CONNOQUENESSING TWP — Tensions mounted once again at a meeting of the Connoquenessing Township supervisors Wednesday, as officials prepared to vote to reappoint an engineer to consult on a plan to install public sewage in the township.

The supervisors voted to hire HRG Engineers as a consultant for a plan created by Gibson Thomas Engineering, the firm hired by the Connoquenessing Township Sewer Authority, to install sewage in the municipality.

Following disapproving comments from members of the sewer authority and residents of Connoquenessing Township, supervisor chairman Terry Steinheiser said the move would allow the supervisors faster answers to their questions, calling it “checks and balances.” Steinheiser also said the township will pay HRG on an hourly basis, but the supervisors do not have any meetings scheduled with the firm as of now.

"This is not a contract with HRG to rewrite anything," township solicitor Andrew Menchyk said. "This is merely bringing HRG on under contract as a consulting engineer so when these plans are received, the supervisors have their own engineer they can ask questions of and questions to."

Connoquenessing Township administrators have been discussing plans to install public sewage in the township for years, on order by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The sewer authority has been working with Gibson and Thomas since the start of this year, after many residents took issue with a plan previously provided by HRG, which had cost estimates upward of $50 million.

Prior to the supervisors' vote, supervisor Rick Kradel questioned how the cost and scale of a plan HRG provided at least a year ago compared to the plan developed by the sewer authority's chosen engineer.

Members of the sewer authority said at the start of the meeting that they were disappointed that the supervisors were hiring a new firm. Several residents also said during the meeting that the move could hamper the work done by the sewer authority, as others said they would like HRG to make a new plan, or for the plan to be abandoned altogether.

Laura Mason, a member of the sewer authority, said the supervisors’ meeting agenda upset her and supporters of the authority, because it seemed as though the supervisors were disregarding the authority’s work. She also said she hasn’t heard questions from the supervisors in months.

“You are not educated on intimate details on the last nine months of progress,” Mason said. “The DEP wants a plan that serves the needs, and the CTSA has the key right now to being very close to that plan that serves 81-plus percent of the needs, and costs roughly 60 to 70 percent less than HRG’s plan.”

Supervisor Larry Spangler and Steinheiser each reiterated that a public sewer system is coming to Connoquenessing Township, under the order of the DEP. A member of the sewer authority, Lambert Rosenbaum, reminded people present at the meeting that the DEP has found 52 sewage violations in Connoquenessing Township, most of which are trying to be addressed by a sewer plan.

Rosenbaum also said a plan that is in the works by Gibson and Thomas is a few million dollars less than a $52 million option presented by HRG engineers — and also addresses concerns of high cost and scale disliked by many township residents.

“There are 52 violations, and we are coming up with a plan to address as many of them as we can,” Rosenbaum said. “What we’re looking at is a smaller footprint... We’re not going to stop sewage, and that is not the intent of this board or this body.”