VILLAS — Lower Township Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) has been able to install additional water mains in streets as part of the Town Bank project.

At a Feb. 1 board of directors meeting, MUA Executive Director Matt Ecker said it was his goal to exhaust all approved funds for the Town Bank project, so pipe was installed in streets that originally were scheduled for a later phase of the work including areas near Wildwood Avenue.
He said it had been anticipated phase two of the project would be underway at this time but that was delayed by a bid challenge in Superior Court.

MUA Solicitor Jeff Barnes said the authority went before Judge Raymond Batten two weeks ago on an Order to Show Cause filed by the lowest bidder on phase two of the Town Bank water project.
Barnes said Batten rendered a decision where he awarded the contract to South State General Construction as opposed to DSC Construction Inc. as a result of their bid being declared “fatally defective as a result of them not meeting the appropriate bonding requirements set forth by U.S.D.A,” which is funding the project.

Barnes told the Herald that bid specifications required a 5 percent bond and DSC did not have that bond when they submitted their bid. He said the second lowest bidder had included the 5 percent bond in their bid.
MUA declined DSC’s bid because the bond was a federal requirement, said Barnes. He said the MUA went out of its way to specify that bidders must comply with the state and federal requirements for bonding.

After executing documents, MUA should be able to move into phase two of construction of the Town Bank project, said Ecker. He said phase one is substantially complete.

Board Member Joseph Mento asked if Town Bank homeowners could connect without the MUA having a water allocation permit from state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
Ecker said the water main has been installed but MUA cannot make connections to homes until it receives the permit from DEP

“We did get a preliminary staff report from the DEP that was dated Jan. 20, so there are some items they would like us to address or at least put a schedule together to address,” he said. “The good news is obviously it is under review, it’s already been reviewed by the geological survey in New Jersey.”
“I think they are going to stay true to their commitment and hopefully we’ll have a permit issued in April as they had originally promised,” Ecker continued.