State Will Pay Another 6 Months Of Water Bills
by Alex Brooks
Supervisor Webster said the services of Barton & Loguidice (B&L) have been essential to progress the Town has made in dealing with the PFOA issue, and as they get deeper into the process of implementing the recently signed Consent Order, they will be needed just as much. [private]The original contract with B&L authorized $20,000 worth of work, and that has been done. B&L have now requested an additional authorization of $30,000. Webster recommended to the Board that they approve it, which they did. Dennis Smith said, “We can’t afford not to do this.”
It is expected that these costs will ultimately be paid by Taconic through the Consent Order, but for the moment the Town has to pony up the cash.
Supervisor Webster said the State has agreed to pay the Water District expenses for another six months, so members of the Water District will not have to pay their water bill in January. Water District patrons did not pay the July bill, and now will not have to pay the upcoming January bill, because the water has remained unfiltered for nearly a year since PFOA was discovered in the water.
Water District – Ben Krahforst described the arrival and unloading of the GAC filter tanks. He offered many thanks to the Town Highway crew, which had to clear snow and cut tree branches that were obstructing access to the water tank in order to get the large truck carrying the tanks in close enough to unload it.
He said he has had well contractors up to work on the wells, and well #5 is now working on automatic. He said he thinks the control on Well #2 also has to be replaced.
He said the filters need a minimum flow to work as designed, and while the existing wells are adequate for the initial installation and operation, he is not sure if the existing wells will be adequate for the long run. The existing wells are all pulling from the same aquifer (at different depths), and there may be a limit to how much water can be drawn from them. He said more work has to be done on the wells to learn more about this.
Krahforst also said the tank is supposed to be inspected every five years and some components of the tank need to be inspected every three years, and this has not been done. He has asked the maker of the tank, Aqua-Stor, for a price to do the inspection, but he has not heard back from them yet.
Krahforst said he is on the phone constantly to perhaps 30 different people at DEC, DOH, and the County Health Department concerning the design and development of the water system.
Supervisor Webster said Krahforst has been working just about full-time on the Water District in recent months, and offered the Town’s thanks for Ben’s dedication.
Supervisor Webster reported that A&E Landscaping, which has been doing the Town’s mowing this year, had offered to sign a three year contract with the Town to continue doing the mowing at the same prices as this year. The Board felt that A&E had done a good job and their price is good, and they get along well with Town officials, so they agreed to the three year contract.
The Board is working on two local laws, a “Town Constabulary” law, and a Dog Control Law. They scheduled a workshop to discuss those laws for Monday December 5 at 7 pm
Webster said Town Historian Nancy Burstein had told him that the requirements of the position are too demanding for her and she said she does not wish to be re-appointed for 2017. Webster said Peter Schaaphok said he is willing to return to the position.
Highway – Highway Supertintendent Rob Cottrell was not present because he and his crew have been out constantly for 2 days November 20 and 21 plowing and clearing fallen tree limbs in response to the extended snowstorm. His report said they are hauling winter sand, graveling and grading various roads, and cleaning out culverts and ditches. The F9000 truck is in the shop having its front end rebuilt.
Supervisor Alan Webster said he had held a lengthy meeting with Cottrell, Town Bookkeeper Charles Guntner, and members of the Highway Committee to formulate a long range plan for replacement and upkeep of trucks and equipment. He also said the 2017 budget had been finalized and there is a 0% increase in the tax levy.
Broken Wheel Bridge is complete and the Supervisor and the Town Highway Superintendent have signed off on it except for one thing. The landscaping has all been completed and it looks good, but it was put in late, and Webster is concerned that it might be subject to erosion during the winter because the plantings are not well-enough established. The contractor agreed to come in the spring and fix anything that needs fixing.
Revaluation
Tom Berry brought a document he had assembled to last month’s meeting documenting what looked like spending on a Revaluation that had never been completed, and Webster asked Town Assessor Craig Surprise to come to this month’s meeting and respond. Surprise said the Reval was put on hold three years ago. He said money was allocated for a reval on numerous occasions, but no money was ever spent on a revaluation. He said the problem is that the State used to do a lot of the work for a Reval and now they don’t help at all. Revaluations are most frequently done these days by outside contractors who bid them at something like $75 per parcel and it is very expensive to do one. He said the State will tell you they will aid a revaluation at $3 to $5 dollars per parcel but it is now more like $1 per parcel. Surprise said he estimates it would cost about $40 per parcel or $40,000 total to do a reval in Petersburgh. He said he is willing to do one, but he doesn’t recommend it. He said the Town is at about a 58% equalization rate, and there are many Towns a lot lower than that. He doesn’t see that the Town would gain much by doing a reval, and in addition the PFOA situation complicates the matter. Most people would expect their valuations to go down because of the PFOA contamination, but in fact, said Surprise, “Sales prices have not gone down.” He acknowledged that estimating value by recent sales is problematic, because there are so few sales. He estimated that maybe a dozen properties are sold in Petersburgh in a year, and the State wants to see many times that to get a reliable statistical sampling. Surprise said the last full reval in Petersburgh was done in 1994, and the last update of valuations was done in 2002. At the conclusion of this discussion, the Board seemed less inclined than ever to go forward with a revaluation, but no action was taken.
Public Comment
At public comment time, Emily Marpe asked how the Board feels about applying to have the Taconic site declared a Federal Superfund site. Webster said his view is no, and others on the Board seemed to agree.
Also at public comment time, this reporter asked if anything had come of the application for $8 million put in by Barton & Loguidice last summer. Webster said no, but he insisted that the application had to be done as a first step to “get the ball rolling.” The grant seeking process is now focused on smaller projects such as improving the Water District infrastructure and funding test wells to try to locate a new source of water.
Town Attorney Gruenberg said Taconic is responsible for formulating a remediation plan under the Consent Order, and this kind of work is likely to be included in that. Taconic may end up doing test wells to try to locate a source of water that is free of PFOA.
[/private]