- By Dan Veaner
- News
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The MOU seemed to present the most obstacles, mainly because of scheduling. Village Mayor Don Hartill had promised to present the committee with a draft of the agreement before their Wednesday meeting. Two items require further negotiation, and, with Hartill scheduled to leave town on business for two weeks, committee members were concerned that they might not be able to present the project to the Town for another month. With rising construction costs and State pressure to build the project or lose bond act money, the committee is loath to hold the process up.
The first item was expected: the Mayor calculated that the Village's usage of the forced main trunk sewer line that will go from the Cayuga Heights Treatment Plant through the Village to the Town will be 8%, meaning that of the part of the Sewer not paid for with State and other monies, the Town would pay 92%. This figure was considerably lower than the 10% to 15% previously estimated, and even lower than the 10% figure the Mayor had floated at the Village Trustees meeting on Monday. But at both the Village and Sewer Committee meetings the consensus was that this figure would be negotiated.
More troubling to the Sewer Committee was the last paragraph in the document which deals with ownership of the trunk line. As worded in the draft it appeared that the Village would take the responsibility of building the forced main system within its borders, and that would be hooked up with the Town segment. If that were to happen the figures in the engineer's report would have to be reworked, and Attorney Mary Chappell and Engineers David Herrick and Jim Blum raised questions about the practicality of that approach and whether State bond act money flagged for the project could even be used that way.
Their assumption was that the Town would build the entire project, then deed the portions to the Village that fall within its borders. They agreed that the Village would have input on the final design of the system so that issues such as odor control and the quality of construction and materials are dealt with to the Village's satisfaction, and felt that addresses the Village's concerns. Sewer Committee Chairman Bud Shattuck expressed concern that if the Village insists on building it's portion that the entire project could be held up at least an additional month until the September Town Board meeting.
But Village Trustee Frank Moore, who represents the Village at Sewer Committee meetings, said that he thought that Deputy Mayor Larry Fresinski could negotiate these points, and get the Mayor to sign off on them by e-mail before the Town Board meets. Moore volunteered to participate in those negotiations as well. Town Supervisor Steve Farkas agreed to call the Mayor yesterday before he leaves. So while the schedule is tight, committee members felt some assurance that they can be ready to present for next week's meeting.
The Town Sewer Committee goes over a mountain of papers
and maps one last time before presenting the project to the
Town Board next Wednesday
The engineer's report, a 1/2 inch thick document that lays out the project goals, scope, benefits, history and plan, and the public mailer were given a final look when Blum gave copies to the committee, explaining the changes made since their meeting two weeks ago. The engineer's report includes data on the project including many maps and charts, including a 58 page list of each parcel in the district sorted by the owners' names that lays out a breakdown of what each property owner's cost would be. "Right now the report reflects the worst case scenario," Blum said, explaining that the costs shown do not include the Village contribution or additional contributions from other sources that the committee is pursuing. The committee's intention is that the actual costs to property owners will be lower than those shown.
Blum gave the committee a last chance to include the chart in the report or remove it. "It's the first question people are naturally going to ask," he said, "but at the same time they will compare their costs to their neighbors." But committee members were anxious to include the information. "This is the truth," Shattuck said. "It's all public information. I have no problem with it at all."
Other parts of the equation were also discussed. Both the Town and Village have been participating in intermunicipal discussions with the treatment plant on what processing charges will be. It is projected that the Cayuga Heights plant will have to send some effluent to the Ithaca plant, and that will require construction and expansion of sewer lines between the plants. A sticking point is how that charge will be distributed, and the parties continue to negotiate on that point.
Later Andy Sciarabba and Noel Desch reported on their continuing efforts to get extra money through donors. Sciarabba also noted that he feels it is very important for the school district to be supportive of the project. He has met with school board members and Superintendent Mark Lewis on a couple of occasions, and is scheduled to present the project to the Board of Education in their meeting on Monday.
Once the project is presented to the Town Board public hearings and information sessions will be scheduled. The first of those will likely be scheduled for September 7th, with another one September 20th. With three board members participating on the committee it is likely they will vote to form the district. Once that happens taxpayers within the district have 30 days to petition for a permissive referendum. If the vote is to build the project, or if there is no referendum, the Town will have passed a major hurdle. At that point a final design will be engineered and construction scheduled.
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