Bridgeville officials said last week that the borough will honor its commitment to contribute $488,000 toward the widening of the Chartiers Creek bridge, a multi-community, PennDOT-led project that breaks ground in 2020.
In early June, council unanimously approved the spending measure. But 10 days later, flooding caused widespread damage throughout central Bridgeville. Ever since, some residents repeatedly asked council to cancel the bridge payment and invest that money in flood control measures.
Council’s commitment to the bridge project is not a controversial stance. In fact, it wouldn’t be notable at all except that for nearly four months, Bridgeville officials remained completely silent about the issue, not even acknowledging that there might decision to be made.
Borough officials broke their silence last week, when more residents began inquiring about the money. And that’s when things got awkward.
Fred Valentino, whose property was impacted by the flood, asked borough solicitor Thomas McDermott whether Bridgeville could legally abandon the PennDOT commitment.
McDermott refused to answer, saying instead that he is not in the business of fielding questions from the general public.
“That’s a question that I would answer if it was brought to me by council,” he said. “I don’t just answer legal questions… question and answer… for public…”
Council president Mike Tolmer attempted a more direct response, saying, “Fred, obviously there are opinions out there that we should not be putting that money toward the bridge project. We have discussed whether or not… what we can and what we can and can’t do… and… {indecipherable audio}”
Finally, borough manager Lori Collins put it in plain English: “[The flood] does not mean that every other project in the borough has to go away. We have 4,800 other residents that live here and we will find a way to finance what has to be done in that corridor.”
She listed more than half a dozen flood-related improvements that the borough is pursuing, including:
- Installing trashracks in McLaughlin Creek
- Converting McLaughlin Park’s ballfield into a retention pond to soak up water headed toward Bridgeville
- Improvements to make the areas near the Beer Warehouse on Railroad Street less prone to overflows
- Revisiting plans to improve the bridge where debris often jams up McLaughlin Creek
- Evaluating ways to improve the culvert near Dari-Delite and Commercial Street
“We are also talking about ways to finance those things,” Collins said, emphasizing that Bridgeville can manage to fund multiple projects simultaneously.
The borough had planned to spend $217,000 to improve McLaughlin Park. In light of the flood, the project will likely be canceled, Collins said, and that money will go back into the borough’s general fund.
Collins said that Bridgeville tries to maximize that value it gets from each tax dollar spent by securing corresponding grants.
For example, by investing $58,000 on high-tech traffic signals that sync up with South Fayette’s red lights during heavy traffic times, Bridgeville will also receive $200,000 in grant money for that project.
Borough officials hope that similar grant funding is available for various flood-control efforts.
“That’s why we’re talking the DEP and the Conservation District and the county,” Collins said. “To ensure that if there’s money out there, we are able to [get it].”
The $488,000 that Bridgeville plans to spend on the Chartiers Creek bridge widening will bring an additional $300,000 in grant money. In the eyes of some borough officials, simply canceling that contract would ignore the reality that traffic is still a serious issue.
But the bridge-widening is unique, says former mayor Pat DeBlasio Jr., who has repeatedly asked council to redirect the bridge money toward flood prevention initiatives. DeBlasio believes that the size and scope of the bridge widening mean that it will move forward with or without Bridgeville’s six-figure contribution. It is a regional project that is important not just to PennDOT, but to Bridgeville’s wealthier neighbors, South Fayette and Upper St. Clair.
“This is tough for me,” he told council in July. “That project is near and dear to my heart. I fought for it. But council should rescind its authorization and hold that money for Bridgeville. Between now and 2020, the state or federal government might come up with the money for what is a regional project.”
Clearly, some of Bridgeville’s leaders think otherwise, and that’s not an unreasonable position.
What is unclear, however, is why it took them 12 weeks of silence and several uncomfortable, fumbling responses to just say so.
You can watch the entire 15-minute exchange below: