Council Will Repair Roads Only in South Baldwin This Year

Baldwin Borough's council members voted, 6-1, on Tuesday night in favor of using the borough's road funds to repair only roads in south Baldwin this year.

Councilman Bob Collet made that motion, saying that the borough should save money by keeping its resurfacing equipment in one general area as opposed to taking it across Route 51 and up Streets Run Road to north Baldwin.

"I can't see jumping around the borough just to make people think that things are even," Collet, a central Baldwin resident, said after hearing from borough engineers that the cost of transporting equipment will eat away at the money designed to actually fix the borough's roads.

"Get the best for your dollar," Collet said before suggesting that, next year, the council should fix roads in the northern part of the borough before returning back to the southern part the following year. "You only have so much money."

Fellow Councilman Michael Stelmasczyk pointed out, though, that current council members, including himself, may not be on future councils and said that it would be unwise to assume that those future councils will act accordingly.

As such, Stelmasczyk cast the lone "no" vote.

"No matter what you do, there's going to be complaints," Councilman John Ferris said. "Pick a side and do it."

Engineer Larry Souleret said that the conditions of the roads are "pretty much the same" in both ends of the borough, but Councilman Ed Moeller pointed out that the total amount of roadwork (actual mileage) needed in south Baldwin is greater than in the north.

Souleret's current estimations are that it will cost almost $2.1 million to address the roads in south Baldwin that are in need of repair, as opposed to less than $1 million in north Baldwin.

However, the borough's 2013 budget shows only , meaning that not every troubled spot—see table below—can likely be corrected this year.

As such, the council will determine exactly which streets to repair at a later time, but none of them will be in north Baldwin this year.

Click here for more Baldwin Borough news.

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