Guilderland officials said the town is joining with Watervliet to apply for grant money to build a state-of-the-art water treatment facility.
The plan is to further consolidate services, something municipalities have been urged to do by Gov. David Paterson in his State of the State address.
Guilderland Supervisor Ken Runion said the town of Guilderland and the City of Watervliet discussed a significant project to combine their water filtration facilities.
Guilderland’s water filtration facility is in Industrial Park, and pulls water from the same place the City of Watervliet does `- the Watervliet reservoir. The already convenient scenario helped spark discussions to file for the startup grant.
Watervliet Mayor Mike Manning said the discussions are in the most preliminary stages, and nothing has been decided yet.
`We brought it up. Ken [Runion] and his staff have been receptive,` he said.
`We proposed that we build a joint facility out there since we share the same water.`
He said Watervliet’s plant is close to 100 years old, and a new facility could increase efficiency and provide more modern means to deliver water to the residents of both municipalities.
Manning said one of the difficulties would be to determine who runs the plant. There could be joint authority, but it is unclear what would be the best way to go about it. He also said the state might need to create legislation to form a governing entity, since the city or town might not have the authority needed.
He said these issues would need to be hashed out as plans progressed. The cost of planning the consolidation would be paid for by a `local efficiency grant,` which could help pay for a study of the proposal and then possibly a new facility.
Manning said the `rough` cost of a facility of that magnitude would be between $10 million and $12 million, based on a calculation of approximately $1 million per million gallons per day. He said the facility would serve both towns, and potentially other municipalities, with about 10 million gallons daily.
Manning said he thinks the state is hoping to encourage projects of this magnitude with the efficiency grants.
`I think what the state really wants to see is stuff we’re talking about here,` Manning said. `I think this is in the spirit of what they really wanted.`
He said the municipalities are planning to have their application ready by the submission date of Wednesday, Feb. 11.
Runion said the town is also in the midst of other plans to share services. He said the town and the Village of Altamont are considering a similar application for a grant to study the consolidation of their Web sites.
`What we would use is common software and a common server,` Runion said.
He said this could generate savings, but the study would likely determine exactly how much that would be.
Runion also said the county is in the planning stages of finding ways to combine 911 emergency telecommunications, something Albany County Sheriff James Campbell is pushing for if elected to another term.
Runion said with the recent transition to forcing municipalities to handle 911 calls from cell phones, a task handled by state police until several months ago, it is important to be as efficient as possible.
`It puts a burden on our local responders,` Runion said.
Runion briefly addressed the possibility of taking consolidation one step further, and possibly dissolving the Village of Altamont in the town.
He said the move is unlikely at this time, and the village has the option to dissolve itself, and it must be done by referendum of the residents.
In that case, the town would be required by law to handle all of the services the village provides, however it would not inherit any of the debt the village has.
`You can’t escape your debt,` Runion quipped.
He said dissolving villages has not become the trend in municipal consolidation, and more villages are being created than dissolved.
He said the reason is most likely because of the benefits of planning and zoning sovereignty.
Altamont Mayor James Gaughan said the village prides itself on its high efficiency and said a survey done by the Rockefeller College at the University at Albany cited Altamont four months ago as one of the most efficient municipalities in the area.
He said the village shares equipment, fuel depots, judicial and public safety services.
Gaughan confirmed that there are no plans for the village to dissolve into the town.“