By Jackolyn Houghton and Alex Brooks
The Board of Trustees of the Village of Hoosick Falls re-convened in the HAYC3 Armory on Monday evening February 27 to consider approval of a revised agreement with Saint-Gobain and Honeywell to reimburse the Village for its expenses incurred responding to the PFOA crisis.[private]
The meeting was originally called for Thursday February 23, but it was postponed because one of the Village trustees had a family medical emergency that prevented him from attending. There were a large number of Hoosick Falls residents in attendance, and a full complement of local news media, with perhaps six TV cameras rolling.
Boy Scouts could be seen holding the American Flag while the Pledge of Allegiance commenced. It was a somber mood compared to the one last week when the original meeting had been postponed. Mayor David Borge began with a lengthy statement recapping the progress of the PFOA crisis from its beginning.
Borge then described the terms of the new agreement. He said the Village would receive $1,045,000 under the agreement, almost $200,000 more than the previous version. He said the agreement contains a new payment of $153,000 to be used at the discretion of the Village Board.
The agreement gives the two companies a partial release of claims by the village, limited to claims about the “current municipal water supply” Borge said this release is very specific to the existing water system, which has already been fixed by installation of the GAC filters, resulting in a water system free of PFOA.
The Village reserves its right to seek indemnity and damages or claims relating to other matters than the current configuration of the water system. Specifically mentioned claims excluded from the partial release include those related to new wells, alternative sources of water, extensions or additions to the water system, contaminants other than PFOA, diminished property values, and PFOA contamination at other sites such as the landfill.
Borge said if the agreement is not approved, the Village will have to get a loan to pay its attorneys and engineers, and the payments on such a loan may require a tax increase.
He then opened the meeting for public comment, saying that the time for such comment would be limited to sixty minutes. A very lengthy line formed of people wishing to address the Board.
Rob Allen, candidate for Mayor in the upcoming election, called it a “horrible agreement,” and said specifically that the term “municipal water supply” in the agreement is not adequately defined. He said the residents are scared and need to know that the Village Board has their back. “This agreement does not have our back,” he concluded.
Brian Bushner, candidate for the Village Board in the upcoming election, said he thought the vigorously stated opposition of a United States Senator should have been enough in itself to kill the agreement. He said the thing he likes most about Hoosick Falls is that people take care of each other here, but he feels this agreement does not take care of the people here.
Michael Hickey, who was the first to discover the PFOA problem and sound the alarm, said in his usual soft-spoken manner that he is disappointed that this matter had to come to a heated confrontation. He said “I thought we wouldn’t have to do this after Judith Enck and Senator Gillibrand came out against it. The fight should not be among ourselves. The fight is with the polluter.”
Judith Enck, former Regional Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said “This is a really good agreement for Honeywell and Saint-Gobain, but it is not a good agreement for Hoosick Falls.” She said she has seen a lot of agreements between polluting corporations and the communities they have polluted, and this is one of the worst she has seen. She said she thought the two companies should be ashamed of themselves for putting the Village Board in this position. She said indemnification for the Village should be in the agreement, not just a right to seek indemnification in the future.
David Connors from Senator Gillibrand’s office came to speak on her behalf. He said she apologized that she could not be present herself, but there was a vote in the Senate she had to attend. Connors read the letter that she had sent to the Mayor. It said she has very serious concerns about the agreement being considered. She said giving a partial release of liability to the two companies is “completely unacceptable.” She said she is distressed that a health monitoring system has not been set up, and pledged that her office will work diligently with the Village Board to get the resources they need to deal with the PFOA crisis.
Howard Freed, who served for three years as Director of the NYS Center For Environmental Health, said the agreement is extremely favorable to the polluters, and unfavorable to the Village. He said it is “totally unnecessary” to sign away rights in order to get the Village’s costs reimbursed.
David Engel, an attorney with 40 years experience in environmental law, is working with Healthy Hoosick Water and is therefore familiar with all the facts of the Hoosick Falls PFOA situation. He spoke at length about the agreement. He said the Companies should indemnify the Village, and the Village should not give releases which may jeopardize their rights for a more comprehensive settlement later on.
Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin also spoke, urging the Board to use more caution and vote no. He said the sum of money is too small and the time is too soon to settle. He suggested the Board listen to what the residents are telling them. “All of us are at our best when we listen to the people we represent,” he concluded.
Many more citizens spoke, asking the Village Board to vote the agreement down. In all there was about an hour and a half of public comment. No one other than the Mayor spoke in favor of the agreement.
Mayor Borge then read a prepared resolution accepting the agreement. It was moved and seconded amid rumblings of displeasure from the audience. David Engel then came forward and said the resolution read by the Mayor did not accurately describe the agreement that the Board is voting on, and is therefore invalid.
Deputy Mayor Ric DiDonato, then took the microphone and asked everyone to quiet down, saying it was his turn to speak and he had the floor. He said he thought the Board should table the matter and work on further revisions to the agreement rather than voting it down, because he thought that if it was voted down, litigation against the Village would result.
Trustee Bobby Ryan then made a motion to table the matter, and DiDonato seconded it. All of the Village Board then voted in favor of tabling it, except the Mayor, who said, “I do not agree with this motion – I say nay, but the majority rules.”
With the approval of this motion to table the agreement, residents in the audience cheered.
Mayor Borge then made a motion to begin seeking a loan for the Village so that it can pay its legal and engineering bills, which passed unanimously.
There was a big sense of relief among the crowd as they chatted or made their way out of the room, feeling that their voices had been heard. [/private]