Published: September 06, 2008 11:19 pm            

3 northern Cambria boroughs may cut costs with mower buy

NANTY GLO — Officials from three northern Cambria County boroughs will meet Monday night to discuss possible collaboration in buying a piece of equipment, an unprecedented move for the area.

Nanty Glo, Northern Cambria and Patton have flood-protection levees that must be maintained by the boroughs and inspected by the state Department of Environmental Protection. Maintenance does not come cheap, often requiring hours of labor to mow the levees, remove trees from creeks and other routine jobs.

Last month Nanty Glo Borough Manager Samuel Sulkosky proposed buying an $80,000 boom mower– described as a high-tech lawn mower with an arm extension – in partnership with neighboring Vintondale Borough.

“I don’t think (collaborating with) Vintondale is going to fly,” Sulkosky said, adding that financial constraints may prohibit a deal. “But I’ll never close the door on it, because maybe we can do a rental situation, or help each other in other ways.”

Patton officials saw a story in The Tribune-Democrat about the recent endeavor and asked to meet with Sulkosky to see if a similar partnership would be feasible.

“Their secretary suggested that perhaps Northern Cambria and Cherry Tree would be interested, and Northern Cambria will be sending someone as well,” Sulkosky said.

Donna Dunegan, Patton’s secretary, said maintenance on the borough’s mile-long levee proves costly.

“It’s a constant work in progress,” Dunegan said. “You only have so many months in the year to work on it.”

The borough hires summer workers and relies on prison labor to keep up with the tasks.

“We take care of it all summer, and it’s a lot of work,” Dunegan said. “The boom mower they are talking about would save a lot of time.”

Northern Cambria’s levee system, which was not well-maintained through the years because of financial constraints, has had an “unfavorable” rating for a number of years. The rating prevents the borough from receiving state funds to improve the system and prevents residents from receiving aid if a flood occurs.

Borough employees use lawn mowers and weed eaters to trim the levee by hand, Northern Cambria secretary Fred Nastasi said.

And time is money, he said.

“We used to use summer work programs with summer temporary help (to maintain the levees),” Nastasi said.

“We have also used prison labor in the past.”

But this year, the borough could not hire temporary laborers due to budgetary constraints. To complicate matters, a request for prison labor hasnot been answered.

A boom mower would greatly decrease the need to use multiple laborers to cut grass on the levee.

“(Council President) Mike Suchar liked the idea of doing a cooperative purchase,” Nastasi said. “Now we’ll see if it is feasible.”

        

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