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SATURDAY January 2, 2010
TRI LAKES TODAY - 5
Trustees pass water meter law, award contracts SARANAC LAKE — The Saranac Lake Board of Trustees approved a local law Dec. 21 that allows for the installation of new water meters at homes throughout the village. The legislation states that no premises – businesses included – may receive water from the municipal system until a meter is installed. Meters will be hooked up to water service pipes and – quote – “a radio transmitter reading device is installed in or on the exterior of the building being served.” Trustees passed the law four votes to one. Jeff Branch was opposed to the law for a number of reasons, stating that too many questions were left unanswered. Branch said he wasn’t convinced that water rates wouldn’t increase following installation. “I understand the importance of this,” he said. “But I think not knowing how much this will increase water costs – and let’s not make any assumptions that it’s not – I can’t vote yes because I think it’s going to go up significantly, just as it did last time meters went in.” Mayor Tom Michael argued that water meters allow the village to generate revenue based on usage. Currently, the village charges a flat rate. “So a home with two people pays the same as a family with four kids,” he said. “Some people will save money, and others will pay their fair share.” During the public hearing that preceded the vote, Molly Hann of Park Avenue said she and her husband were considering purchasing a meter in order to conserve both water and money. “Then we heard about this grant and thought, well, if the village is getting a grant for this we might as well save ourselves a few hundred dollars and be able to take advantage of this great opportunity,” she said. “Right now, we live in a three-bedroom house and we’re paying bulk rate for two of us which is kind of stupid of us to be doing. But we figure at this point this law will be passed and we’ll do it and it will get taken care of.”
The only other resident to speak was Paul Knapp of Jenkins Street. He was opposed to the law, noting first-and-foremost the intrusion onto private property by the village. “A lot of questions come up with this meter,” Knapp said. “You want to pass a local law that says you can cut into my water line that I’m responsible for. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s always been that you maintain from the curb-stop on the meter all the way to your house. And now, part of what I’ve owned and maintained for 34 years, you want to cut into and insert a meter that you now own and I have no responsibility for.” Another issue that sparked some debate among trustees was the issue of homeowners who traditionally leave their water running during winter months to keep pipes from freezing. In some cases, residents who winter in the south will leave a faucet running for several months. Following public hearing, the board passed the local law and passed two subsequent bills for purchase and installation of the water meters. The first bill authorized the village to purchase meters from E.J. Prescott Inc. at a cost of $387,873. In a previous meeting, the board opted to take the advice of Barton & Loguidice – the village’s engineering consultant – and go with Prescott’s bid for 2,300 new meters. All trustees were in favor of the bill except Branch. The final bill on the evening’s docket was for meter installation. Trustees moved to authorize a contract with Troupe Water Services LLC at a cost of $491,432. Branch was opposed, as was John McEneany, who said he couldn’t vote for installation until a few more details were hammered out.
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Readers Poll Do you feel water meters in Saranac Lake will ultimately benefit village residents? Yes
By Chris Morris
SARANAC LAKE — Adirondack residents know the environmental and economic risks posed by the spread of invasive species. Now, a North Country politician wants to make the human transport of invasives illegal. Teresa Sayward has introduced legislation in the state Assembly that would make the transfer of aquatic invasive species between bodies of water illegal. She says lake stewards throughout the Adirondack Park are limited in their current role. “When people come in with their boats and they’re preparing to launch, these folks who are manning these boat launch sites – usually they’re all volunteers – suggest that people wash their boats off,” Sayward said. “But that’s all they can do is suggest it.” Under current state law, boaters aren’t required to wash boats or check for potential invasives – like Eurasian milfoil – that have hitched a ride on trailers or equipment. Sayward’s legislation aims to give
those stewards a means of enforcing violations when they occur. “Even if someone notices there’s milfoil on the boat or something else, there’s no teeth there for them to say that they have to wash the boats off, so they have to let them launch their boats,” she said. In the past several years, invasive species have hit the Adirondacks hard, and statewide, new species are being identified on a regular basis. Sayward says her legislation could establish a precedent for dealing with invasives in the future. “We have plant invasives, and now we’re worried about the beetles that will come in and destroy our trees up here,” she said. “We needed to have something done and the state Department of Environmental Conservation quite frankly hasn’t put anything forward. So I worked with Lake George and the town of Speculator and we put this bill out that would make it illegal to transport invasive species in New York State.” The bill makes the transport of invasives illegal. It also gives
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DEC officials the directive to draft specific rules, regulations and potential penalties for violating the law. Enforcement of such legislation would be fairly easy, Sayward says. “I think they could enforce the law simply by taking down the numbers off the side of the boat,” she said. “They can take names and addresses and they can turn them into DEC or the New York State Police. And it’s against the law, so they can testify to the fact that they saw them breaking the law and there could be tickets issued.” Sayward has received a resolution of support from the Adirondack Park Agency, and APA spokesman Keith McKeever says the agency backs the Assemblywoman’s efforts. “The agency board passed a resolution unanimously in support of statewide legislation to stop the transport of invasive species,” he said. “The agency was one of the founding members of the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program, so we see it as a significant threat to the environment and also to the economy of the park.”
McKeever adds that the transport of invasives is something that needs to be addressed and that legislation like Sayward’s is an important first step.
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