our borough, I think it’s an awful lot of money for a plant. So if we can rehabilitate it, I will go towards that,” Cadau said.
He said that work is continuing to try to make the project happen.
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