Richland Borough Council hears updates on well delay

This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.

Richland Borough Council heard an update on the ongoing Well No. 9 project delays at its July 14 meeting.

President Kelly Bricker and council member Shawn Watrous were absent.

Township engineer Casey Kerschner of HRG said once Tristar, a subcontractor hired by Garden Spot Electric, receives SIM cards, they will finish communication testing to establish communication between the well and the reservoir. 

At the June meeting, Kerschner said the well was projected to be operational by July 10. The project has been experiencing delays since January. In June, the borough authorized a $23,619.56 change order with Garden Spot Electric due to the failure of the initial radio design that necessitated a switch to cellular communication.

Additionally, water samples from the well have continued to fail bacteria testing.

“It’s not rare to fail bacteria tests once. It’s rare to fail a bacteria test twice and multiple times,” Kerschner explained. Kinsley Construction will take apart the contact pipe and other components to hopefully determine a cause.

Water committee chair Matt Johnson asked for specific dates Kinsley will be conducting that work and emphasized the urgency of project completion. “We all know we’re seven to eight months behind schedule on it, and now it’s getting critical for us with the levels we have,” Johnson said.

Borough technician Ben Becker said the DEP Drought Task Force has issued a drought warning for Lebanon County and seven other counties. Area residents are being asked to voluntarily reduce water use by 10 to 15%. 

“We are seeing it in our wells. In the last two weeks we’ve dropped two feet on our pumping depth, and since the start of the summer we’re down five feet,” said Becker. “It’s not critical at this point, but we’re afraid it’s going to get there because we don’t really have an end in sight for this dry spell that we’re in.”

In other news, council:

• Authorized drafting a new Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance and Stormwater Management Ordinance by HRG for the borough.
• Learned that trash contract bid packets were sent to 19 companies, according to vice president Richard Strickler. A mandatory pre-bid conference will be held July 27. Bids are due by Aug. 25, and a contract will be awarded Sept. 8.
• Approved financial security of $160,708 for the Richland Railroad Diner expansion plans. The diner closed on May 29 to be demolished and rebuilt with an estimated reopening in March 2027.
• Is seeking a resident to fill a board vacancy for the Millcreek-Richland Joint Authority. Anyone interested in learning more about the position may call the authority office at 717-866-5938.

Richland Borough Council will meet again Aug. 11 at 7 p.m. in the borough building at 5 Pine St., Richland. Meetings are open to the public.