Petersburgh Holds Special Meeting On Water District Issues

by Alex Brooks
The Petersburgh Town Board held a special meeting on Saturday, August 4, to deal with some Water District matters.
Petersburgh Supervisor Siegfried Krahforst asked for Board approval to hire Ed Jones to do the mowing around the water tank, the pump house and the wells. The mowing has traditionally been done by the Water District Superintendent, but Krahforst felt it made more sense to have Jones, who mows other Town properties, do the mowing than to have the Water Superintendent do it, and the Board agreed.
[private]Krahforst also asked approval to hire Keith Westfall of Kert’s Water Well Pumps in Cherry Plain to check out the wells and make sure they are in good working order.
The Board approved hiring Westfall.
Krahforst also said he and his son, former Water District Superintendent Ben Krahforst, started the generator and it worked fine but it needed a new battery. He asked for authorization to hire Ben to get a new battery and install it. Authorization was given.
The generator is needed to make sure the water continues to flow in the event of a power outage. It had formerly been started on a regular basis to test it and to keep its moving parts moving, but Krahforst said it has not been turned on at all for several years.
Rensselaer Plateau Alliance Trails Project
Supervisor Krahforst handed the Board copies of a letter he had written in support of a grant application for funding from the Greenway Conservancy small grant program for a project exploring the possibilities for recreational trails on the Plateau.  He asked them to read it and approve of his sending it, which they did.
The letter read, in part, “The RPA [Rensselaer Plateau Alliance] will work with the plateau’s eleven municipalities, public and private landowners, and the region’s recreation advocacy organizations to develop a regional vision for a network of trails linking communities and outdoor recreation destinations on the plateau with one another and with other trail systems…A significant part of this effort will be focused on public outreach and education to address the various questions and concerns that are often expressed about such trail systems.”
The application is for $20,000. It proposes to gather input from trail user groups, landowners, municipalities and the public on a “vision” for recreational trails on the plateau. It would involve a number of public workshops looking at maps and exchanging ideas leading to a report on some of the ideas and concerns the RPA had heard. RPA President Jim Bonesteel said the “Trails Vision Project” would aim more at an overall concept of a trails network, which could serve as a starting point for future efforts, than at detailed plans of particular trails.[/private]