EMMITSBURG, Md. – The town could begin drawing down money from an approved $656,107 community development block grant (CDBG) this month.

The town was awarded the grant in December 2005 to resolve both a long history of sewage spills apparently originating from a missing valve in the collection system, and to extend sewer service to the new Emmitsburg Glass facility on Creamery Road.

In addition, the funds would be used to make modifications at the sewer plant to accommodate improvements made along the collection system itself.

Two bids to begin the collection system work and glass company site connection were approved at the Dec. 5 town meeting.

JHG Contractors, Frederick, was awarded a bid of $67,945 to begin work on the installation of a three-inch wastewater forced main, as well as a bid of $114,000 for the installation of an eight-inch water main.

Rejected was a $735,105 bid from W. F. Delauter & Son, Thurmont, for a forced wastewater main replacement and related work. That bid represented a 163 percent increase over the estimated cost of the project.

Work on the approved projects, according to Town Manager David Haller, could be completed in 90 to 100 days, although the contracts would allow 240 days for completion. The work could begin relatively soon, he said. Town spokeswoman Patricia Feeser told The Dispatch work could begin during the first week in February.

However, proposed expenditures have to go through various levels of state approval. The total grant amount is reserved for the town at the state level, and the town will draw-down on the allotment by submitting project-related bills as work progresses.

Regarding approval to spend money, Feeser said, “You have to go through all the steps. There are environmental surveys that have to be done, a lot of different steps.”

The forced water main phase of the project, whose bid the commissioners had rejected on Dec. 5, will be re-bid, but the papers to do so have not yet been prepared.

The wastewater collection system has been responsible for the spillage of hundreds of thousands of gallons over the years, the main culprit apparently being a missing valve which may never have been installed. The valve would have acted as a “brake” where the high-pressure wastewater line coming from town met the gravity-feed line going to the treatment plant.

The proposed overhaul would remedy the spillage problem by switching to an all-pressure collection system, and making adjustments at the treatment plant to receive the high pressure inflow of sewage.