by Alex Brooks
The Petersburgh Town Board meeting began with a presentation from Tom Berry, who lives on Canfield Road in Petersburgh. He said he has been a resident for eight years and he felt moved to get involved because of the big tax increase this year and because he felt there are ways to reduce the cost of the Town’s operations which are not being explored.
[private]Berry filed a Freedom of Information (FOIL) request asking for all of the Town Highway expenses and has spent a lot of time over the last two weeks reviewing them with assistance from Gene and Sherry Kluck. His conclusion is that the Town could have saved “over $18,000” in 2013 by buying gravel from Sean O’Donovan’s pit locally instead of buying a product called “EconoGravel” from Wm. E. Dailey’s pits in Hoosick and Shaftsbury, VT, and that the Town could have saved $2,000 by buying diesel and gasoline fuel on a State Contract that offered a price that Berry said was lower than what the Town actually paid.
Berry said he called Dailey’s and asked them what is EconoGravel. The person he spoke to said, “We call it junk gravel,” and he said it is made from recycled concrete, blacktop, stone, dirt, clay and tailings from the crusher and that it does not meet any NY State specs. Berry professed himself puzzled by why the Town would buy an inferior material at higher cost instead of buying O’Donovan’s gravel locally and asked for an explanation from Highway Superintendent Ray Harrison.
Harrison made no immediate reply, but later in the meeting he said, “It’s a better material.”
Supervisor Siegfried Krahforst said he has to rely on the opinions of the Highway Superintendent, who is the expert in Town on road building methods and materials. He noted that the citizens of the Town, having recently re-elected Harrison, have chosen to put their faith in his expertise. Krahforst also said the Town Highway crew put EconoGravel on his road this year and it has held up better than other materials that have been used in the past.
Berry’s estimate of the potential cost savings were based on a spreadsheet put together by Gene and Sherry Kluck using the information he had gathered which showed the cost of various materials as shown in Town records and added estimated costs for trucking the material back to Petersburgh, including fuel, the cost of the driver’s time and so on. The spreadsheet showed that the Town bought 2,800 yards of material from O’Donovan, a little over 1,000 yards from Billy Hammersmith’s Quality Construction in Cherry Plain, a little under 1,600 yards from Dailey’s in Hoosick and just under 1,300 yards from Dailey’s in Shaftsbury, VT.
O’Donovan’s price is the cheapest, $7 per yard for item 4 and $5 per yard for bank run. Hammersmith is only 15 cents more for each of those materials, but his pit is farther away. The EconoGravel from Dailey’s varied in price. Some was $6.75 per yard, some $7.50 and some $9 per yard, and, of course, it is quite a long haul to bring it back to Petersburgh from those locations.
The agenda showed that the Town Board would go into executive session to discuss an agreement between the Town Board and the Highway Superintendent which basically says they would cooperate “to make the best and most efficient use of highway repair and improvement funds.”
When the Board came out of executive session, Krahforst announced that the agreement had been signed. The agreement, which was drafted by the Town’s attorney Sal Ferlazzo, seems to be just a pledge to cooperate on setting priorities for the Highway Department, but it was thought to give the Town Board an ability to give direction to the Town Highway Superintendent. Pursuant to the agreement, a three person group was appointed to be “liaison” between the Town Board and the Highway Superintendent, which included Town Board Members Jack Barnhill and Neil Geary and also Tim Church. Geary said he saw his role as helping Harrison to run his organization in the most efficient and cost effective way possible and looked forward to a collaborative, rather than contentious, relationship.
During public comment Sherry Bowman Kluck said she thought this should be done in open session. Krahforst said personnel issues were involved and it must be done in executive session. Kluck objected persistently, but Krahforst was adamant.
Low On Sand
The immediate problem for Harrison was that he was low on winter sand and needed to buy some right away. He was apparently sparing in his purchases in the last months of 2013 because he was over budget. He said he didn’t have time to bid it because he needed to go get sand “tomorrow morning.” Bill Hammersmith was present at the meeting, and he said he has winter sand ready for immediate pickup. Harrison agreed to buy that sand.
Truck Breakdowns
During the meeting Ray Harrison told the Board that the front wheel had fallen off of the big Ford tandem axle. It was towed back into the Town yard by the loader just before the meeting. He did not yet have any repair estimates. He also said the International plow truck, which caught on fire a few weeks ago, has been repaired and is back in service. He said insurance paid for the repairs.
Transfer Station
The agenda had the matter of the Transfer Station Agreement with Berlin up for discussion but Krahforst said the Board should table this item until the Town Board could meet with the Berlin Town Board to discuss the matter. Krahforst said the Town has just been going along from year to year without giving much consideration to the contract. He said the last time a contract with Berlin was actually signed was 2009. Krahforst and others seemed a bit discontented with the current contract.
Water District
Krahforst said he had a lengthy report from Water District Superintendent Ben Krahforst, but since a special meeting has been scheduled on Water District issues on February 7, he suggested tabling the matter and taking it up next week at the Water District Meeting.
Building Inspector
Krahforst said Martin Conboy is going to school to become certified as a building inspector and code enforcement officer and until he completes training, Doug Hull is staying on. The Board authorized paying Hull his old salary until he leaves, even though the salary was cut for 2014.
103 Mill Yard
Krahforst said he had sent a letter to the County notifying them of hazardous conditions at this property and how it is in the hands of the County and there is not much that the Town can do. He said the County owns this property now.[/private]