Village Board Frustrated With MRB Group Sewer Project Expense
By Doug La Rocque
At its January meeting, the Board tabled what is known as Change Order # 6 as it concerns the contract with the engineering firm MRB Group, which is overseeing the John Street sewer project. The change order deals with what MRB labeled as additional expenses due to the discovery of the box culvert and the additional contamination remedial efforts that came along with it. The Board at that time requested its environmental consultants, Sterling Environmental, look over the approximately $10,000 document for verification purposes. Sterling in return sent a list of questions to MRB Group, who Mayor Rob Allen said is not satisfactorily addressing them. He told the Board, “I am very frustrated with MRB,” a sentiment the rest of the Board agreed with. The question the Mayor proposed was, should the Village continue to expend money to endeavor to get answers, or just approve the change order and cut its losses?
The Board turned to Niel Stowell, head of the Village’s highway and sewer departments, for his thoughts. Mr. Stowell said he felt the change order should be approved, noting he had personally witnessed Luizzi Brothers, the contractor MRB Group must pay, doing a significant amount of extra work at the site. On Mr. Stowell’s recommendation, the Board voted unanimously to approve the order.
Landfill Consent
The meeting opened with a lengthy executive session to deal with litigation issues. Later in the meeting, the board’s environmental attorney David Engel, noted that after many hours of talks with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Honeywell Industries, he felt the village was ready to sign a consent clean up order with DEC as it concerns the village landfill, but with a major condition. That being that the Village and Honeywell reach an agreement for Honeywell to reimburse the Village for its costs. He indicated the discussions for this sidebar agreement were progressing.
Mr. Engel noted the landfill is contaminated with PFOA, which is present in the leachate and nearby Thayer’s Pond. Last year, DEC labeled the landfill a superfund site, meaning if the village and Honeywell cannot come to an agreement to clean it up, the state will, and charge the cost back. That is typically much more expensive then the village and Honeywell handling it on their own. Honeywell and its predecessors have been determined by DEC to be the agents of the contamination.
The attorney explained that the Village’s other major source of PFOA exposure, Saint-Gobain, is not a part of this legal action, as the landfill was closed in 1993, capped in 1994 and Saint-Gobain was not a presence in the Village until 1996.
Upgrading
An Antiquated Phone System
This is an issue that has been a long time coming, particularly since there are many components. After Mayor Allen’s report at the Tuesday, February 11 meeting, the board approved motions to have CIT Associates begin work to install a Voice Over IP phone system, that will be tied to a Spectrum internet provider package. Mayor Allen, tongue in cheek, said after the vote, when the work is complete our phone system will be upgraded to at least year 2000 technology.
We Are Going To Need
A Bigger Generator
At the board’s January meeting, Highway Superintendent Stowell asked the board to consider replacing the 25 kilowatt generator (Kw) planned for the new highway garage with an 80 Kw size. He explained at this meeting, the 25 Kw would not produce enough juice to power all the outlets in the garage, should there be a lengthy power outage. The Board approved a motion to put the new generator out to bid.
It’s Election Time In The Village
The Board has set Wednesday, March 18, as the date for the yearly Village elections. There are three seats on the Board open this year, and three candidates seeking election to those positions. Two are incumbents Craig Pine and Vanessa Lewis. The third is Deborah Alter, owner of Smallsong Gallery in the Village. Incumbent Ben Patten is not seeking re-election. The polls will be open from noon to 9 pm.
Other Business
Trustee Emily Marpe was appointed to replace Ben Patten as the board’s representative to the Eastern Rensselaer County Solid Waste Management Authority, also known as ERCSWMA. Trustee Lewis said with the help of another person she submitted a video entry for HGTV’s Hometown Takeover. HGTV said the six towns selected “will witness the rehab of multiple individual family homes and the revitalization of public spaces, such as parks, local diners, and recreation centers.” The Hoosick Falls bid will compete with an untold number of entries from towns and villages under 40,000 in population, from all around the country.
The Sandbar Restaurant also inquired about some possible water bill refunds, due to the damage and extra costs they incurred in relation to the extra work at the John Street sewer project. Village Attorney Andy Gilchrist informed the Board its local law regarding this matter would not allow any such refunds, but that the Sand Bar could always file a claim against the Village for these expenses.