Surprise!

The Borough Council presidents of Sayre, Athens, South Waverly, and the Athens Township board chairmen meet quarterly to discuss issues of interest to our communities. Our last meeting was in September 2007 and our guest was Doctor Musto, chairperson of the Valley Joint Sewer Authority (VJSA). By the way, Dr. Musto is a local dentist and a former member of the Sayre Borough Council, having served during the 1980s.

Dr. Musto informed us that the VJSA plant must undergo significant changes in the next five years in order to meet the requirements levied by the Chesapeake Bay 2000 agreement.

Background: In June of 2000, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,the State of Maryland, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Chesapeake Bay Commission, signed Chesapeake 2000 (available here as a PDF file), a new Agreement for restoration of the Chesapeake Bay.

The signatories pledged to achieve over 100 specific actions designed to restore the health of the Bay and its living resources. These actions, called the Chesapeake 2000 commitments, are grouped into the Agreement’s five major categories:

• Living Resource Protection and Restoration
• Vital Habitat Protection and Restoration
• Water Quality Protection and Restoration
• Sound Land Use
• Stewardship and Community Engagement

What Dr. Musto presented deals with the third item, water quality. In order to meet the requirements of this agreement, entities along the Susquehanna River must reduce their nitrogen and phosphorus discharge. The current design of the sewer plant cannot meet this requirement without major upgrades. The initial estimates for this overhaul are about $14 million, making Sayre Borough’s share at about $7.2 million. This is the best estimate at this time – the VJSA won’t put it out for bid until FY2009. Oh, they have to overhaul the plant while keeping it online to serve the Valley.

Here is more information on the Chesapeake Bay Program. It’s a worthy goal and much needed, because if the Bay is clean, our river is clean!

Chesapeake 2000 (web site)

The Chesapeake Bay Program (web site)

Chesapeake Bay Commission (web site)

Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay (web site)

Chesapeake Bay Foundation – Pennsylvania (web site)

Department of Environmental Protection – Chesapeake Bay Program

Re-elected!

My colleague, Henry Farley was the top vote-getter in the election, receiving 853 votes. Bob Dydynski, newcomer, was second with 821 votes. Bob Cerutti followed with 738 votes while I came in at fourth place with 671 votes. Dan Spears received 596 votes at fifth place and didn’t win a seat.

I’m surprised I won. I didn’t go out of my way to advertise the fact I was running for re-election. Also, I raised the issue of the Local Services Tax prior to the election. Some wags suggested that would lose the election for me, but it needed to be raised. I discussed the LST in an earlier post.

So, four more years.