CONNOQUENESSING TWP — At a Wednesday, Aug. 6 meeting, supervisors voted 2-0 to authorize the engineering firm Herbert, Rowland & Grubic Inc. (HRG) to begin land surveying for the design of a planned future sewer system.

Supervisor Ricky L. Kradel, chairman of the board, was absent.

The surveying is relevant for the Act 537 plan approved by the board during the July 2 meeting, which proposed regional treatment at the Saxonburg Area Authority and was one of four feasible alternatives laid out by HRG.

The surveying will be funded by grant money that was allocated to the Connoquenessing Township Sewer Authority by Butler County. The grant money was already obligated at the end of last year, and the township has until the end of this year to use it or lose it, Angela Fleeger, a township supervisor, said.

“We are not putting additional taxpayer dollars,” Fleeger said in the meeting. “This is strictly the grant.”

A concern raised by some of residents attending the meeting was that the survey was being approved despite the fact the Act 537 plan is yet to be approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

“How can you, in good faith, start surveying something that has not been approved yet by the DEP? It’s just wrong,” William Long, a resident of the township, told the Butler Eagle prior to the meeting.

“You’re working on a project that doesn’t exist yet.” he added during public comment at the meeting.

The board also voted 2-0 to dissolve the township sewer authority, which had been established in October, 2019, to work toward implementing a new sewer system design for the Act 537 plan.

Fleeger said that the reason for terminating the authority was to save money that was being spent recently without any purpose, such as attorney fees and audits.

“I know that there are some people that are struggling with understanding why we are dissolving the CTSA, and I will say financially speaking, I think it’s the right move to do for the township,” Fleeger said. “It’s nothing against the CTSA. They no longer serve the purpose that they were initially put in for.”