Letters to the Editor 4-3-14

About Amenia’s water department

I find it very disturbing that one of our local newspapers (The Millbrook Independent) would publicize an article about our water district without knowing the true facts, alarming many residents.

I have worked for the town of Amenia Water District for over 27 years. I can safely say that I have dug miles in the Amenia Water District, fixing leaks, replacing water mains and hydrants. I have worked under the supervision of some very good water treatment operators. They worked very hard and were paid very little for what they did. To name a few past water treatment operators: Bill Philips, Clarence Kelsey, Jim Peckvich, Walter Bates Sr., Bud McDonald, Gary Bonds and Marco D’Antonio. We now have a very good Water Committee that is on top of things.

I can safely say that in the last 27 years the water system has come a long way. I used to be called in about every two weeks for a water leak on Broadway Avenue, Route 343 or Powderhouse Road. I would be called in during the day, night and sometimes work throughout the night and even on a cold Christmas day for a leak on Prospect Avenue. We would dig on sunny days, rainy days and snowy days.

We have done many upgrades to our water supply such as: a new 6-inch main and fire hydrant on John L Road; a new 6-inch main and two new fire hydrants on Midway Avenue; a new 6-inch main and four hydrants on Powderhouse Road, making a loop to Railroad Avenue; a new 6-inch main and hydrant east of Mechanic Street on Route 343; a new 6-inch main and four hydrants on Broadway Avenue; a new 4-inch main on Birch Drive; a new 6-inch main and hydrant on Morton Place; a new 6-inch main and hydrant from Lake Amenia Road up Route 44 to Serevan Restaurant and a new 6-inch main and six hydrants on Lake Amenia Road up Route 22 to Broadway Avenue making a loop; a new pump house that is pretty high-tech on Washington Court with even some 24-inch pipes in the ground; three new wells; and a new meter system. 

These are some of the major upgrades that have been done in our water district. These were not “band-aids,” as quoted by two-year term former town Supervisor Bill Flood in The Millbrook Independent, who, I believe, knows nothing about the water district.

Once again the water district has come a long way. Will we still have leaks? Yes, we will always have leaks. Does the system still need improvements? Yes, it will always need improvements. A million dollars worth of improvements? No, not at all. A few improvements every year would do.

Now that the new town supervisor and bookkeeper have discovered the water district has more than $200,000 in a capital project line — something the committee and operator have been trying to find out for years — improvements should now continue once again.

Stan Whitehead

Amenia Highway 

Superintendent 

Amenia Water Department 

contractor

Amenia

Can’t sell with building tenants

A recent article in this paper refers to the Pine Plains Library moving out so that the bank can evict the Odd Fellows. I have never spoken for the town on this matter and the eviction issue is only half of the story as reported. 

Consider this: If you and I go to closing on the sale of my house to you and I tell you then that my mother-​in-​law has been living in the downstairs apartment for years and goes with the house, I think that would be a deal breaker.  The Bank of Millbrook is not likely to be able to sell (to anyone) a building with  tenants. It must first remove tenants, which is why the library is relocating, and voluntarily, to save everyone the expense of a formal eviction. Once the building is vacant, it would likely meet the first requirement for any potential buyer. 

If the town is to buy the building, the most important requirement that has been stated by the town from the very beginning of the process is that there must be a sign off by the Odd Fellows of their claim to the building space. Satisfaction of this requirement would presume vacancy. This is the rest of the story that needs to be on the record. 

From what I would perceive as the bank’s perspective, the library must go so that the Odd Fellows can go, but without a sign off, the bank will be able sell to anyone but the town. Is all this a ploy? Hardly.

Jim Mara

Pine Plains