Sewer feasibility study moving forward

NORTH EAST — News that President-elect Barack Obama is considering a $700 million disbursement for infrastructure (sewer and waste water fall under that category) in rural New York has the town of North East and the village of Millerton scrambling to put together a feasibility study for a shared sewer system between the two municipalities.

At the Town Board meeting on Dec. 11, both boards decided to move ahead and hire C.T. Male Associates, P.C., of Latham, N.Y., to draft a feasibility study in hopes that if the rumored Obama funding comes through, the town and village will be "ready to go," a phrase that Obama used when the announcement was made.

"‘Ready to go’ is a term that has yet to be defined," town Supervisor Dave Sherman said. But as Robert Flores, who is an engineer with C.T. Male, said, unless you have something submitted, you’re not going to be considered.

Most of the meeting on Dec. 11 was spent discussing the Scope of Work and Contract that had been provided by C.T. Male. Attorney to the Town Warren Replansky and Jonathan Churins, who works for Dutchess County Water & Wastewater Authority, had looked over the document and had comments and suggestions for the final contract.

Professional services are not required to go out to bid, and original estimates from Flores (as quoted in the last issue of The Millerton News) had an feasibility report being produced by May.

"We’re trying to expedite the process," explained Sherman. "And while we wanted to be assured that we’d be getting a quality product, we’re also trying to move things along quickly."

If things run according to schedule, C.T. Male would have a feasibility study completed in four to six weeks, meaning that one could potentially be ready by the end of January.

The study, which would define the project and its potential costs, would be required to qualify for any funding that might be made available once Obama’s administration takes over on Jan. 20.

But this project is still very much in its early stages, and Sherman stressed that funding from Obama might not even be available to North East and Millerton, or that it simply would be overshadowed by projects that were deemed more urgent.

"There’s no saying how much money will be available, and who it will be available to," he said. "A large municipality, like New York City for example, probably has significant need, and they may soak up a lot of the funding. We have to see if anything is going to be established via policy as to how these funds, if they do become available, are allocated."

Sherman said that a feasibility study will greatly help understanding toward exactly what the town and village will be facing if they decide to move forward with a sewer system.

"We’ve determined that we just need more information," he said, adding that figures like the cost to each taxpayer in the area are still far from being established.

The project is primarily the village’s, Sherman said, as they hold the largest geographic area proposed to be serviced. North East service will be limited to areas east of the village.

Both the town and village board passed resolutions to accept the modified contract, which will pay C.T. Male a base price of $11,000, with the allowance for $500 per additional meeting with a maximum of three meetings.

The cost of producing the feasibility study will be split between the town and the village, but Sherman said that it has yet to be determined how costs would be broken up between the two municipalities in the future.

And if for any of the various reasons that funding would not be awarded to the project, the feasibility study is being structured so that the information would be viable for a few more years, and potentially another cycle towards a much-needed sewer for the village and the town.