PORT CARBON - The borough council decided to employ the services of a local auto repair shop and volunteer high school students to get one of the borough's two police vehicles back on the road.
The work will cost $945, Mayor Charles R. "Chuck" Joy said at the council's April meeting Tuesday night.
Since the end of January, the borough has been down to one police car, a marked 2006 Ford Crown Victoria. The state inspection on the borough's unmarked 2001 Chevy Impala expired Jan. 31, police Chief Jon Bowman said previously.
The Impala's rocker panels and fenders needed to be replaced, council President Harold "Bucky" Herndon said Tuesday.
The rocker panels will be replaced at Womer's Garage, Pottsville. The front fender will be replaced by students at Schuylkill Technology Center-South, Mar Lin, Joy said.
"It will be about a $450 savings from what we'd thought it would be when we started doing research," Joy said.
The students at STC will volunteer to install the front fender, while the borough will have to pay for the parts, Joy said. He estimated the car would be back on the road in three weeks.
In a related matter, the council decided to spend up to $400 to line the fuel tank of the borough's 2005 dump truck used by the street crew. Councilman Mike Quercia made the recommendation.
"The fuel tank is rusty and it's from the moisture from the biodiesel. And I'd like to get that tank cleaned out and lined. They can spray a liner in it to keep it from rusting. It will cost $400. It's up to you guys, but if that rust gets to that diesel engine, it's going to cost us a fortune," Quercia said.
In other matters, the state Department of Transportation is planning to close the Pottsville Street bridge on April 21 to traffic.
In February, PennDOT hired Heim Construction, Pottsville, as the general contractor for the $1,797,789.37 bridge replacement project. PennDOT will fix and widen a pothole-ridden road, Commerce Street, as it prepares a detour. The demolition of the old Pottsville Street Bridge should begin sometime in April, state officials said previously.
Built in 1926, the Pottsville Street Bridge is a concrete T-beam bridge. It needs to be replaced because of deficiencies in its superstructure, Sean A. Brown, safety press officer for PennDOT, said previously.
It will be replaced by a reinforced concrete adjacent box-beam bridge, which can hold "unlimited" tonnage, Timothy A. Bolden, a consulting engineer with Gibson-Thomas Engineering Co. Inc., Camp Hill, the firm the state hired to design the new bridge, said previously.
PennDOT recently placed bright orange signs at the bridge, emblazoned with the message: "This bridge to be closed for construction April 21, 2014."
The new bridge will open sometime in October, state officials said previously.
At 11 a.m. Saturday, the borough will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt at the Miller Playground just off Route 209, Joy said.
The event is sponsored by the borough and local donors and volunteers, according to Sandra Palokas, the borough secretary/treasurer.