Taconic Reimburses Petersburgh For PFOA Expenses
By Alex Brooks
Petersburgh Supervisor Alan Webster said the Town has received a check from Taconic for $27,765 to reimburse it for various PFOA-related expenses. This covers costs paid by the Town for town employees and staff, the Water District Superintendent, Cedarwood Engineering and legal services of Young/Sommer LLC. Taconic apparently did not pay all of the Town’s reimbursement request and asked for more information about some of the items before paying them.
Petersburgh resident Heinz Noeding asked if there is a publicly available accounting of the Town reimbursement request and Taconic’s payment. Town Attorney David Gruenberg told him to make a request for it under the Freedom of Information Law.
Former Petersburgh Supervisor Siegfried Krahforst also spoke at some length about this, on behalf of the Water District Committee, of which he is Chairman. He said the Petersburgh Water District is paying more because of the PFOA problem for labor to manage the system and for electricity because of the filtration system. He said he believes Taconic has been a bit selective about paying for the former, and he believes the Town has not asked Taconic to pay anything for the additional electric cost.
Krahforst said he thinks the details of Taconic’s support for the Water District should be spelled out in the consent order so everyone knows what to expect. He said Taconic does not pay reimbursement on a regular schedule and reserves the right to accept or reject reimbursement requests. The Water District’s finances are in peril, as it has increased expenses because of the PFOA crisis, not all of which are reimbursed. Krahforst asked the Town Board to help the Water District get a more fair and more reliable reimbursement of its PFOA expenses.
The Water District had two more requests coming out of its meeting two days earlier. One was to make sure that a grant application would be ready as soon as New York State was ready to accept them for water system improvement grants. Alan Webster said he is comfortable making a commitment to have that ready within a month, as Cedarwood Engineering has only a few more things to add to complete its engineering report and grant application. The Water District’s other request was that the Consent Order between Taconic and DEC be modified to include having Taconic fund a feasibility study to find an alternative PFOA-free water source. Such a study was included in the Consent Order with the two companies in Hoosick Falls that contaminated the aquifer with PFOA, but was not part of the Consent Order in Petersburgh.
Covanta
Supervisor Webster announced that he had received an answer from Covanta about the landfill. The landfill was closed in the 1990s by a company called Energy Answers, which did not install a leachate collection system. Covanta bought Energy Answers since that time, and Petersburgh’s attorney is now making the case that Energy Answers was responsible for installing a leachate collection system under its contract with the Town of Petersburgh, and that Covanta inherited that responsibility when it bought Energy Answers. Covanta’s response, after stalling for six months while it considered the matter, is that it does not have any liability or responsibility for the current situation. The current situation is that leachate containing PFOA is leaking out of the landfill into a nearby stream, and DEC has put in two “carbon socks” as an interim measure to remove PFOA from the leachate, but DEC will be requiring at some point that a leachate collection system be installed at significant expense, and the towns of Petersburgh and Berlin will end up being the responsible parties who have to pay for it, since they owned and operated the landfill. Webster said the Town is continuing to work with Covanta, DEC and other parties to come to some resolution of the problem.
Veterans Exemptions
A Public Hearing was held prior to the Town Board meeting to hear public comment on a resolution that would renew authorization to give exemptions of up to 15% of assessed value to Cold War Veterans. This exemption has been in place since 2008, but the legislation only authorized those exemptions for ten years and the current legislation would extend them for as long as the qualified veteran or surviving spouse occupies the property.
Heinz Noeding asked how many of these exemptions there are in Petersburgh and what is the total amount of tax breaks given under this program. The Board did not have answers for those questions. During the meeting, the Board passed the extension of the Cold War Veterans exemptions. Noeding criticized them later in the meeting for passing this law without informing him or themselves what the cost involved is.
Former supervisor Peter Schaaphok said he thought the Town policy at this point is to use salt on paved roads and sand on dirt roads, but he said that sand is being used on paved roads and is making a mess. He noted that when that is done it creates the need to sweep up all that sand in the spring, which is expensive, and until it is cleaned off the road, there are dust clouds whenever there is dry weather, which is a nuisance at best and a health hazard at worst. He asked the Town Board to ask the Highway Superintendent to use salt on paved roads.
The Town Board seemed to have some doubt about whether they had the authority to dictate methods and materials to the Highway Superintendent. Resident Tom Berry suggested that they pass a local law establishing Town policy on this matter. There the matter rested.
Town Hall Renovation
Town Clerk Deidra Michaels said C&H Builders of Petersburgh recently completed renovations to the handicap bathroom in the Town Hall, involving new floor tiles and a wider door. C&H also put in new front doors, although that project did not seem to be quite finished. The Board is seeking bids to replace the flooring in the main hall of the Town Hall. The Board also accepted a proposal from Ben Krahforst for a device which would automatically turn on the de-icer on the roof when there is snow. The cost was about $595.
In other business:
• The Board voted to renew its contract with Cedarwood Engineering, so that Tom Suozzo can continue to assist the Town with work on the municipal water system.
• The Board approved audits of the Town Court, the Town Clerk, and the Tax Collector.
• Supervisor Webster said he talked to another IT company about the Town’s needs for computer networking and data storage. He said IT companies keep trying to sell the Town IT packages that it can’t afford. He will continue to look for computer assistance appropriate to the Town’s needs.
• Town Librarian Melissa Lockett said the Library has a new logo. Mrs. Wallace’s Graphic Design class at Berlin High School worked on the project, and the Library Board of Trustees chose the design created by senior Isaiah Christenson. The new logo has a sunrise similar to the one on the Town logo, but has a book beneath it.
• Supervisor Webster said he was contacted by Jim Bonesteel of the Rensselaer Plateau Alliance, who would like to make a presentation to the Town Board about his group’s recent activities. The Board agreed to invite him to one of its meetings.