Mid Hudson Times Nov. 21 2018 | Page 4

4 Mid Hudson Times, Wednesday, November 21, 2018 Water forum leaves unanswered questions Continued from page 1 “I viewed this as an introductory with the DoD although we didn’t get many answers we did receive a promise to look into the many things that we have complained about through the years,” said City of Newburgh Manager Michael Ciaravino. “I think it could have been a more fruitful conversation if the New York State DOH and DEC were here. I am scratching my head as to why they were not able to participate in the closed door meeting.” Outside the closed door meeting members of the community spoke with representatives from WOOD Environmental and Infrastructure Services, The Orange County Department of Health, and Restoration Advisory Board. Two major tables that remained empty were the Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Conservation. “This a turning point,” said Manna Jo Greene the Environmental Director of Clearwater. “We have waited 4 years for them to come out and hear us. It feels like we are going on a different track, but the fact that they are hearing us is a good start. They haven’t brought all the parties to collaborate, one would hope they have regular meetings or whatever it takes to avoid further contamination.” The question of health impacts in the bloodstream remained unanswered as did many other questions asked by the community. “There’s limited data right now the studies are ongoing there’s no verdict on the health impact yet.” said Steve Gagnon, Principal Public Health Engineer for the Orange County DOH. “We haven’t seen anything substantiated in human health yet. There are some animal studies that show the health effect but as to humans there is no certainty.” When asked about local trends of health problems associated with high levels of PFOS Gagnon referred the question to the NYS Department of Health. “This is not something we have the funding for,” said Gagnon. “That would be something done at the state or federal level.” Remediation efforts were another question unanswered by the DoD or the Air National Guard. Surveys have been conducted to understand the level of contamination and the Air National Guard has ended its use of the Aqueous Fire Fighting Foam. “I want to be careful to use the word remediation in my understanding of the word that would mean encapsulation or removal of the PFOS and PFOA in the soil we’re not there yet.” said Kevin L. Mattogh, Chief of the Operations Division Air National Guard Logistics and Installations. “There’s an entire risk based association where we have to work with the DEC to come to some understanding. If your talking about mitigation that is holding the PFOS or PFOA so that it doesn’t leave the site thats a much more direct thought process. That’s measured in months to years not years to decades.” For the DoD and the Air National Guard the goal of the meeting was to open lines of communication. They are looking to bring members of the community and local officials into the Restoration Advisory Board (RAB). This is part of efforts to rebuild trust between the Air National Guard and the community. Officials walked through the airport to see the contamination first hand. “Walking the ground gave us a much greater understanding of the situation,” said Maj. Gen. John Henderson, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, Installations, Environment and Energy. “Ultimately talking to the officials here about what are some of their concerns were, how we can better communicate and build relationships so we can have the level of trust that we need to have. All of that is an integral part and of course we go from there to the community to underscore how important clean water and more importantly how we will work with the state to get where we need to be.” The RAB will include members of the Air National Guard, along with any interested citizens of the community. They will discuss review and evaluate restoration activities and environmental studies at the airport. The board will also identify project requirements and recommend priorities among sites or projects. For more information on the advisory board and how to get involved you can contact Sgt Sara Pastorello, Public Affairs Superintendent at sara.a.pastorello.mil@mail. mil or Jody Ann Murata, Restoration Project Manager at [email protected]. City releases letter from 1992 detailing allegations Continued from page 1 When asked about the situation, Kevin L. Mattoch, Chief of Operations Division for the Air National Guard Logistics and Installations was surprised to hear about the letter. “Unfortunately, that caught me by surprise when it was brought up,” said Mattoch. “What we need to do is see if the 1992 situation is one that’s already been addressed or if there was merit to the allegation. Going forward we have to investigate all of these activities and understand each of their contributions because nobody wants to be in that situation.” Ciaravino remains unconvinced the situation has been remediated. The documents from March 20 and May 8 1992 suggest that the hazardous material reported was not determined based on studies done in previous years. It is unclear if a survey was conducted prior to the letter released in 1992. “In receiving those documents we have the duty to inform our community it suggests that it isn’t just PFOS,” said Ciaravino. “In fact, there’s a long sorted history of dumping on the land that is owned by the State of NY. In the last three years not once was this correspondence provided to us and when we asked about the testing of other chemicals, they said there’s no reason to, it’s not a concern. So, at the end of the day what we need is an honest acknowledgement by the New York State DEC that as a party that has a liability as a landowner, that they are unobjective in the advice and expert opinion they are giving the City of Newburgh.” I n B rief Town adopts amended budget At a special meeting held on November 8, the Town of Newburgh council met to discuss and amend the 2019 budget. The board had previously anticipated the budget would exceed the state tax levy by $93,185. In October, it passed a general municipal law that would allow it to adopt the budget despite surpassing the tax cap. However, a routine budget review determined that the town’s anticipated 2019 sales tax revenue would increase by approximately $100,000 in the next year. This enabled the board to modify the 2019 budget so that it now remains under the 2% tax cap by about $30,000. Despite the changes, town of Newburgh residents’ tax rates for Highway and General Fund will still increase for a combined total of about 3.14% this next year. We had passed a resolution in case we might go over the tax cap…but now we didn’t, so we have to repeal that,” stated Piaquadio. The board has moved to repeal the local law allowing the tax cap override with a new local law, which has a hearing set for December 10 at 7:00 p.m. The December meeting will also feature a public hearing on the Schedule of Fees local law, concerning sewer and water rates. - Lauren Berg Orange County IDA adopts resolution for New Windsor hotel The Orange County Industrial Development Agency on Wednesday adopted an initial resolution for a public hearing regarding a Holiday Inn Express to replace the former Steak & Stein restaurant, located at 935 Union Avenue in New Windsor. Banta Hospitality, LLC seeks a sales and mortgage recording tax exemption as well as a 10-year PILOT from the Orange County IDA for a proposed 93-room, four-story Holiday Inn Express at the 2.8-acre site of the vacant Steak & Stein. The project would include the addition of a 13,797-square-foot building with an expected completion date of March 2020. If financial assistance from the IDA is granted, Banta Hospitality expects to create 24 full-time jobs, ranging from salaried to hourly positions with benefits. Additionally, the project is expected to provide approximately $400,000 per year in sales and occupancy taxes to Orange County. At Wednesday’s meeting, Managing Director Vincent Cozzolino reported continued success for The Accelerator, a certified New York State incubator focused on bringing manufacturing back to the mid-Hudson Valley. The Accelerator, which currently comprises six buildings across three campuses in New Windsor, Middletown and the City of Newburgh, provides assistance to 24 companies.