David Plaksin questioned Manheim Borough Council about a bill he received for sidewalk repairs Tuesday.

Plaksin is the owner of the Summy House, 31 S. Main St., a building that houses his office and JoBoy’s Brew Pub on the first floor and a residence on the upper floors. He received a bill for $5,885 to replace the sidewalk in front of the building; the work was done by the borough’s contractor as part of a PennDOT repaving project along South Main Street.

“This bill was the first time I received any information about the sidewalk needing to be replaced,” Plaksin said. “I feel that the sidewalk was perfectly fine. There was work done to a fire hydrant about 10 feet away from the sidewalk area that was replaced. I thought they beat up the sidewalk doing something to the fire hydrant.”

Plaksin told council that had he known that the sidewalk needed to be replaced, he would have had an independent contractor do the work. 

“That would have been much less expensive — nearly $6,000 to replace a 4 foot by 6 foot area is really high,” he said.

In the past when work on sidewalks was required the borough either talked with property owners or sent registered letters, Plaksin said.

“That’s what should have been done with this,” he added.

Plaksin also took issue with a warning on the bill that indicates payment must be received by Oct. 9 or a lien will be placed on the property.

“I try to be a good neighbor, but a few weeks is not enough time to come up with that kind of money,” he said.

Doug Shaub, council vice president, said that Plaksin was not treated differently than anyone else with regard to sidewalk replacement. Borough manager Bob Behling said he would verify that a letter was sent to Plaksin and documentation would be provided to him as well.

On Friday, Behling said letters were sent Nov. 12, 2010 notifying property owners with curb and sidewalk issues that they had until May 1 to have work completed.  Owners were to respond to the borough’s code enforcement officer by Dec. 20 to review the work required. 

Behling said the letter stated that curb and sidewalks repairs were to be scheduled by April 1 and work completed by May 1, or the borough would use its contractor, Doug Lamb Construction, to complete work. Behling said the timing of the work had been established to coordinate with PennDOT’s schedule for road improvements.