By Buffy Calvert

At the September Town Council meeting, with Councilmen Shayne Moshier, Marty Liddle, Ritchie Gabriel, Dan Grommeck and Supervisor Marty Donnelly present and a full house waiting to hear what form the promised proposed town ordinances on hydrofracking would take, Mr. Donnelly withdrew Resolution #37 from the agenda. He announced that Resolution #37, entitled “Zoning Prohibition of Heavy Industrial Uses,” is not yet ready for presentation but should be completed by the next Town meeting to be held at 12:30 pm on Tuesday, October 11th.

Michael Suchorsky, who had requested the Privilege of the Floor, asked that he be given a copy of the resolution ahead of time to study its provisions. Other speakers reprised the concerns raised at the public hearing about the problem of polluting tons of water with no way to clean it, the hidden history of spills that contaminated residential wells and were settled under “no-speak” agreements and incessant truck traffic. Susan Dey praised Andes for being “ahead of the curve” in addressing the issue, both by having a Comprehensive Plan in place and by the current actions of the town government.

Mr. Donnelly announced that the Town has received a $250,000 grant from the Army Corps of Engineers and an agreement with the NYC Department of Environmental Protection to pay up to $2,300,000 for the repair and upgrade of our failing Wastewater Treatment Plant. Residents in the Sewer District should not see an increased tax burden.

The Town issued a BOIL WATER NOTICE to residents and shops in the Water District of the Hamlet of Andes on Friday September 9th after a sample submitted to a lab was reported to contain e-coli bacteria. Samples submitted on Monday and Tuesday (September 12th and 13th) were found to be pure and the lab admitted that the Thursday report had been in error. The BOIL WATER NOTICE was lifted. Marty Donnelly’s comment: “Better safe that sorry.” ~