Village Board Set to Consider Its Approval At January 12 Public Meeting
Village of Hoosick Falls Press Release
An $850,000 agreement Village of Hoosick Falls officials have finalized with Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics and Honeywell International has been posted for public review on the Village website at www.villageofhoosickfalls.com.[private]The Village Board will consider the agreement for approval at a special meeting on January 12, to be held at the Hoosick Falls Senior Center, 69 Church Street, from 6 to 8 pm. The public is encouraged to attend and provide comments on the agreement before the Board considers it for approval.
“The Village Board’s priority was to ensure residents had access to clean water at no cost, which ultimately was accomplished by the State’s Consent Order with the companies. We could have stopped there.
Instead, the Village Board continued to demand Saint-Gobain and Honeywell cover all the additional costs and losses the Village has incurred, to ensure local residents do not bear the brunt of a situation they didn’t create. To the companies’ credit, they realized the financial burden the PFOA crisis has created for our small community and agreed to this unprecedented agreement. The Board is extremely proud of what has been accomplished to protect the safety and financial well-being of our community,” said Village Mayor David Borge.
Approximately 40 percent, or $337,000, of the companies’ payment to the Village will be used to reimburse the Village for losses sustained from decreased water and sewer revenues, costs associated with flushing Village water piping and associated repairs to water hydrants, and increased administrative and postage costs associated with several mailings to residents, advertisements and website development. The remainder, approximately $513,000, will be used to pay the Village’s team of engineering, legal and communications consultants, who have been working without payment for their services for more than a year to assure the situation is appropriately communicated to the public and all issues were addressed. Specifically, MRB Engineers will receive approximately $100,000 and FitzGerald Morris Baker Firth PC will receive approximately $410,000, of which approximately $100,000 will be paid to Behan Communications, Inc., for assistance it provided to enhance the Village’s public involvement program.
“It is important to remember that in the early days of this crisis, the Village had none of the resources needed to evaluate the presence of PFOA in Village water, to negotiate with New York State and the companies to protect the interests of residents, or to communicate with the public and media to ensure residents were aware of the free bottled water program, the state’s biomonitoring program, and similar activities,” said Mr. Borge. “The Village had to assemble a team of experts to assist us. I am certain that without their diligent, experienced and dedicated expertise, the Village would not have been in a position to successfully negotiate the agreement we are considering for approval. I am aware of no other community dealing with an environmental crisis such as this that has successfully negotiated such a valuable agreement on behalf of its residents.” [/private]