Sussex hires engineer to estimate sewer repairs

SUSSEX — The Sussex Borough Council hired a new engineer to estimate how much it would cost to prevent future sewer-pump problems in the borough at the Dec. 3 Council meeting.

The council unanimously agreed to move forward with the Hazard Negation Grant.

The Council will hire Jeffery R. Houser, P.E., of the firm Houser Engineering, LLC, to complete the estimate, which is required by the Sussex County government.

Houser will be paid $500 for the estimate. His low bid beat one one other engineer, who submitted a bid of $1,500.

The application must be submitted to the county by Dec. 17. Borough officials hope the $250,000 grant will pay for a new pumping stations and to move pumps and electronics out of the ground. The grant is funded through the Federal Emergency Management Association. The county was allotted $1 million and it is in the process of splitting the money into municipal grants.

Additional progress
The council also unanimously approved the installation of a new kitchen exhaust system for the concession stand located at Brookside Park.

All costs will be paid by the High Point Hawks Football League, which was cited by a violation caused by cooking without an exhaust system. The football league would have had to stop cooking at the concession stand or put in the new system.

After securing a contractor to complete the work, the new kitchen exhaust system will become the borough's property, but the replacing it will cost borough nothing.