Boyertown Weighs $1.12M Water Plant Design Contract

Boyertown Borough Council is asked Monday to hire its engineer to design a new water treatment plant for $1,119,800, the first spending vote on a project the engineer has priced at $17.7 million and that the borough manager has said will push water rates up. The Nov. 2 agenda, posted Oct. 29, also opens with a public hearing and vote on the joint zoning amendment that would let data centers be built in one part of Colebrookdale Township, and it would send a trail-study fund to the downtown Main Street group.

When and how to weigh in

Council meets Monday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. in the Council Room at Borough Hall, 100 S. Washington St., per the borough's council page and its 2026 meeting schedule. The agenda lists public comment on agenda items right after the Pledge of Allegiance, then the zoning hearing, then general public comment at the end of the meeting. The zoning hearing is the place to speak on the data-center amendment before any vote. To find the meeting schedule for your own town, see our guide to township and borough meetings in Berks County.

$1.12 million to design the water plant

Under the water section, council is asked to approve "a motion to authorize the Borough Manager to execute the proposal submitted by SSM Engineering for design and permitting services for the construction of a new water treatment plant and raw water pumping station, for an estimated fee of $1,119,800, contingent upon the Borough obtaining the necessary financing" (agenda, p. 1). A water treatment plant cleans water from the borough's reservoirs and creek before it reaches household taps. The money would pay for drawings and state permits, not construction, and the agenda ties it to financing the borough does not yet have.

The design fee is about 6 percent of the project cost the engineer has put on the table. Jason Newhard of SSM Group told council's Public Utilities Committee in July that a new plant on Laurel Road, paired with a new Ironstone Pump Station, would cost $17,663,437.50, with 18 months of engineering, construction through 2029 and completion in 2030 (July 21 minutes, pp. 2-3). The current plant dates to the 1970s, is permitted for 2 million gallons a day but produces closer to 1.2 million, and the state Department of Environmental Protection has said it "needs upgrades to meet operating standards" (p. 2). The pump station would draw from Ironstone Creek, one of three sources the system is permitted to use; the Nov. 2 agenda does not say whether its "raw water pumping station" is that project. We covered the study and the financing in our Oct. 24 report.

Water customers would pay for it. In September, Newhard and Borough Manager Patricia Loder told the committee that "utility rates will have to be increased incrementally to meet this need," and that a state PennVEST loan for the $17.66 million project would carry 1 percent interest for five years, then 1.743 percent through year 20, for yearly payments of $1,028,399.67 (Sept. 22 minutes, p. 2). In July, Newhard said the borough "would need a $1,000,000.00 increase in water revenue and tapping fees could be increased" (July 21 minutes, p. 3). No rate change is on Monday's agenda. Today a home with a 5/8-inch meter pays a $60 quarterly minimum that covers the first 3,000 gallons, then $7.75 per 1,000 gallons, under the borough's fee resolution adopted Dec. 1, 2025 (Section T, p. 7).

The state has told the borough the work is not optional. At the same Sept. 22 meeting, Ralph Schoenly of Inframark, the borough's plant operator, reported that DEP inspectors were satisfied with the pump station for now "however they made it clear that permanent improvements will be mandatory," and that when they asked whether a new or majorly upgraded plant was being considered, "the inspector advised that those improvements will be deemed mandatory as well" (Sept. 22 minutes, p. 1). The financing may need legal work first: Newhard said "some DEP permits are issued to the Water Authority and some are issued to the Borough," and "PennVEST financing may require that all the permits be issued to the entity that is applying for the financing"; he and Loder "are investigating the requirements" (p. 2). The PennVEST payment, the minutes add, would be "a debt service savings of $289,797.16 annually"; the minutes do not say what financing that is compared with, and SSM's July estimate for the same plant had put annual debt service at $1,067,416 (p. 2; July 21 minutes, p. 3).

The plant also has a compliance problem on the record. The borough's 2025 drinking water quality report lists haloacetic acids, a byproduct of chlorine disinfection, at 63 parts per billion against a limit of 60, marked as a violation (p. 2). The July study said a working Ironstone Pump Station and new chemical feed systems would help keep those levels down (p. 2).

Monday's item is the second of two steps the committee laid out in September: a motion to let SSM "proceed with preparing plans" on Oct. 5, then approval of SSM's "engineering, design, permitting, and financing plans" on Nov. 2 (Sept. 22 minutes, p. 2). The Oct. 5 agenda asked council to request SSM's cost proposal, as we reported in our Oct. 5 preview; the borough has not posted minutes from that meeting, so how council voted is not on the record. The Public Utilities Committee's Oct. 20 agenda called for a review of the proposal with no amount listed, and no minutes from that meeting are posted either. Monday's agenda includes approval of the Oct. 5 minutes, so those outcomes may become public after the meeting.

The data-center zoning hearing

Right after public comment, council would hold a public hearing and then consider "Ordinance Number 04-2026 to amend the Boyertown Borough/Colebrookdale Township/Pike Township Joint Zoning Ordinance and Boyertown Borough Zoning Map" (agenda, p. 1). The three municipalities share one zoning code, so all three must approve any change, as our preview of the amendment explains. The ordinance text would allow data centers by special exception, meaning case-by-case approval from the Zoning Hearing Board, only in Colebrookdale's GI/Q General Industrial/Quarry district, with a 15-acre minimum lot, buildings at least 200 feet from any home and 1,000 feet from any school, church, cemetery, licensed day care or designated historic structure, and from any data center on another property. It would also create a "special event venue" use in Boyertown's Town Center district, switch three North Chestnut Street parcels from Light Industrial to Town Center on the borough zoning map, and set rules for storage containers and commercial trailers. Colebrookdale's commissioners hold their own hearing the same night at 7:30 p.m., per the township's notice, and Pike Township's supervisors advertised theirs for Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m., as our preview describes; Pike's website carries no notice. Our full preview of the amendment walks through the conditions, and where every Berks municipality stands is in our data center tracker.

Trail money to Building a Better Boyertown

Under finance, council is asked "to authorize release of the Trail Feasibility Study Fund balance to Building a Better Boyertown to be used for costs associated with the Iron Valley Trail" (agenda, p. 1). The agenda prints no dollar figure, and the borough's website shows no posted budget or monthly financial report, so the fund balance is not in the public record. The item came through the Finance Committee's Oct. 28 agenda as new business, with no amount there either.

Building a Better Boyertown is the nonprofit that runs the downtown Main Street program; its Main Street manager, Ellen Martignetti, reports to council each month, and the group's stated mission is "to cultivate a thriving downtown" and "promote Boyertown's main street district." Its projects page describes the Iron Valley Trail as a plan to "connect downtown Boyertown to the Schuylkill River Trail with a series of trails," with a first phase of "approximately a 1-mile loop trail through the Borough of Boyertown and Colebrookdale Township."

Vehicle storage at 230 East Second Street

Council is asked to re-affirm its April 6 waiver of a land development plan for Big Road, LLC's vehicle storage sketch plan at 230 East Second Street, "contingent on compliance with all comments" in LTL Consultants' zoning review letter of Sept. 21 and Spotts, Stevens and McCoy's stormwater review letter of Oct. 14 (agenda, p. 2). A land development plan is the full engineered submission the borough normally requires before a site is built out; a waiver lets a smaller project skip it. A second motion would grant the company's request for waivers from five parts of the borough's stormwater ordinance: Sections 165-21.C and D, 165-26.A(3), 165-26.A(10) and 165-26.E. The agenda does not say what those sections require, and neither letter is posted.

Council first granted the waiver April 6 on a 7-0 roll call, conditioned on an earlier LTL letter dated March 26 and on the company applying for stormwater and building permits, according to the April 6 minutes (pp. 5-6). The Planning Commission reviewed the company's "Stormwater and Grading Permit Plan" for the site Oct. 22, its first meeting since March, per its agenda; no minutes are posted.

Stray dogs, feral cats, parking and grass clippings

• Council is asked to let the manager sign a memorandum of understanding with the Animal Rescue League of Berks County, the shelter at 58 Kennel Road in Birdsboro, "for acceptance and housing of stray dogs" (agenda, p. 2). The item came through the Police and Public Safety Committee's Oct. 28 agenda. No terms or cost are printed.
• The 2027 Trap Neuter Vaccinate and Return contract with No Nonsense Neutering, a nonprofit with spay-and-neuter clinics in Allentown, Reading and Plains, is up for approval with no dollar figure (agenda, p. 2). The borough hands out vouchers for the feral cat program to residents who book an appointment and hold a Feral Cat Caregiver permit, per a Sept. 3 notice. As of Sept. 30, "no Borough resident has obtained one as of yet," the Public Communication Committee's minutes say (p. 1).
• A handicap parking space at 527 East Second Street is up for approval.
• Public works would continue its discussion of an ordinance "to prohibit depositing of grass clippings in the public right-of-way," the strip of public land along a street. The committee agreed in September to ask council for a draft modeled on the borough's rule against shoveling snow into the street, with a warning for a first offense, per its Sept. 22 minutes and as we reported in our Oct. 24 story. The item is still listed as a discussion, not a vote.
• Sami Jo Trout, director of the Boyertown Community Library, is scheduled to address council near the start of the meeting. The agenda gives no topic.
• Monthly reports are due from the water, sewer, street, code enforcement, police, fire and EMS, mayor's and Main Street offices, along with October's revenues, expenditures and bills.

Not on the agenda: the fire truck balance

The Finance Committee's Oct. 28 agenda listed "BAF&R Tower Aerial truck balance due $660,000" under unfinished business, down from the $940,000 the committee discussed Sept. 30, when Loder reported that Boyertown Area Fire & Rescue "expects to comfortably acquire the necessary funding" through donations (Sept. 30 minutes, p. 1). Nothing about the truck appears on council's Nov. 2 agenda, and no minutes from the Oct. 28 committee meeting are posted, so what changed between the two figures is not in the record.

Sources and contact

• Boyertown Borough Council agenda, Nov. 2, 2026
• Boyertown Public Utilities Committee minutes, Sept. 22, 2026
• Boyertown Public Utilities Committee minutes, July 21, 2026 (capital study)
• Boyertown Public Utilities Committee agenda, Oct. 20, 2026
• Boyertown Public Works Committee minutes, Sept. 22, 2026
• Colebrookdale Township notice of public hearing and enactment, Nov. 2, 2026
• Boyertown Borough Council agenda, Oct. 5, 2026
• Boyertown Borough fee resolution, adopted Dec. 1, 2025
• Boyertown Water System 2025 drinking water quality report
• Proposed Ordinance 04-2026, joint zoning amendment, zoning map amendment and hearing notice
• Boyertown Finance Committee agenda, Oct. 28, 2026 and minutes, Sept. 30, 2026
• Boyertown Police and Public Safety Committee agenda, Oct. 28, 2026
• Boyertown Public Communication Committee agenda, Oct. 28, 2026 and minutes, Sept. 30, 2026
• Boyertown Borough Council minutes, April 6, 2026
• Boyertown Planning Commission agenda, Oct. 22, 2026
• Building a Better Boyertown and its current projects
• Boyertown Borough Council 2026 meeting schedule
• Boyertown Borough Council and Mayor
• Boyertown Borough Agenda Center

Borough of Boyertown, 100 S. Washington St., Boyertown, PA 19512; 610-369-3028. Council President Frank J. Deery; Mayor Lorraine Carnes; Public Utilities Committee Chairman Keith Endy; Finance Committee Chairman Jeff Cascino. Council's most recent recorded votes are in our Sept. 8 recap.

For what a borough council controls compared with the county and the state, see our guide to how Berks County government works.