CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — Work will begin soon to fix a sinkhole developing along U.S. Route 322 despite some skepticism as to whether the borough was legally permitted to approve the project.

What’s the Issue?

The project aims to fix a sinkhole that has developed near two side-by-side pieces of private property on the east side of North First Avenue (U.S. Route 322).

Clarion Borough Council President Carol Lapinto said a separate project to fix drainage issues on Clarion University property on the opposite side of North First Avenue will be handled by the university and cannot be started until the borough’s work is completed. A deadline of May 31 has been set for the completion of the borough project.

Lapinto says the situation is dire and dangerous.

“I feel it’s very, very dangerous,” said Lapinto. “Two aspects — number one, on the side with the university, that water is running down there, and it creates a hazardous situation.”

“In fact, one tree has fallen already, and what happens is the gravel just washes across (U.S. Route 322), and it makes it really a dangerous situation. Then, in order for them to correct that on the other side, there’s a huge sinkhole.”

Although the situation is considered dire, officials noted that the sinkhole is several feet off the roadway, and U.S. Route 322 is not in danger of collapsing.

The Project

Eagle Contracting, Inc. won the bidding process with a $21,205.00 bid to fix the sinkhole. Also submitting bids were Bison Construction, of Fairmount City, ($23,110.00); Terra Works, of Clarion, ($23,320.00); and Mealy Excavating & Construction, of Tionesta ($24,779.00).

Clarion Borough Public Works Foreman Todd Colosimo said the borough and Eagle Contracting are currently in the contracting phase, and a start date has not yet been determined, but work is expected to begin in April.

“They have a period of time in which to get their bonds and things for the project and get the contract document back to us,” he said. “Once I get that back, we just verify the bond, and we issue a notice to proceed.”

“It needs to be fixed as quickly as possible. The reason being, we’re not sure how bad the sinkhole will get,” Colosimo said. “It’s kind of an urgent project, in a way. Let’s put it this way — we don’t want to get through summer without fixing that.”

Clarion Borough Council moved to approve a motion to take action on the stormwater repair project during its monthly meeting on Tuesday, April 5. Clarion Borough Council Vice President Benjamin Aaron, who also serves as the Clarion Borough Stormwater Authority’s chairman, was the only council member to oppose the motion.

How Is the Project Being Funded?

While Clarion University and Clarion Borough remain embroiled in litigation over the university’s unpaid stormwater fees, the borough has agreed to accept up to $11,000.00 from the Clarion University Foundation to help repair the sinkhole along North First Avenue despite opposition from the stormwater authority.

In an interview with exploreClarion.com on Monday, Lapinto confirmed that the agreement is now official.

Clarion University Foundation’s contribution of up to $11,000.00 will go solely toward the sinkhole repair project on the east side of the roadway.

Clarion University will finance their project on the west side of North First Avenue, with costs expected to be around $20,000.00. Many aspects of the university’s project are currently in limbo due to the borough’s project not yet being completed. Answers regarding who will do the work, as well as other logistics, on the university’s side will be determined after May 31.

Stormwater Authority Opposition

Some stormwater authority members have shown opposition to the borough’s handling of the situation, questioning whether they have the authority to proceed with the project.

“We are getting undercut by the borough,” Stormwater Authority Secretary Tom Distefano told exploreClarion.com. “I think that oughta be clear and that they are approving projects that are really under our authority and our responsibility.”

The stormwater authority was created in 2016 by the Clarion Borough Council for the sole purpose of managing, repairing, and improving the borough’s extensive system of storm water infrastructure.

Although the borough owns the stormwater system itself, Distefano said the borough agreed to two documents: one is a management agreement which says the stormwater authority must manage the system, and the other is a lease agreement that states the borough owns the stormwater system, but they are leasing it to the authority.

“(The stormwater authority) has responsibility for maintenance, upkeep, repair, and improvements to the stormwater system,” Distefano said. “At one time, (the borough) issued permits for connections to the stormwater authority, but they really don’t have any legal basis for that.”

“Basically, it’s a contract. I don’t know if it has any penalties, except when you break a contract, which they may have done, I’m not a lawyer, that contract is still enforced, and it gives us the authority to manage and repair the system.”

As to whether Distefano believes the borough has broken that contract, he isn’t positive, but you could say he has a hunch.

“It sure seems that way to me,” he said. “I’m not sure about the legal ramifications of that, but it sure seems that way to me.”

Not only does Distefano oppose the borough’s handling of the bidding process, but he is also questioning the foundation’s contribution amid Clarion University’s refusal to pay its stormwater fees.

“(Borough council) is basically telling our largest fee owner (Clarion University), our largest property owner, that they don’t need to pay the fees. And, the largest property owner has not been paying the fees since they were established.”

The borough approved a multi-million dollar stormwater fee plan in 2019 to help offset the cost of replacing approximately 17 miles of stormwater pipes from the 1930s.

The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is not allowing at least two of its universities, Clarion and West Chester (WCU), to pay the fees.

While Clarion University and PASSHE would not comment on the situation because the issue is currently under litigation, earlier right-to-know requests from explorerclarion.com to the stormwater authority provided the following information:

The records show that Clarion University’s balance due as of the end of the third quarter of 2020 was $82,171.00. Sources have confirmed to exploreClarion.com that the amount has now surpassed $100,000.00.

The crux of the State System argument is that it’s not allowed to pay taxes as a state institution and it believes that stormwater authority fees are taxes.

“(The stormwater authority) is completely aware of this sinkhole and was planning to repair it as soon as the funds were available,” Distefano said. “But, the university instead asked the borough to correct these problems. It’s not really the borough’s responsibility. You see, the university, not paying the fees, apparently didn’t want to talk to us because they owe us a lot of money.”

“(Clarion University) has never approached us to ask us anything, they’ve never came to any of our meetings,” Distefano said. “No one from the university has ever spoken to the authority. Instead, they decided to speak to the borough and have the borough solve a problem that they have when they should have come to the authority. They should have been referred to the authority, rather than dealt with by the borough.”

Distefano also said that the authority was excluded from meetings between the borough and the university.

However, Borough Secretary Linda LaVan-Preston said in a recent stormwater authority meeting that Aaron was invited to one meeting but chose not to attend. LaVan-Preston said a second meeting between the borough and the university was held to discuss connections to the stormwater system and that the university had offered to help pay for the repairs during that meeting.

LaVan-Preston noted that PennDOT contacted Clarion University and asked them to fix the stormwater issue due to water and debris runoff becoming a hazard on U.S. Route 322.

Aaron said he decided the stormwater authority would not take part in the sinkhole meeting because it would be “one-sided and biased.”

DiStefano reiterated that the sinkhole should be repaired but under the direction of the stormwater authority and not the borough.

According to Colosimo, the borough has a policy stating that when it enters into agreements with property owners who want to connect to the system, the borough retains ownership of the system. The ability to issue those agreements has not been transferred to the stormwater authority.

Colosimo said the lease agreement puts the stormwater authority in charge of managing the system but does not transfer the permitting process to the authority.

DiStefano said he was concerned about an organizational issue as the stormwater authority and the borough are separate entities with contracts between the two.

Stormwater Resolution

During the April stormwater authority meeting, secretary Tom Distefano brought up the discussion of a proposed resolution to the ongoing power struggle between the stormwater authority and the borough.

The proposal, which is only a “premature draft,” according to Distefano, argues that the stormwater authority “has the sole responsibility for (the) operation, maintenance, repair, and improvement of the stormwater management system in Clarion Borough.”

It also states that proposed new connections to the stormwater management system shall apply for and receive a permit from the Clarion Borough Stormwater Authority before such new connections can be made and that parties requesting private connections to the stormwater management system which, in the stormwater authority’s opinion, have failed, must apply for and receive a new permit for replacement or repair of that connection before the connection is renewed, the proposal states.

The proposal contends that parties seeking new connections, or repair and replacement of failed connections, must not be in arrears in their required stormwater fee payments.

No action was taken on the proposal during the meeting, as DiStefano reiterated that it is still premature and the proposal is not official. It will likely be on the agenda at the next authority meeting, Distefano said.

Geiger Talks About the University Project

Clarion University Senior Vice President for Advancement Jim Geiger, who is the liaison between the university and the foundation, spoke about the $11,000.00 payment and the university’s project during an interview with exploreClarion.com on Thursday.

“It’s not coming from the University,” Geiger said. “The Clarion University Foundation is making a grant to the borough to repair their issue, the sinkhole.”

Geiger also said he doesn’t believe the university’s stormwater issues on the west side of North First Avenue are connected to the borough’s sinkhole on the east side of the roadway.

“(The stadium-side project) is the existing connection that we have. They’ve been connected there for as long as we can find, looking back,” Geiger said. “It’s my understanding that the sinkhole is not related to that issue.”

“Where our stadium drains are connected to the stormwater on the stadium side, there’s two of them. One of them needs to be repaired, but we’ll look to repair both of those. Across the road where the sinkhole is, it’s my understanding that it’s not related to our connection issue, but it’s an issue that (the engineers) think should be fixed before we repair our connection.”

The money from the foundation to the borough was exchanged in order to speed up the process, Geiger said.

“When the drain doesn’t work, we have an issue with water standing on the stadium side. So, PennDOT has asked us to repair that, but their concern is that if water sits there, it will potentially push debris or water into the road there,” he said. “So, we’ve been anxious to fix that.”

“As we’ve talked to the borough, they have wanted to fix their sinkhole issue, and they wanted to fix that before we repair our existing connection. We met with them, and they showed us maps, and kind of showed us what their issue was, and we were of the mind that our work needed to be done quickly, so we talked to the foundation to see if they’d write a grant to help the borough fund their side of the project so we could get it moving quickly.”

Geiger also said that the university’s project will likely be under the amount that requires bids to be accepted.