MARS — Borough council on Monday, May 5, approved a bid of $194,513 from Shields Asphalt Paving to repave a section of Spring Street which stretches from the north end of the borough to the south end.

Shields was the low bid, beating out competing bids from Wiest Asphalt & Paving at $223,684.50, and Hiles Excavating at $241,722.

The amount of road which will be paved along Spring Street is 6,085 feet, or 1.15 miles.

The paving project will be paid for with funds from a grant which will offset 70% of the costs, with additional funding coming from the borough’s liquid fuels reimbursements.

In other road-related matters, council also approved a quote of $42,350 from KLH Engineers to replace an aging cast-iron water line along a section of Crowe Avenue. The quote consists of $31,850 for the design phase of the replacement project, plus $4,000 for permitting, $2,500 for the bid phase and $4,000 for the actual construction phase.

The action to approve the quote had been tabled since February but was approved Monday night.

Funding for the waterline replacement will be paid for mainly with a $500,000 grant from Pennsylvania’s Small Water and Sewer Grant, which the borough received in October. However, according to council President William Fleming, the grant will not be enough to perform as much work as the borough had hoped to.

“We can’t go the entire distance that we were anticipating,” Fleming said. “It’s going to be probably 50 or 60% of it. It’ll go from Pittsburgh Street to Clark Street or maybe slightly beyond.”