Seeking To Fill Highway Supt. & Deputy Water Supt. Positions
by Alex Brooks
The Petersburgh Town Board held its first virtual meeting on Monday April 6. This was the March regular meeting which had been postponed. Only two of the five Board members had their faces visible on the app, but voices were easily recognizable and it was quite easy to follow the conversation.
The Board passed a “Memorandum of Understanding” to be signed jointly with the Berlin Town Board, setting up a joint committee to manage the landfill project. This document, originally written by the Town’s environmental attorney Kevin Young, had been edited by Heinz Noeding and then reviewed and approved by both Young and Town Attorney Dave Gruenberg. This reporter has not seen the document, as a paper copy couldn’t be handed out at a virtual meeting, and no provision had been made to make the document available by electronic means.
Noeding said the MOU gives the joint committee authority to hire and supervise contractors and consultants to work on the landfill project. An escrow fund has been set up with $300,000 received from Taconic under the recently signed agreement concerning the landfill project. Taconic paid its grant a week after the agreement was signed, but Covanta has not yet paid any of the funds due to the Town under its agreement. Disbursements from this escrow fund must be signed off on by both Town Boards before checks can be cut.
Petersburgh Town Attorney David Gruenberg expressed some reservations about the bidding for environmental engineers contemplated in the MOU. He said “I don’t have a dog in this fight,” and he said he had no particular opinion in favor of Sterling Environmental, but he noted that they have already begun work on the project, and he understood from Kevin Young that the Town and its consultant are “in a tight time frame” based on the Town’s consent order with DEC. He also said that Kevin Young recommends Sterling Environmental, and for him that carries a lot of weight because Young has so much experience with this kind of matter and is in a position to know which environmental consultants are the most effective.
Heinz Noeding replied that this is more an engineering matter than a legal matter at this point and he believes Kevin Young’s role should be a lesser one going forward. He said it is the Town’s taxpayers who may be on the hook for the cost of the landfill in the end, and their elected representatives should compare costs of various alternative consultants and get some kind of estimate of what the work is going to cost.
Gruenberg replied that a bidding process is not going to give the Town a firm figure on the cost of the consultant’s work – “you will know what their hourly rates are, but you won’t know what the total cost of the project will be.” He said it is very hard to judge how effective or economical a consultant may be until they start working for you – you have to rely on others who have worked with them before.
Gruenberg also questioned whether it is a good idea for the members of the committee to be in consultation with DEC officials as Noeding had suggested. He said it is better for the towns to “speak with one voice” when it comes to communicating with DEC.
The Board voted unanimously to approve the MOU. Supervisor Smith then nominated Jack Barnhill and Tom Berry to be Petersburgh’s representatives on the joint committee overseeing the landfill project. Both agreed to serve on the committee. Alan Webster seconded, and the motion to appoint them was approved.
Water District
Supervisor Smith announced that the Town had received a letter of resignation from Deputy Water District Superintendent Ryan Hemendinger. Supervisor Smith said Hemendinger received a promotion at his job soon after applying for the Deputy position which required a greater commitment of time to that job, and he has found that he doesn’t have time for the Deputy Water Superintendent job now. The Board passed a motion to advertise for a new Deputy Water Superintendent.
The Water District received only one bid in response to its request for a mixer for the water tank (to prevent freezing). Town Clerk Deidra Michaels opened it and said it is from AquaStore, the company that made the tank, and it was for a contract price of $43,750. This price is much higher than the figure budgeted for that item. Former Water Operator Ben Krahforst immediately started shaking his head. He said he had found one that could be installed for less than $10,000, and he said he would pass on the information about that company and its product to the Town. Dennis Smith said it sounds like “we may have to put it out for bid again.”
Highway
The Board scheduled a Special Meeting for Monday April 13 at 7 pm to discuss Highway Superintendent Applications. The meeting will be held entirely in executive session.
The Town Board will seek bids for highway materials such as stone and gravel, and will seek to encourage all local providers to submit bids. A list of nine local gravel operations was mentioned that will be contacted and asked to submit bids. The request for bids will be put out publicly as soon as possible in the newspaper and the Town website.
Supervisor Dennis Smith said the idea of appointing rather than electing the Highway Supervisor has come up a number of times in recent years. Apparently it has come up again recently, although no one directly advocated for it at this meeting. Smith said he has no problem with putting the question up for a vote in the upcoming November election. The Board agreed that the voters should decide the question, and asked Attorney Gruenberg to write a resolution that would schedule a question on the matter for the November ballot, for the Board’s approval.
Cost Control
Supervisor Smith said the Town may be facing some revenue shortfalls because of the Covid-19 crisis, and he suggested that the Town may want to be cautious about its spending for the time being, and perhaps identify expenditures that could be cut or postponed in the event of a revenue shortfall. Councilman Heinz Noeding suggested that all department heads be asked to identify 10% of their spending that they could forgo if necessary, and all agreed that would be a good idea.