Krahforst Resigns
Petersburgh Hires New Water Operator
by Alex Brooks
At the Petersburgh Town Board meeting on Monday, July 15, Water District Superintendent Ben Krahforst resigned for the third and apparently final time, effective immediately. Krahforst originally submitted his resignation in mid-April, but was persuaded to postpone it pending further negotiations. On June 10 he gave two weeks notice. On the day his resignation would become effective, June 24, a joint meeting was held between the Water District Committee, members of the Town Board, and Krahforst. At this meeting, members of the Water District Committee made the case that it is going to be more expensive to replace Krahforst than it would be to pay him what he is asking, and that being the case, it would be worth going back to Taconic to seek higher compensation for Krahforst’s time working on PFOA-related matters, and also to enlist the help of DEC attorneys in getting Taconic to pay the rate requested. Based on the Town’s agreement to pursue this, Krahforst agreed to postpone the effective date of his resignation for three weeks while further discussions took place.
Krahforst’s grievance is that he believes that the Town committed to pay him $60 per hour for PFOA-related work, as documented in a number of e-mails in the first few months of 2017. The Town then asked Taconic to reimburse him for his time at that rate, and Taconic refused. After lengthy negotiations, Taconic agreed to pay for his time at the rate of $35 per hour, and has been paying at that rate ever since. But Krahforst, and many of his supporters, say the agreement about pay is between himself and the Town, and Taconic must reimburse in full.
After the June 24 meeting, Supervisor Webster immediately contacted regional DEC Chief Keith Goertz and asked for assistance. Goertz responded by undertaking a research project on rates of pay for Water Operators, and on July 5 he sent an e-mail to Webster saying “The Department believes that reimbursement at the $35 per hour rate is reasonable.” He went on to say that the Town may still pursue a formal dispute resolution process pursuant to Taconic’s Consent Order, but he suggested that such a proceeding is “not necessary” at this point.
By July 15, Krahforst concluded that no progress was being made towards paying him at the rate agreed on, and resigned effective immediately, and informed the Board that he will be filing a lawsuit seeking full pay for all of his time working on PFOA-related matters from early 2017 through his July 15 resignation.
Hearing this, Town Attorney David Gruenberg said this is a personnel matter and also the subject of pending litigation, and as such cannot be discussed in public. The Board then voted to go into executive session to discuss it.
The next morning Supervisor Alan Webster said the Town has so far had no applicants for the Water District Superintendent position, but he was working on securing an interim operator to manage the Water District starting immediately.
On Wednesday July 17, Webster said Jim Hurlburt agreed to be the Water System Operator for a six month interim period as long as he had a local person handling day to day operations that he could supervise. Webster said Highway employee Adam Beaudry has agreed to do the day to day work on the Water District under Hurlburt’s supervision, and has agreed to take training so that he can get his Water Operator’s license over the next six months.
The Town is in the process of working out an agreement with Beaudry, which will probably involve the town paying for his training and his time while training in exchange for a commitment to stay on the job for a certain period of time.
Webster said “Adam did a good job keeping the Highway Department running when Ray was out,” and expressed confidence that he would do well as the Water System Operator.