The Town Did Not Build That Bridge
By Thaddeus Flint
The Town of Stephentown would like everyone to know that they did not build that bridge.
The subject came up at the September 16 Town Board meeting, after an article in the Times Union titled “A Bridge Too Far: Rensselaer County Span Mistakenly Built With Creosote” had some residents wondering if they were going to have to pay to un-build a bridge they already paid to build, and then pay once again to build it correctly.
“We did not build that bridge,” Town Highway Superintendent Aldi Goodermote said. And just in case people were dozing off, or staring at their phones, or still unsure if maybe the Town built that bridge, he said it about thirteen more times and some Board members said it a few times too and the point seems to be that Stephentown didn’t build that bridge.
The Bridge Too Far (which doesn’t really make much sense, since for the residents that use it, it’s right where it’s supposed to be) is the one on Black River Road that was replaced back in April. It spans the Black River—obviously—and used to be a Bridge Too Noisy. The planks were coming up and it made a lot of noise when traffic crossed over it, not that there is a ton of traffic on that little road. Nevertheless, when Rensselaer County came around last Spring offering free bridges, Goodermote knew a place that could use a good new one.
Come April, there was a new one – quieter, but for resident Jack Spillman, it wasn’t a good one. It smelled. Now, a lot of construction projects often have malodorous fumes wafting out of them, but they usually go away and aren’t usually all that harmful. The Bridge Too Smelly, on the other hand, managed to make Spillman, whose home is just about under it, ill to the point of needing to wear a respirator when he was near it. Around Labor Day he even had to go to a hospital and get checked out because he thought the bridge might be giving him a heart attack.
The smell, according to Spillman, was creosote. He went around telling people this but not everyone believed him because you can’t build things using creosote protected wood in New York State, and you haven’t been able to since 2008. There are some exceptions to that rule though, pointed out Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt, who received a Notice of Violation from the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) because his Town isn’t one of those exceptions. If a railroad track was going by Spillman’s house, he would have been out of luck because railroads can use all the creosote covered ties they want. Utility poles too. Bridge, no.
“That bridge was a gift,” said the Highway Superintendent, who didn’t look all that happy with his gift. Apparently, once Goodermote told the County where he would like his gift placed, that was the end of it as far as Stephentown was concerned. The State and the County took it from there and hired William J Keller & Sons Construction out of Castleton-On-Hudson to do the actual bridge building. According the Times Union article, Keller & Sons were under the assumption that “clean creosote” was allowed under NYDOT rules. Apparently no, it’s not. So why didn’t anyone else along the way, County or State, tell them it’s not? Both entities have well-paid engineers hired to know all about building bridges and stuff like that, so shouldn’t they know a law that’s been on the books for over ten years?
“Who the hell OK’d it to start?” asked Goodermote. But nobody knew, at least at that moment, who the culprit was.
“There’s a reason why this was done,” added the Highway Superintendent, but he didn’t know exactly what that reason was. Neither did anyone else.
“It doesn’t make sense,” added Councilman Bill Jennings.
It also didn’t make sense to the Supervisor that Stephentown was the one getting the ticket for the bridge they didn’t build, but that’s how government works sometimes. “How do we deal with it now?” he asked.
For some reason, Planning Board member Mark Prescott, started dealing with it. According to Eckhardt, Prescott, who lives near Spillman and The Bridge Too Smelly, researched the matter and found that a method of encapsulation exists for creosote that might solve the air quality problem cited by DEC. A company from Maine could come down and embalm the creosote for $4,500. DEC told the Supervisor that they would accept that as a temporary measure. The Supervisor was—at first—of the opinion that they should go with that plan, if, for no other reason, to keep Spillman out of the hospital. “My sole concern is for Jack,” he said. Not everyone else though thought that this was the best first step.
“If we touch it, we are going to take ownership of that sucker,” said Councilman PJ Roder. Nobody wanted ownership of that sucker.
“They don’t have any of our signatures on any of it,” pointed out Goodermote. “it was a gift!”
“If you get a bad gift,” asked Roder, “why the hell do you have to pay for it?”
The Board came to the general agreement that so much as touching their gift might leave the Town open to future liability, not only for rebuilding it, but for any air, water, or health problems it may cause in the future. Plus nobody wanted to pay $4,500 to fix something they didn’t break. “If Mark Prescott wants to pay $4,500, then let him do it, but I don’t,” said Councilman Roder, who noted that encapsulation probably wouldn’t get to all the creosote anyway.
What the Board is going to do about it—if anything – remains unknown. The decision to table the matter until legal counsel could look into the Town’s latest fiasco was made, with all in favor supporting the decision.
“We didn’t build it,” said Highway Superintendent Goodermote again, in case anyone had still somehow missed that.
Announcement:
Stephentown’s web site is currently down. A new, updated one, is in the works and should be up shortly.
Stephentown’s Clean-Up Day will take place during the weeks of Sept 25 – 28, October 2 – 5, and October 9 – 11. Some changes have been made to what was previously announced. Residents are now limited to one pickup truck load of junk and must choose the day they want to bring said junk to the Transfer Station. Residents need to pick up a ticket from either the Town Clerk or the Stephentown Memorial Library. More information about the workings of this event will be provided at that time. The cost is free, but tickets are in exchange for a non-perishable food item to help the local food bank. “If they don’t bring a food item, I’m sending them back until they get one,” said Town Clerk Stephanie Wagar.