TOWN BOARD SPECIAL MEETING, TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE, August 4, 2022
The town board special meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope was held at the Mount Hope Senior Center on Baker Street, Otisville NY on August 4, 2022 at 7:00pm with the following present: Supervisor Matthew Howell, Councilman Chris Furman, Councilman Brian Carey, Councilwoman Amanda Davis, Councilman Jim Jennings & Town Clerk Kathleen Myers.
Town Supervisor Howell opened the meeting following the Pledge of Allegiance at 7:00pm. (Three residents from HV were in attendance.)
Supervisor Howell noted the hearing notice is on the table. The main topic tonight is that we have smoke testing to be done at the Hidden Valley sewer district. Those homes connected to the sewer system will be part of that. The reason for the smoke testing is find any ground water or any other water infiltration into the sewer network which would be putting un-needed added stress on that facility. Two main reasons for infiltration are sump pumps being directed into the sewer system or putters and down spouts going directly into the sewer system. Those 2 reasons are what we are hoping to detect. If those connections are there, they will have to be removed and piped accordingly onto ground soil so that it doesn’t go through the sewer system. It will also identify if there are any major breaks within the sewer pipe or underground sewer network.
He noted that he gave some handouts to the public here describing the sump pump aspect for the testing. He provided board members with a packet he received from our contracting company. It has the detailed process of what goes on. A hold harmless agreement will have to be done with the contracting company. The attorneys had requested some additions to the agreement. We are scheduled to have the testing on Wed. August 24th, starting at 7:00am and run through the entire day. The contractor is NY Rural Water Assoc. They plan to have the work completed on 1 day. If need be, they would come back on the 25th. He opened up to the board for their comments.
Councilman Carey: will the roads be closed? Supervisor Howell: they will be closed in small sections at a time. The entire sewer network is not done at one time. It will be broken into smaller subsections. They will be a half hour to 45 minutes in each subsection. Our highway department will be on hand to help with barricades & cones.
Councilman Carey: when the smoke test is done and someone is found to have an illegal hook-up and they’re not at home, how will they be contacted? Supervisor: we have a couple of options. We can do it by mail. We can do it in person. We can do it by phone if we have the contact for them. Having the added water coming into the system is adding additional stress and strain which will wear it down faster than expected. We are looking to extend the life of the plant by getting rid of the extra that’s coming in. It’s designed to treat sewage not rain water or ground water.
Supervisor Howell added a message from the plant operator Mike Brock. Mr. Brock would like for the residents to be reminded of the following: No grease should go down the pipes. No plastics or flushable wipes or flushable items. No feminine hygiene products.
Supervisor Howell added: between now and the start of work on the 24th, we are going to be sending a notice to the residents. He provided a sample provided by the contractor as well as the sump pump packet we have here. If you are home, it would be beneficial if the contractor finds that there is the smoke coming back into the home to show the interconnection where it is not desired, the contractor could show what needs to be corrected.
Councilman Jennings: how long will it take to fix the issue – if found? Do we give them a time frame? Supervisor: we should have something realistic depending on the nature of what it is. Most times it’s a simple correction. Councilman Jennings: who will double check the fix? Supervisor: that’s something we can come up with. The contractor won’t come back and follow-up on that.
Councilman Carey: this is not the first time this has happened. Going forward, we would be doing this again in the future? Supervisor: correct. This was done about 3-4 years ago.
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Deb Taylor: what is the cost for this? Supervisor: there’s not a cost. NY Rural Water is a federally funded company. The cost we incur is for the liquid smoke. The only other cost is the gasoline for the blower fan.
Sean Burke: while they are testing, are we allowed to use our water, flush our toilets? Councilman Furman: they didn’t say anything about that so I’m assuming that’s ok. One thing I will say is, to run water through the pipes the morning of to fill the traps in sinks and toilets. Supervisor: I don’t believe the sewer pipes run – a 4” pipe wouldn’t be full of 4” of water. There will still be an air space that smoke could travel back over top of the water.
Supervisor Howell added: the smoke that is manufactured specifically for this purpose, leaves no residues or stains, has no effects on plants or animals. It has a distinctive but not unpleasant odor. The visible smoke and odor can last for a few minutes when there’s adequate ventilation. Not harmful. Not toxic.
Heidi Volpe: will the smoke only go into places where there’s a leak or sump pump or something like that? Or is it possible that every house will have some bit of smoke? Supervisor: the smoke should not enter your home however if the smoke does enter the home, any of the following items are a probable cause: the vents connected to the building sewer laterals are inadequate, defective or improperly installed, traps under the sink, tubs, basins, showers, floor drains etc. are dry, defective or improperly installed or missing, pipes connecting/sealing the buildings sewer system are damaged, defective or plugs are missing or improperly installed. Besides the sump pump and drain cleaners, the goal is to no have anyone with the smoke either in the house or coming through the gutters. We will be notifying the fire department because in past cases they have had people think their house is on fire because smoke is coming out of the toilet bowl/wherever in the house. The common smoke color choices are blue & red. Mrs. Volpe: I know most of the houses in HV have finished basements so I don’t know how many people would have a sump pump. Councilman Furman: the main purpose of this is to see where all the water is coming in. (inaudible)
Deb Taylor: when that system was put in it was actually too big for Hidden Valley. At one point they actually had to bring in water to keep that system going. I find this a little funny because I thought there was only 2 homes hooked up after the sewer system was put in. Councilman Carey: how old is hidden valley? Mrs. Taylor: Hidden valley was built in the 70’s. Supervisor Howell: the other possibility could be storm drain inner-connection. There was a small addition of storm drains on Thistle Lane because that was part of the construction for the new homes off Hill Road. That’s the sewer network for those homes comes back through that lot on Thistle to connect to the main of the existing sewer. I think there’s some storm drains there. That would be the other possibility for this detection. That would be coming out of the street. Mrs. Taylor noted the hook-up charge being $6,000/house which started about 6-8 years ago. With inflation, that should go up. Considering inflation ran about 2-3%/year with one year being 9%, I think the hook up fee should be about $9,000-$10,000 now. I don’t think that’s outrageous considering that anybody building a house has to put a septic system in. They’re still getting a bargain at that price. That would help to defer some of the cost to the existing houses now. Sean Burke: additionally, back then, it is possible to build a development over there somewhere? There was potentially 50 or so homes for off of Hill Road. They would have to have their own sewer system which back then would have cost upward of $1,000,000. At the time, the town ok’d them to tap in for just $6,500 apiece meaning we were all subsidizing this development. I would definitely like to see that change. $10,000 would not be enough. Mrs. Volpe: we know there’s houses going in off Oak Terrace. Mr. Burke: Individuals putting a house in might be acceptable but to subsidize a developer and coming in and saving $1,000,000 by using our system is not right. Mrs. Volpe: when the sewer system went in, we were paying $6-$700 for it. Mrs. Taylor: thank you for having this informational meeting considering when they put this system in, no one was given a chance to speak. That sewer system was shoved down our throat at that price.
Supervisor Howell: to your point, it is your plant – it’s not mine. About 2 years ago, we re-financed a note that you pay on that plant – to save a little bit of money by lowering the interest rate. Another aspect, we did authorize some repairs: fine screen component of the plant which is the primary stage of screening the solids as they come in. This had to be custom ordered for the plant. I hope to use some of the federal funding to replace the entire filter membrane section of the plant. By using the federal funding, that’s no additional cost to the residents of Hidden Valley. That’s one of the biggest pieces of the system that the plant operator is getting done as far as maintenance.
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Heidi Volpe: if the smoke does come in to anybody’s house, what should they do? Supervisor: there will be 3-4 people within the development doing the testing. The best thing to do if you’re home, is to notify the town employees or the contractor or call to the town to let us know: name, address, contact number. She asked who they call: town clerk’s office or highway department. Supervisor: either – or. Mrs. Volpe: if someone isn’t home, will they have any way of knowing if the smoke entered their home? Councilman Furman: it would disappear by the time they get home. Supervisor: unless it’s in a small confined room with no means of ventilation, I think it’s going to dissipate. Councilman Furman: that’s why we’re going to notify the fire department in case the detector goes off. Mrs. Volpe: will it set off fire alarms in the house? Councilman Furman: it can.
MOTION TO ADJOURN:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Carey to adjourn at 7:29PM. All in favor: Davis, Carey, Howell, Furman, Jennings; carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen A. Myers
Town Clerk
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