Petersburgh Town Board Action – Boil Water Order Is Lifted

by Alex Brooks
At the Petersburgh Town Board meeting on Monday, July 15, Town Supervisor Siegfried Krahforst announced that the Boil Water Order for the Petersburgh Water District had been lifted on Wednesday, July 10, after seven water samples taken from different locations around the District were all found to be clean. It is not known how bacteria got into the one sample which triggered the Boil Water Order. Water District Operator Ben Krahforst guesses that it was a “bad sample.”
[private]To make sure, the Rensselaer County Department of Health has ordered that five more samples be taken during the month of August to confirm that the water is safe and clean.
After an Executive Session held to discuss something about the Water District, Supervisor Krahforst said Gould Well Drilling will be coming out this week to investigate problems with Wells #5 and #6, which are near Route 2 just above the water tank. This year’s annual report on the Water District said Well #5 has an obstruction at 222 feet, so it is producing 5-10 gallons per minute (GPM). Well #6 is producing about the same amount, although it originally produced 60 GPM. The report says the decrease is due to development.
Krahforst also said the water meters in use in the Water District have a life expectancy of 20 years and most of them have been in use for longer than that so they need to be replaced. He called a meeting of the Water District Committee for this Saturday, July 20.
The Leaning Garage
Petersburgh Building Inspector Doug Hull said the former Jones Garage building is continuing to move, leaning further toward the Little Hoosick River and he finds the unstable structure to be a danger to anyone entering the property. The Board agreed that it needs to be taken down. Supervisor Krahforst said he will contact Pat Sweeney and ask him to take the building down.
There was a public hearing on the demolition of the building in March, and the owner appeared to say that he had plans to repair the building. At that time, he was given 30 days to present plans and take out a building permit. He said his contractor could start work on June 1. However, he never presented plans or took out a building permit, and June 1 came and went with no activity at the site from his contractor.
Krahforst said he will try to contact the owner immediately to notify him that the building will be taken down.
Ambulance Accident
Councilman Richard Snyder reported that the Petersburgh ambulance was in a minor accident recently. He said that while the crew was unloading a patient at the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington, the ambulance slipped out of “park” and started rolling forward. It only rolled about ten feet before it ran into a trailer parked there. Snyder said the trailer was not damaged but the windshield of the ambulance was damaged and it would be out of service for a couple of days. Snyder said he expects it to be back in service by the end of this week.
Town Hall Improvements
Supervisor Krahforst proposed installation of a “split” unit, a heat pump which can provide both air conditioning and heating, for the Supervisor’s office and the Town Clerk’s office. It would provide more efficient cooling and also provide some heating during spring and fall when it is chilly out but not yet really cold.
Krahforst said by providing some heat to the area where the most activity in the building is, they could keep the building thermostat lower much of the time in the spring and fall and thereby save a lot of oil.
Krahforst had a quote from Bennington Heating & Cooling for a unit with 12,000 BTU cooling capacity and 24,000 BTU heating capacity for $3,984 installed, but he offered to have himself and Charles Guntner install the unit, so the Town would pay only for the appliance, at a cost of $2,000.
Duane Goodermote objected. He said that the recent NYSERDA audit of the Town Hall said the payback period for installation of a “split” unit would be 100 years. Krahforst replied that they hadn’t taken into account the savings from the heating component of the unit. Bill Seel’s objection was that the NYSERDA report said that the area needs a unit of 48,000 BTU capacity, and he was afraid the unit being considered might prove to be too small.
With both Seel and Goodermote unwilling to approve it, the matter was tabled.
Supervisor Krahforst said a water damaged wall in the basement of the Town Hall had been removed and a hole in the foundation had been exposed where water has been coming in. He had a quote from Jay Burdick to run a drainage pipe from where the leak is to the sump pump and pour a small “curb wall” over the damaged area of the foundation. This would cost $1,292. The Board approved going forward with this foundation repair.
Krahforst also brought up again the matter of installing an automatic door opener on the front doors of the Town Hall for the purpose of access for the handicapped. The Town has a quote from the Center For Security to do that for $2,200. Councilman David Alderman had objected to that proposal in the past because he felt the doors need to be replaced and this proposal involves using the existing doors. But Krahforst said that he had consulted local architect Dave Sadowsky about those doors, and both Sadowsky and the NYSERDA consultants who have been examining the Town Hall said that the doors are in good shape and don’t need to be replaced. Alderman was not present at this meeting. The Board approved accepting the Center For Security proposal.
Highway
Highway Superintendent Ray Harrison said that Berlin Highway Superintendent Jim Winn helped him put in culverts and did the ditching on Potter Hill Road. Supervisor Krahforst said the costs of repairing all the damage from a heavy rainstorm in June will be large. He has been making a lot of phone calls to see if there will be any State or federal aid available but, so far, without any luck. He said the recent disaster area declaration prompted by flooding in the Mohawk River Valley did not include Rensselaer County so it does not help the Town of Petersburgh.
Harrison said he had rented a mowing tractor for a week and his crew will be running it every day to mow the shoulders of the roads.
Request From The Senior Center
The Town received  a request from the Everett Wagar Senior Center for a $500 contribution. Bill Seel said they could consider such a donation in next year’s budget but for this year the only way to do it would be to take it out of the amount budgeted for the Petersburgh seniors, which is used mostly for their trips. Duane Goodermote agreed, and Supervisor Krahforst said he would inform the Senior Center that the money is not available in this year’s budget.[/private]