Sewer Project Bids Are High
By Alex Brooks
The Village’s Sewer improvement project has suffered a setback because bids from contractors came in much higher than the original estimates from three years ago. The project was originally estimated in 2015 to cost $3.7 million.
It was delayed by the need to purchase a property on which to put a new pump station and the need to secure easements from an unwilling property owner. The property has been purchased and the last easement needed, though still pending, should be secured soon, but the lowest bid submitted for the project was for $5.2 million, which made everyone pause and reconsider.
The project received a grant from the State last year of just about a million dollars, but now even with that grant, which was supposed to lessen the impact of the project on the ratepayers, the increase in sewer fees will be greater than anticipated when the project was approved.
Hoosick Falls Mayor Robert Allen said, “There is no dispute that we need to have this work done. We are looking at putting it back out to bid.”
He said discussions with MRB Engineering about what to do next are continuing.
Updates on PFOA Matters
Mayor Allen said he expects a full data release of the results from the first round of blood testing in Hoosick Falls within a week or two, and a second round of blood testing will begin in early June. He said blood will be collected at the Twin Rivers medical facility in Hoosick Falls and at the Bennington Hospital. Details are expected soon.
Allen also said the first changeout of one of the carbon filters will be starting May 17 and will take about a week. The procedure ensures non-stop filtration and continuous clean water output. The first step is to bypass the first filter so it can be removed and recharged. For the week that it takes to do that, the second filter alone cleans the water. Since this filter has been the second filter for the past year or so, it has received almost no PFOA during that time and still has a robust capacity to filter out the PFOA. This filter then becomes the first filter, and when the other filter has been recharged, it becomes the second filter. There is testing throughout the process to make sure that the finished water has no PFOA in it.
Woods Brook Buyouts
Mayor Allen said the Village has contacted most of the people whose houses may be candidates for buyouts from the State, using a grant of about $1million provided by NYS last year. He said discussions with these people are in progress, and Allen said his goal is to have the first closing by July 1.
Woods Brook Upstream Work
The Request for Qualifications yielded only one response, from Barton & Loguidice (B&L). The Board tabled the matter at the request of B&L because they believed the grant funder would not approve of a process in which only one firm submitted qualifications. A new RFQ will be put out for the project.
Parking Restrictions on One Block of Elm Street
A public hearing was held on parking restrictions proposed for Elm Street between First Street and Railroad Ave. In that one-block area, parking would be limited to two hours. There were no comments, positive or negative, on the proposal, and the Board unanimously approved it later in the meeting.
Code Compliance
The Board had a discussion about Code Compliance and unsafe structures. They asked Village Attorney Andrew Gilchrist what happens if the Village goes to court and still nothing happens with a derelict property. Gilchrist said the Village has a local law from 2008 for this purpose, about repair or removal of unsafe structures. Under this law, the Village can hold a Public Hearing on an order from the Building Inspector requiring repair or demolition, at which the owner can make his case about how and when he will bring the property into compliance. If the owner doesn’t show up or is unable to bring the structure into compliance, the Village can then repair or demolish the property and put the cost of that work on the tax bill. If the owner doesn’t pay it, the County will eventually pay that bill, which will reimburse the Village for the expense. But Gilchrist warned that this might take years, so if the Village was doing this with multiple properties, it might end up with substantial sums tied up in the process.
When asked after the meeting how many properties in the Village might need to go through a process like this, Mayor Allen said there are a couple that everybody is aware of, but there are others that might get there soon as well.
In other news:
• The Hoosick Amateur Radio Club asked the Village Board for permission to put their repeater on the Rensselaer Street water tower. They said this would improve the reach of their signal and doesn’t interfere with any other radio signals. It would be a box the size of a toaster on the ground, protected from the other by a small structure, with a piece of cable running up the side of the water tower. Police Chief Robert Ashe said he endorsed the request because the amateur radio network is helpful to him in emergency situations. The Board approved the request.
• Mary Fuller brought to the attention of the Board the poor condition of the sidewalk in front of St. Mark’s Church, which she said had serious cracks, on which she had tripped several times. She noted that the Church holds community dinners when elderly people come to the Church on that sidewalk. The Board responded that its standard policy is the 50-50 policy, which is that it stands ready to pay half of any necessary sidewalk repair or replacement if the property owner will pay the other half. Members said they would be happy to work with St. Mark’s on such a project.
• The Board approved a two year agreement with Animal Safe Home & Rehabilitation LLC for dog control services. The Company’s facility is in Cossayuna (just west of Salem).
• The Board appointed Gerald McAuliffe Jr. as its Community Service Director.
• The Board authorized a Bond Anticipation Note in the amount of $52,142 to refinance a previous bond of $62,571 from a year ago. The original bond was used for water and sewer repairs and purchase of a police car.