Jim Thorpe Borough Council will look this week to approve a contract with Flyway Excavating for $154,150 to remove five dilapidated dams on Silk Mill Run, a project fully funded by state and federal grants.

The project, officials said, will remove dams that were once part of the borough’s water infrastructure, but are no longer functioning and have become a liability.

“The dams are dilapidated,” said Kristie Fach from Wildlands Conservancy, which has been assisting the borough. “The (Pennsylvania) Department of Environmental Protection has inspection letters stating that either removal or maintenance needs to be done.”

The work is covered by multiple grants and will cost the borough nothing.

“We had DEP and (the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources) for design and permitting, a separate DEP grant for construction, and then the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant for construction,” Fach said. “From a funding perspective, everything will be covered.”

The project has been in development for years. Wildlands Conservancy secured several grants for the borough and hired an engineer to design the dam removal and stream restoration work.

An advisory committee comprising Wildlands, the engineer, the borough and local stakeholders guided the project.

“We really wanted community involvement every step of the way,” Fach said.

The borough held a bid meeting where contractors met at the site to review the project and ask questions.

Flyway Excavating was selected as the lowest qualified bidder from among four proposals. The company has removed more than 20 dams and is experienced in working with the public, Fach said.

“They are very good to work with professionally,” she added.

The borough required bidders to demonstrate experience removing three dams in the past five years. Only two of the four bidders met that qualification.

Rutledge Excavating submitted the second-lowest qualifying bid at $190,243.

“They were also very qualified with stream restoration and had experience with dam removal,” Fach said.

Kinsley Construction bid $178,670 but failed to provide required documentation.

“They didn’t include the date for their dam removal, and they weren’t showing three” projects, Fach said.

Another bidder submitted a proposal for $380,000 but also fell short.

“They listed two dam removals and had two other projects, but did not specify that. Our requirement was having three in the past five years,” Fach said.

The $388,000 bid also exceeded available grant funding.

The project, officials said, provides multiple benefits beyond eliminating the borough’s liability for maintaining the dams.

“The stream would be naturalized,” Fach said. “It would actually assist with localized flooding, but ultimately what you’re looking at is restored brook trout habitat with native vegetation planting.”

The work will include planting native vegetation to restore the ecological health of the area. Wildlands will handle the planting under its memorandum of understanding with the borough, also covered by grant funding.

Construction is scheduled from July through September.

“Everything needs to be done in the summertime, so you’re not impacting the trout,” Fach said.

A pre-construction meeting will be held in late spring or early summer.

“We like to time it — it might be June, because if construction happens in July, conditions wouldn’t change much between the pre-construction and construction,” Fach said.