MONTICELLO — Village Manager James Snowden talked of plans for the water system in the village, recounting of the blaze that occurred at the Monticello Manor the night prior to the meeting.

He said investigators believe it was caused by someone on the roof smoking.

What troubled him the most about the incident was that firefighters ran into issues involving a non-functional fire hydrant.

“Now I have to implement a policy where I can make sure that our hydrants are going to be in working condition,” explained Snowden. “So that’s going to be my next goal.”

Engineer Glenn Smith came before the Board to discuss the Village water system. A while ago, Smith put together a draft agreement because water has been an issue.

“The Kiamesha Lake water supply, now that’s pretty much staying where it is... around 200 gallons a day, particularly in the summer,” explained Smith.

The Village well fields were also said to need some work-based attention as well. He stated that some of the issues ranged from some bad pumps to piping not being big enough.

Land developers that have come before the Planning Board were said to be willing to contribute money towards a study down there, according to Smith.

His agreement listed the five developers that are on board that want to get involved with this.

“We want to sit down and have a meeting. I talked with [Village Attorney] [Michael] Sussman about that,” said Smith. “The developers have expressed their willingness [to have a meeting].”

The review which Smith has dubbed ‘Stage One Review Study’, would cost $50,000.

They would pay for other consultants and do a “really good study” on the well field pumps and report on what needs to be done and how much it would cost.

Stage Two would have the developers put money towards this also in order to alensure the meticulous quality of this study.

“I mean that Well Field is distributing 900,000 gallons a day and now it’s pumping at roughly less than 100,000 to 200,000 gallons a day,” explained Smith. “So there’s a lot of water in the ground that can be taken out  and be municipated into the Village system.”

“We want to take care of these people that made the commitment to fund this study and go from there.”

Trustee Theodore Hutchins noted that the Board has been telling the people in the projects presented before them that they must contribute to the Village’s water system.

“You aren’t just going to come in and take the water,” recounted Hutchins.

Smith assured that the developers are “all fine with it”.

The resolution to move forward was motioned by Mayor Rochelle Massey and seconded by Trustee Gordon Jenkins.

Upon the roll call, all Board members present were in favor.

Raceway owner discusses water meter

Shawn Wiles of the Monticello Raceway spoke before the Board. Last December, a water meter was installed at the Race Track.

This meter gave the Raceway a lot of problems which the staff knew were evident. The first invoice came for the first quarter which totaled to $97,000 as opposed to $12,000 for the same quarter the prior year.

“The problem rolled over again. The second quarter, the invoice was $559,000. I almost had a heart attack when I saw it,” recounted Wiles.

Snowden was said to be aware that the water meter was getting them billed 10 times that the water was actually used.

Wiles was aware Snowden had recently presented a utility adjustment and was wondering if that was approved.

He also inquired about quantifying the adjustments as far as what the dates were “because some of the first quarter issues go back to the end of 2023”.

Snowden commented that the Board has been watching this for a while and is understanding of what’s been going on.

“I’m very aware of what’s been going on and I have made the correct adjustments,” explained Snowden.