The Building Oversight Committee (BOC) went to the town’s Selectmen at their special meeting this past Thursday to ask for an Evaluation Task Force to be set up with the goal of evaluating the future of the town’s water and sewer system. The BOC’s members, Denton Butler, Mike Dezzani, Roy Litchfield and Ken Krohner had overseen the construction of the town’s wastewater treatment plant and, once that project was completed, they continued overseeing projects related to the system’s water and sewer lines.

BOC member Denton Butler gave a summary of the condition of the sewer and water lines which, he said, are old and in need of maintenance beyond the financial resources available to the WPCA. Denton said that there had never been a systems-wide evaluation and the Evaluation Task Force being proposed by the BOC would look into the three options open to the town:

1. Maintaining the status quo with the WPCA continuing its present role;
2. Examine whether town ownership and management of the system would make any sense; and
3. Look into the possible lease or sale of the assets.

The BOC suggested the following members for the Evaluation Task Force:

• 2 WPCA members: Bob Kryzs and Steve Hanright;
• 2 BOC members: Roy Litchfield and Denton Butler;
• 2 past First Selectpersons: Kate Rieger and Bill Baxter; and
• the current First Selectman, Dan Jerram, to act as Chairman.

The BOC proposed completing the evaluation and submitting their report to the Selectmen within 90-120 days.  The Selectmen approved the formation of the Evaluation Task Force, while commenting that they thought the timeline was tight.  BOC member Mike Dezzani, however, emphasized the need for them to work quickly since there were problems with the system that would need to be addressed by next winter.

Download a PDF copy of the BOC’s summary of their presentation: New Hartford\'s Clean & Waste Water Future - BOC (31).

Watch the video of the BOC presentation on YouTube:

Click on the image above to watch the video of the BOC presentation on the NewHartfordPlus channel on YouTube