by Bea Peterson
At a special meeting of the Hoosick Falls Village Board on Tuesday, January 21, the Board agreed to have the MRB Group look into various grant and loan possibilities to fund a $2,645,400 series of sewer collection system improvements for Superior, Church, Center, Willow, Railroad and Lyman Streets and Carey Avenue.
[private]For the last ten months Dave Lukas and Jeff Tubalino and others from the MRB Group have been using closed circuit television and flow monitoring devices to evaluate problems in the sewer lines of these streets. The last major work in those areas was 50 years ago. At this meeting MRB submitted an engineering report describing the issues they found. And there are plenty of them. The River Road pump station needs to be rehabilitated. They found many fractures in many of the lines. Some of the lines are compacted or have inadequate capacity or dips and sags, holes and cracks. On Willow Street, for example, tree roots are filling the line. In another place a piece of plywood with soil over it is covering a broken line.
A Sewer Line Under The Church Street Bridge
The report, shown on screen, described three alternatives for replacing or rerouting the sewer lines. The Board agreed the best option was to upgrade the pump station, run a sewer line under the Church Street bridge and reroute lines from the other streets. It is the most costly option, but it is the most practical and provides the Village easy access to the lines at all times.
The need for this work is imminent. Sixty to eighty percent of the Village sewerage goes through the affected area. There is a possibility of sewer backup in houses or continuous breaks in the already damaged lines and the failure of the pump station. In some areas ground water is getting into the damaged lines and that water adds to the cost of operating the wastewater treatment plant.
Trustee Bob Downing was against a plan that would put a further burden on taxpayers. But, the Board agreed, there is little alternative and doing nothing could be far more costly. What the Board agreed to was having the MRB Group look into funding from NYSEFC (New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation), which is a clean water revolving fund, the USDA Rural Development fund and the Governor’s office for small cities community development block grants. Lukas and Tubalino said, since the Village has already done the groundwork for the project through a $30,000 grant it received last year, the potential for grant or low interest funding is pretty good. The important thing at this moment, they said, is to get on the list.
The Board agreed that MRB should initiate the necessary paperwork. The Board made no commitment beyond that. Everyone agreed that the cost figures are not final and that there may be a potential for savings through in kind services. If necessary the list of items to be done can be prioritized and done in pieces. Grant approval information will not be available until October.
Other Business
In other business of the meeting the Mayor announced that the Village was not approved for a NYS Consolidated Funding follow up grant for this round. He also recognized the accomplishments of Boy Scout Kyle McCune who reached the rank of Eagle in a ceremony on Saturday, January 18.
The Board approved the appointment of Crystallee Quell as a full time Police Officer effective immediately.
The Board also approved a health insurance change for Village full time employees from MVP, which is no longer available, to CDPHP beginning February 1. “This is as close as we can come to the previous plan,” said Mayor Borge. “And employees will have an opportunity for additional options.”
Village And Town Joint Meeting
The Mayor also announced that there will be a joint meeting of the Village and Town Boards on Thursday, January 30, from 6 to 8 pm downstairs in the Armory. The Laberge Group will be discussing ways to market the Hoosick community. “This is not a formal meeting, and it is open to the public,” said the Mayor.[/private]