Town Board - Regular Meeting

We're live, Pete, if you want to call it.

Okay. I'd like to call emergency town board workshop number, whatever the number is, to order. I have the clerk note that all council members are present, either via Zoom or in person, except Councilman Degabe, who is excused. Item one, emergency authorization for expenditures at the sewer plant. Tim, would you like to give us a little preamble on how we got to where we are?

Sure. So we have a primary digester system. The point of a digesting system is to take the sludge that's the final stage of the process and reduce it by 50% if it's working correctly. And the design of that is to be cleaned out every seven to nine years as the industry standard. The last time it was cleaned out was in 2004, a pretty substantial overflow that they had back then. As our budget hasn't really afforded to it, It hasn't been cleaned out since 2004. We're going on 22 years of no clean out. In 2013, our rag removal system was put in. We cleaned out the reactor at that time to get all the rags out of the rest of the system. We did not clean out the primary digester. So the primary digester basically acted as the rag removal system from 2004 to 2013. We typically dump the rag removal system once a quarter for about three tons of rags. So that's once a quarter for almost 10 years, plus whatever grit and scum has accumulated in the system since then. It's kind of always been a back burner project. The DEC has noted it on her inspections for the past few years, asking us to clean it. We haven't cleaned it because it's a million dollars. So that's where we're at. Fine with using it as a storage tank for the time being. It wasn't really digesting anymore, but it's just used as a, 500,000 gallon storage tank, which wasn't until about two months ago. The problem is now we have the, this is the cover itself. Right now, this is covered in steel, this is new and built. This section right here was built to handle the gas. We trapped the methane and we reuse it to heat the digester. We can no longer get gas out of this cover. We have this exhaust vent on the top that we have no weights on it. We've fully disassembled it, taken apart the valve. No gas will exit it. We have a waste gas burner that's further away from it that we can use to burn the gas. Can't get that to ignite. We have a dual gas boiler that will use the gas to reheat the building. We have a booster attached to that that we can barely get enough to get it to ignite for a couple hours, then it dies. The problem if there's, this can hold up to 100,000 cubic feet of methane. Right now, that's pretty much what we have, and we can't get it out. When it does that, we estimate this weighs about 40 tons. It is now six feet higher than it normally should be, and it is about six inches away from hitting the top safety rest of the system. If it hits that, we don't know what will happen. It could damage the concrete wall and rupture the tank. It could damage the entire cover, which we're not sure if we will reuse the cover or abandon that through this whole process. Either way, we have to do something before this weekend.

The only remedy is to clean it out, not to find a way to clear the venting?

What we think has happened is this is full of foam right now. And so you can't. get anything out until you clean it. There's no other way to get the gas out and get the foam out. The foam is being caused because the gas is nowhere else to go. So it's being extruded through the outside edges. It's currently overflowing into the...

Foam is clogging anything that's allowing the gas to release.

Foam and we estimate several tons at least of garbage, plastics, hair, grit are blocking everything in that system.

Unfortunate situation. It is very much.

So Tim, when they do this, how do they get the gas out to start the clean-out process?

The gas is basically trapped in the sludge. These access holes right here, you probably can't see it.

I don't know if you can.

I was there, so you can explain it to me.

The two access hatches, they will open those up and begin just sucking out the sludge. The sludge are going to dewater in their trucks and will release the gas. Release the gas as it goes. In their trucks? In the atmosphere.

In the atmosphere. Yep. I don't know if there was some way that that got captured or how that worked.

Well, hopefully it would have been captured in the cover, but now it's in the sludge. It's permeated into it in the sludge into the tank.

So the sludge can retain the gas. Yes.

When we hose the foam, it reeks of methane. Kind of like bubbles in chocolate that are holding. Okay. I'm over. Okay. That's kind of where we're at. Okay.

How long will it take for them to get enough out so that we don't fear it?

We're hoping within a couple days to have at least stop overflowing. That's the DEC's goal was if this lasted more than a week or two, they would be more involved. It would require more, even more of a substantial cleanup. There's no danger right now of entering any streams or any storm infrastructure. It's contained in our property. We are allowed to essentially spill on our property and let them know. But their intention is that this needs to be addressed quickly. Does there have to be a hazmat component involved in this? There shouldn't. It is an undigested sludge, but because it is being, instead of being carted away in a dumpster, it's being carted away in a truck. If it was carted away in a dumpster, they would have to cover it in lime. Okay. Because they're not doing that, we don't have to worry about that.

Okay, so it's considered a acceptable container of it.

It's the same as us hauling to a BSA. That's all we're going to do is just haul to BSA. Okay. In the same way.

And the stuff in the field, once you dilute it with regular water, that's going to be the...

The stuff in the field, we have spill socks surrounding the whole thing, so we're going to try and suck up as much as we can. Oh, you are going to try to suck up as much as you can. Yeah, trying to rake up the... You're not going to get it all, but we'll repack grass and hose it down and dilute it.

The rain will take care of the rest.

Yes. Okay, thank you.

Just so we know, Peter's on the horn too.

Yeah, I'm here, I'm here. I got a resolution for the board. Who should I send it to? Me.

Send it to Patty, and then if you want, just read it to us, and one of us will make the motion, and we'll second it, and we'll get it through. Long. That's why I want you to read it.

I can read it. I'll send it over. I'll just read it and stop me, and if anybody's... anybody who was talking a minute ago? Yes. Yeah, if Tim or anybody else has any suggestions, feel free to lay them on me as I run through it. So it's a resolution declaring necessity for emergency project and declaring the action to be a type two action under under secret. And here's 10 seconds here. Now read it. Okay, so whereas the Town Board of the Town of Grand Island determined that the situation exists with the digester of town's wastewater treatment plant at Baseline Road, which is defined here as the digester, As a result of degradation of the treatment process in the digester, which is not properly remediated, will result in structural damage to the digester and associated environmental harms, which may imperil life, health, safety, and or property of the town and the general public who rely on the town's wastewater systems. Good so far, Tim? Sounds good. Okay. Whereas Towns Engineer recommends the town pursue an emergency project to facilitate the removal of material, accumulated material in the digester to restore the normal treatment process to protect the property health, safety, welfare of town residents, whereas town board organizations review lead agency to undertake the project under SECRA to find it and whatever. But it's a type two action because type twos are emergency. to actions, you don't have to go through more secret stuff. So I have a long paragraph that defines that. I won't read that just because it's quoting out of the statute. Whereas the project constitutes such emergency action that's necessary to protect the protection or preservation of life, safety, property, and natural resources. Now, therefore, be it resolved, the project is tied to action, which is not subject to review in a secret, and the project will not result in sniffing adverse impact to the environment. Be it further resolved, the town board finds the situation described above constitutes an emergency under section 103 sub 4. The general municipal law 2 requires immediate action to restore the treatment process preserved. and preserve the physical integrity of the digester that protect the health and safety of town residents. Public 3 determines and declares the expenditure of funds for the purpose of the project constitutes a contingent expense to the town on such basis that is immediately necessary for protection and preservation of life, safety, health, and property. And be it for the result of the town's supervisors to revile the right sign agreement to engage services, J.A. Brundage, D.B.A., Drain Doctor, I find the materials based on the amount not to see $1.5 million to immediately proceed with the project and emergency space subject to an appearance of the political laws, rules, regulations, and upon such other terms, the term necessary appropriate by the attorney to the talent and engineer. Be a further result of this resolution will take effect immediately. That's all I'll say.

I'll make that motion as it was written or as stated.

Yeah, second, third, whatever.

Any more discussion?

Is there any other business? It's unfortunate, but we got to do it.

It is what it is. You know what? In a discussion phase, I would like a public record to be that I believe that our order and consent is failing us on having the ability to have money. to maintain our plan at a level we need to maintain. And I think we need to have some long talks with DEC about how much they're draining out of our small towns for ordering consent and what we can actually do for maintenance in our plan. We need to have a discussion with the DEC. This is ridiculous that we haven't cleaned this thing out for 20 plus years because we've dedicated all our revenue to ordering consent. I just want it on the record. That's my, again, my position. Agreed.

Any other discussion? Patty, you want a roll call?

No, we can just do all in favor.

All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? That carries. Motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn.

Patty, you'll have that in your email in just a sec. Okay, I've got my eyes open.

All in favor? Aye. Thanks, Pete. Thank you. Bye now. Thanks, Peter.

Okay. Adios. Thank you.

Thanks to all the Pete's.

Thank you.

You good? Yeah. I'll give it time.