Leonardtown wastewater treatment facility hits five-month delay

Leonardtown Town Council announced Monday that the completion of the town’s wastewater treatment facility expansion has been delayed by more than five months.

The town’s administrator, Laschelle McKay, updated the council during its July meeting on the wastewater treatment facility expansion, a project that officially began in 2022. McKay announced that the project is slightly more than halfway done, as they have completed and been billed for 55% of the cost.

McKay said this project was originally set to be completed by July 2, but now they estimate it will not be finished until Dec. 23.

“We had a really bad lull in the spring and getting some of the supplies and having enough workers there,” McKay said. “But they really started to make a lot of headway on that.”

McKay said they do not believe the project’s delay will negatively impact other projects that were counting on this facility’s expansion.

The project has seen change orders amounting to $123,086, bringing the new construction total up to $15,344,086. McKay said the total amount for the processed change orders is less than 1% of their original contract, however, they do anticipate at least one more change order in the future.

The facility’s expansion will allow for an increase in the number of treated gallons of water per day from 680,000 gallons to more than 1 million gallons, allowing more homes in the area.

The council also renewed the town’s annual sludge hauling contract with Synagro that included a 3.27% increase per wet ton hauled. Synagro, which Leonardtown has worked with for many years, is currently the only option for sludge hauling.

“We have no choice,” McKay said. “We have such a small amount and nobody wants to come down here.”

The council also introduced an ordinance to update the town’s zoning map so they can complete the annexation for the Cedar Lane Living Center and the property owned by Alfred Mattingly. The planning commission will review the ordinance this month and then there will be a public hearing during the council’s meeting in August.

Three parcels of land were requested for annexation in April for a total amount of about 5.86 acres as part of a plan for the senior living home to expand its capacity.