Lansford Borough Council is ready to commit $350,000 toward a sewer project but wants a guarantee that any unused funds will come back to the borough.

Council on Wednesday tabled action on a letter from the Coaldale-Lansford-Summit Hill Sewer Authority seeking a commitment of $350,000 to save a $2.5 million federal grant that sunsets Sept. 30.

The authority received the grant for a vortex separator project that is no longer feasible and would have required each borough to complete an Act 537 plan, which is a comprehensive sewage treatment plan.

An updated Act 537 plan will take an estimated two to five years to complete and cost the authority and three boroughs about $1.5 million, the letter said.

Unable to do the vortex separator project, the authority wants to change the scope of the project to include cleaning, videoing and lining sewer lines in the three boroughs.

This work is needed to correct stormwater infiltration into the sanitary sewer system and would be part of the Act 537 planning process.

“We propose that the authority and each of the member boroughs commit $350,000 to the project,” Pete Radocha, CLSH authority president, wrote to the borough.

Each borough will get $350,000 worth of work done on its own sewer lines, and the matching funds will be used for areas of greatest need based on the flow study and input from the municipalities, the letter said.

“As for guarantees, you will at least receive $350,000 worth of work done on your pipes,” Radocha wrote.

He also stressed the “time crunch” with the federal grant and asked for a commitment at council’s December meeting.

Summit Hill Borough already committed to the project, and Coaldale Borough continues to discuss the matter. Coming up with the funding, which involves $350,000 now to save the grant, and another $350,000 toward an Act 537 in the coming years, is the issue.

On Tuesday night, solicitor Bob Yurchak suggested during Coaldale council’s meeting that the authority float a bond issue and have each municipality guarantee that bond issue, allowing them to spread the payments out over time.

“We wouldn’t be hit one year with a tremendous amount of money,” he told Lansford council after being prompted to repeat his suggestion by resident Tommy Vadyak, who thought it was a good idea.

Yurchak pointed out that Summit Hill is looking at taking out a loan to fund the commitment the authority is seeking, whereas Lansford and Coaldale have the initial funds needed.

Yurchak said the authority needs the commitment to start moving forward with the sewer line project, which must be done by Sept. 30 when the federal grant expires.

Council President Bruce Markovich said that he would like to see something from the authority saying that any unused money from that $350,000 toward the sewer line project come back to the borough.

He explained that the borough might only have $250,000 worth of work done before the grant ends and believes that the $100,000 in unused funds should come back to the borough.

“That’s the only thing I think this letter is lacking is a return of unused funds back to the borough,” Markovich said. “I would certainly like to see that in there.”

Yurchak said council will be meeting again this month on the budget, and action could be taken then, pending additional from the authority.

Lansford council is also looking at additional ways to come up with funding for the multiphase sewer project.

Markovich reached out to the state Department of Community and Economic Development regarding a grant for the Act 537 plan, asking if each borough would apply for $500,000 each or if they could do a joint grant increasing the allowable funding to $1.5 million.

The DCED responded that the maximum grant is $500,000, even if filed for jointly, and the boroughs would be competing against one another if sought individually.

Council also appointed Markovich as the contact person for the Northeastern Pennsylvania Alliance and the Appalachian Regional Commission to seek funding for the sewer project.

The borough joined the NEPA Alliance, which provides technical and grant assistance to municipalities, last month.