MANAGER’S MESSAGE ...
by
Thomas C.Hartswick

Dear Neighbor:

As the end of the year approaches, I would like to update the community on the status of several projects completed this year and those that are still pending.

Road Improvement Program

As in past years, Borough Council invested over $200,000 in road improvement projects in 2004.

These projects have followed a previously defined road maintenance schedule which will again be the starting point for our 2005 Road Improvement Program.

Council strives to have an early bird package “let” in order to receive the best possible price from our contractors.

Initial discussions on the 2005 Road Improvement Program will occur in the early part of 2005 with a finalized package prepared by April.

Hamilton Park Improvements Despite a very wet spring and summer, our contractors completed the Phase II improvements to Hamilton Park.

Phase II projects included completion of the walking trail, addition of two horse shoe pits, construction of a new tot play area, refurbishment of half-court basketball court and the addition of ten more stations to the existing exercise course.
State grants totaling approximately $100,000 were used to make these improvements.

Construction in the park did inconvenience park goers this summer but with the above noted improvements in

Administrative Consent Order (ACO) In 2004, Castle Shannon and over 80 other communities entered into an agreement to initiate activities to comply with the Federal Clean Stream Act in relation to our sanitary sewer system.

This is a monumental task. Castle Shannon has almost 40 miles of sanitary sewer pipe within our 1.5 square mile borough. To ensure compliance we must clean, televise and evaluate the entire 40 miles worth. We are taking a proactive approach to this work and by the end of this year we will have completed nearly three sixmile sections. However, we will still have to correct any major deficiencies in our system.

In November/December, Borough Council will receive an evaluation report from our engineers on the status and severity of our sanitary sewer system as revealed by our televising program.

As with many mature communities in Allegheny County, the majority of our sanitary sewer system was installed over 60 years ago, and, with the pipes in the ground it was mostly taken for granted. We are preparing, as are all of the communities in the consent order area, to see how good or bad we have fared over the past six decades and our televising program will provide a good initial estimate.

Because this project is of such significance to our community, updates will appear frequently. Castle Shannon completed many varied municipal infrastructure related projects in 2004 and we envision another robust year in 2005.

Borough Council, the Mayor and all Borough Staff wish all members of the Castle Shannon community peace and joy for the remainder of 2004 and throughout 2005.

Thomas C.Hartswick
Borough Manager