DUBOIS – Due to a drinking water advisory, resident Terri Hess approached DuBois City Council on Monday night in search of answers regarding the Maple Avenue project.
She had two main questions for council: 1) when would it be safe to drink tap water again and 2) when would the roadwork be completed.
Some residents of the Maple Avenue area were advised to boil drinking water after a leaky valve was replaced as part of the Maple Avenue project.
According to DuBois City Manager John “Herm” Suplizio, the project started when PennDOT mandated that Maple Avenue be replaced.
This, he said, required drilling down 18 inches to start fresh with new gravel and fill. “It would be ridiculous if we didn’t replace the waterline.”
So, he said the full project expanded beyond just roadway replacement and the city decided to complete additional underground work while the roadway was being dug up.
It was noted that the 16-inch main waterline under Maple Avenue was a century old. Later, Councilman Jim Aughenbaugh indicated there was at least one repair made on a yearly basis.
The city is also replacing 160 lead lines and laterals to homes along Maple Avenue at the city’s cost. “That could be at the cost of the homeowner, but we’ve elected not to do that,” said Suplizio.
He said the drinking water advisory was due to replacement of a leaky valve that was part of the old watermain line. Suplizio couldn’t give a date as to when water would be safe to drink.
He said DuBois City officials could only declare it safe once the test results come back and they hadn’t been received as of the council meeting.
So far as the roadway construction, Suplizio said the project would be finished in 2022 after the top coat was put on Maple Avenue. He said it would be in a drivable state before winter.
Suplizio said the city will have the base coat laid down and the roadway will be finished enough to run snowplows over it.
Mayor Ed Walsh said that the city will send out more detailed letters explaining the project’s timeline to everyone in the Maple Avenue area.
West Long Avenue Building
Also, on Monday night, council discussed the emergency demolition of a building on West Long Avenue.
City Solicitor Toni Cherry indicated there may be ordinances put in place in the future.
Councilwoman Diane Bernardo criticized Downtown DuBois Inc. for “amplifying” news that the building needed to be torn down.
“I feel that Downtown DuBois Inc. should be nothing but positive messages about DuBois,” said Bernardo.
Bernardo noted that the city had nothing to do with the building’s disrepair. She said it didn’t own the building, and is legally limited when it comes to private buildings.
She said she was “disturbed” by Downtown DuBois posting photos of the building’s demolition and seeing its board members sharing the photos on social media.
“Repairing an old building, at times, cost more than building a new one,” said Cherry.
It was noted that the owner was asked about the state of the building, and stated they didn’t have the funds to make necessary repairs.
Cherry, who also works alongside the DuBois City Planning Commission, said it’s concerned about the situation and downtown.