The Borough Council largely agreed Monday to consider over $1.9 million for sewer improvements at its beleaguered Oak Lane sewage treatment plant and to bring a new well on line.

Most council members said they had spent enough time discussing the potential sewer plant repairs, some of which Borough Engineer Carmela Roberts said were past the point where the borough could ignore them.

“However you decide, there are certain things at the plant that are going to fail,” she said. “I don’t know when it might happen, but for instance, your primary clarifier has been rigged for years. That itself is not something to take lightly. There’s just basic maintenance and basic improvements that have to be done.”

“If you let these other things go that have to be repaired, you will find yourselves in an emergency, having to somehow manage that plant without the equipment it needs,” she continued. “And once it becomes an emergency you will pay a premium to have things addressed as quickly as possible.”

Republican Skye Gilmartin said the borough needed to finish discussing the matter. “We can’t keep talking about this. I think we have to move,” she said.

“We have to be able to flush our toilets for the next year,” she added.

Democrat Larry Quattrone noted the borough has a low-interest, long-term loan it can take at a two-percent interest rate to pay for the work.

“Even if we wanted to sell the plant to a private [company], we’d still have to get it running properly,” he said.

But Democrat and Council President Isabel McGinty said she had “great reservations” about spending so much money when not all of it would go toward emergency repairs. The borough, she said, needs to solicit an unbiased opinion from someone who does not stand to earn money from the work.

“I appreciate the diligence of my fellow councilmembers and I also appreciate the time they’ve spent studying these issues, but I think we have to recognize that, to my knowledge, nobody on this dais has any particular skill in this area or prior experience. We are to a certain extent starting from scratch,” she said.

She said she holds “great respect” for the borough engineer and the wastewater treatment plant’s employees, but noted that “anybody’s perspective might be skewed in some way because of an interest in continuing their job.”

“What I don’t have here is a separate, objective opinion, that opinion from a distance that says whether this is wise, whether it’s advisable,” she added.

Gilmartin noted the borough recently renewed Robert’s contract. “I think to completely dismiss her recommendation would defeat the purpose of why we pay her,” she said. “I think to consider spending more money to get another opinion is just—I think it’s ridiculous. I think we have qualified people, and if we don’t trust them, why do we have them?”

McGinty said she didn’t mean to question the borough’s professionals, but that the council needed some objectivity. “I think every step we take to voice issues of conflict is a step forward in this borough,” she said. “And in this particular issue I’m not seeing that issue of objectivity, and before I talk about spending a $1 million I want to have that element injected in some way.”

The rotary press that will be included in the bond ordinance would allow the borough to compact waste to be used as fertilizer and is expected to bring in revenue.

The $946,100 in water work will go toward the implementation of well number 3, which will increase the borough’s water capacity beyond the first two now in operation.

“The oldest one, it has the greatest potential to fail, and we’d be left with one and that’s not reasonable," Democrat Mayor Steve Kirson explained after the meeting. "In addition, the [state Department of Environmental Protection] recently provided us with a letter saying that if we were ever to bring a big project like the mill and redevelop that, or if [work at the plant formerly owned by] Minute Maid comes up, we don’t have the water capacity to fulfill a larger project.”

All councilmembers but McGinty indicated they would favor a capital bond ordinance once it has been written to include the following items:

 Most council members also indicated the borough will purchase outright an effluent sampler for the sewer department at a cost of $4,500. Chief Financial Officer George Lang said that much money could be found in the borough's budget. Mayor Kirson said the borough anticipates recouping the $18,000 for one of the water tanks, on Station Street, because it is still under warranty for the work that needs to be done.

This article was updated Friday night to specify what money might be recouped on the water tank work and to correct the location of the sewage treatment plant. It is Oak Lane.