Madam Supervisor and Town Board Members,

 

After receiving the Town’s work plan for a contamination Task Force from Councilman Hessney, I provided a copy to our core group and to those citizens who have asked to stay informed.

 

I asked that they read and comment on this so that we could provide the Town Board with some feedback.    

 

With this, I have composed a list of comments from a number of citizens that responded to me directly.    My comments are provided with in the text of the Town Board work plan outline (in blue).  I would hope that others responded directly to the Town officials.

 

Citizen Comments:

        Citizen 1:          “We do not need a paid professional on the Task Force”

 

        Citizen 2:          “How do you achieve your agenda in a reasonable time frame?”

 

        Citizen 3:          “Who is going to organize all the issues expeditiously?”

 

        Citizen 4:          “Who will schedule the many details and who will coordinate the

                                    progress?”

 

        Citizen 5:          “I think the 13 items might be less intimidating if they were grouped

                                   into 5 or 6 categories: for instance:

                        (1) Establish a Town Task Force On the Above Issue   (in the following

                               categories)

                        (2) Communications

                                    Items # 2, 3, 10, 11

                        (3) Investigation & Legal

                                    Item # 7

                        (4) Impact on Real Estate (including assessments and taxes)

                                    Item # 4, 8, 9

                        (5) Funding

                                    Item # 5

                        (6) Budget & Financing            etc.”

 

          Citizen 6:          “I would erase "appropriately" from each of the items.

 

          Citizen 7:          “It is a start. We of course will need time frames. And specifics
                                     who...when....etc.”

 

          Citizen 8:      “I think there should be no more than 6-8 people on the task force.

                                 This allows a more workable environment to achieve goals.”

 

          Citizen 9:          “A defined protocol which insures proper and correct information

                                   being shared.”

The text of the Town Board Task Force work plan as delivered by Councilman Hessney is as follows:   (my comments are in blue)

Proposed Work Plan for Modock Springs Investigation (10/09/07)

This proposal was developed jointly by Paul Lytle (Environmental Scientist) and Rich Palumbo (Environmental Counsel) after receiving input from Victor citizens and the agencies/offices involved with the Modock Springs investigation (NYDEC, NYDOH, NYS Attorney General’s office and Senator Nozzolio’s office). 

  1. Develop Town Task Force to focus on Modock Springs Issue.

            --Group reports routinely to the Town Board and includes citizens, Town

               officials, and professional services.

 

mrb comment:               Professional services should be a recommendation of the Task Force body and not a part of the body.

 

           --Once formed, the Task Force develops and delivers a work plan for approval by

              the Town Board.

 

mrb comment:               Are Task Force members to be selected via an appointment process or an open application process?

 

mrb comment:               I think that the work plan should be derived from a set of charges or objectives as outlined in my comments below.

 

           --Potential areas of work for consideration by the Task Force are included in the

              following steps 2-13.

 

mrb comment:               I don’t believe that the areas of work should be limited to any particular set of steps.    Reference my comments below concerning general objectives.

 

mrb comment:               I believe that there are three key elements associated with the structure of the Task Force.   These include:

 

1)      There is a co-chair shared by 1 official and 1 citizen.   The remaining participants are made up of citizens directly contaminated, ones living on the edge of the plume and some from the general community.    As I stated above, professional services people should be a recommendation of the committee body.

                 

2)      A mission statement such as:  (This has been recognized by the Town Attorney as being reasonable.)

 

 To investigate the contamination in our community, the effects of the contamination from a health and economic standpoint and to educate the community on our findings. Finally, to work with Town, County, State and Federal officials and agencies to ensure that the community is well represented.

 

3)      A set of general objectives.   I originally proposed the following: 

  • Build, implement and maintain a communications system.
  • Investigate property value issues.
  • Investigate health impact.
  • Coordinate with Town, County, State and Federal officials and agencies on remediation steps and clean up plans.
  • Keep the Victor community informed of the contamination status and cleanup progress.
  • Recommend legislative steps and government actions to protect current and future Citizens from contamination.

       I believe that these address all of the steps outlined by the work plan, and the concerns and comments from the citizens.  I believe that all of this information should be combined into a single general set of charges/objectives.

As the Task Force completes its work, there is likely to be some reasonable  

broadening of any one charge, so we should not hold the Task Force to a specific set of work areas.   

 

Again, these charges have been recognized as being reasonable by the Town Attorney. 

  1. Strengthen Communications Strategy that provides effective, efficient, two-way communications among Town citizens, Town elected officials and the NYSDEC/NYSDOH program managers. 
  1. Broaden citizen outreach process to keep Town of Victor citizens informed. 

mrb comment:               Points 2 and 3 are both concerned with the following

general charge/objective:

    • Build, implement and maintain a communications system. 
  1. Analyze existing “Homeowner Letter” process with NYSDOH and identify potential improvements. 

mrb comment:               This would be work associated with the following objectives/charges: 

  • Coordinate with Town, County, State and Federal officials and agencies on remediation steps and clean up plans.
  • Keep the Victor community informed of the contamination status and cleanup progress.
  • Recommend legislative steps and government actions to protect current and future Citizens from contamination.

 

  1. Investigate funding options and potential grants to supply funds to support public water hook ups and home ventilation systems in concert with citizen stakeholders and all involved State agencies. 

mrb comment:               Home ventilation systems are already in place.   What is needed in continued monitoring and re-sampling of the homes identified by
the DEC as being so actionable.

mrb comment:               This whole point is related to the following general charges: 

  • Coordinate with Town, County, State and Federal officials and agencies on remediation steps and clean up plans.
  • Recommend legislative steps and government actions to protect current and future Citizens from contamination. 

mrb comment:               Continued monitoring, re-sampling and public water hook ups are examples of recommendations that the Task Force body presents to the Town Board, DEC and any Federal representatives/agencies that may be involved. 

  1. Appropriately monitor and support the NYSDOH cancer study (evaluate referrals from professional, experienced resources). 
  1. Appropriately monitor and support the NYSDEC in Potentially Responsible Party investigation. 

mrb comment:           Items 6 and 7 relate to the general charges of:

  • Investigate health impact.
  • Coordinate with Town, County, State and Federal officials and agencies on remediation steps and clean up plans. 
  1. Investigate home value protection options. 
  1. Review and comment on Town of Victor’s property assessment analysis. 
  1. Appropriately support and communicate with local Real Estate professionals.

mrb comment   :           Point 8 should also include the investigation and evaluation of independent disease data collection options and outside environmental consultant candidates.

mrb comment:               Point 10 should not be limited to “local” and should also include established property appraisal companies with experience in cases that involve environmental impact studies.

mrb comment:               Each of these points (8,9,10) are again examples of recommendations by the Task Force body based on the work associated with the above mission statement and objectives.    They should not be listed as a specific area of work for the Task Force as it may actually limit the scope of the work  needed to fully address the issue. 

  1. Coordinate Joint NYSDEC and /NYSDOH Public Availability Session in November. 

mrb comment:               This point relates to the charge: 

  • Keep the Victor community informed of the contamination status and cleanup progress. 
  1. Track South West Water District Survey (Scope to include Dryer Road to Town Line Road to CR 41). 

mrb comment:               I’m not sure what this means, but it sounds important. This may represent another recommendation as it relates to the charge: 

  • Recommend legislative steps and government actions to protect current and future Citizens from contamination. 
  1. Propose budget tracking process for Modock Springs investigation expenses. 

mrb comment:               I suppose this relates to our request for a Capital Project Fund.

In the end, I feel that the more accurate the plan is from the perspective of those who are immediately impacted and want to be involved and informed, the more likely it is that any proposed vote to create a Task Force will be accepted.    I hope that the Town Board will consider all of these comments when working on the proposition/resolution for creating a contamination Task Force.

If anybody has any questions or concerns regarding this correspondence, please don't hesitate to call me at any time today, Sunday or Monday.

Thank you for your time in reading this and considering it as input into your decision to appoint a contamination Task Force.

Michael Barry
Victor Citizens Against Contamination
www.victornytce.org