The town of Glenville and the village of Scotia met Wednesday, April 25, to discuss sharing a sewer system. This move is one of the first in the direction of sharing services between the two municipalities.
Delaware Engineering has been contracted to evaluate the options for building a sewage facility. Currently, both Glenville and Scotia contract out to the city of Schenectady. The town and village are both operating under new contracts with the city, which has increased costs over the past year, according to Scotia trustee Armon Benny. Benny said the Schenectady plant is old and in need of upgrades in many areas but is currently in compliance with state regulations and laws.
The future of improvements and repairs are unknown. This was the reason for the study, said Benny.
The town and village are sharing the $20,000 fee for the study of sewer options. A new sewage treatment plant is estimated at about $12 million and would use existing lines. Of concern is ensuring a sewage facility is up and running that will allow for expansion into new areas of development. Benny said the benefit to the village must be cost reduction. He said the preliminary numbers do not show a big savings, but the big picture with future cost-saving projections is not yet known.
`I believe this study should direct the village and the town as well as other users of the Schenectady plant to engage Schenectady in conversations about what is necessary to improve the aging plants and the costs associated with those improvements,` said Benny.
The location of the plant would be along the Mohawk River. The study will include looking at what part of the river can best take in discharge. Scotia trustee Joe Rizzo said the big question is whether the two municipalities can take on owning and operating their own sewage treatment facility.
`We think we can save money by doing it ourselves. We just have to do our homework and make sure we can adequately operate it for cheaper,` said Rizzo.
The city of Schenectady is currently under state order to make costly upgrades to its facility, just another factor in the decision-making process for Scotia trustees.
`If Schenectady is unwilling to work on a plan to improve the current facility, we can go enter into a contract with Delaware to go into a much deeper analysis of costs and possible locations of a new joint plant. We just aren’t there yet,` said Benny.“
