Shelter for fuel tanks, retention pond added to garage project
by Dan McClelland
The skeleton of the new building near the new village garage which will shield the fuel tanks and the small retention area next to them has been erected in past days. It is currently awaiting its roof. (McClelland photo)
The village board on October 16 approved a change order in the cost of the new electric department garage which is currently being built behind the existing one on McLaughlin Ave.
According to department chief Mike Dominie, reporting to the board, the change is for an extra payment in the amount of $38,421 to be paid to the general contractor Murnane Contracting.
Trustee Clint Hollingsworth said the order wasn't exactly a change in the contract with the general contractor, it's actually an addition to the plan for the new building and will be used to shelter the fuel tanks from the weather, which must be done right now with the approaching winter.
He said the new shelter, the framework of which is now up, will cover the fuel tanks and the spill retention area, where any fuel spill from an adjacent fuel tank will be captured.
Mr. Dominie said those areas cannot be exposed to the rain or snow or ice and right now they are exposed to the elements. “Any time it rains or snows the tank and retention area needs to get cleaned out,” he said, noting that a cover for that area is very important right now.
“That way we can stop draining them every days as we've been doing!”
He added that the sonar tubes that will support the new shelter behind the building are in and the roof structure will be completed soon.
The board also accepted with regret the resignation of line worker Tyler Chiasson, effective October 25. Tyler is leaving the municipal electric system to join the private utility, New York State Electric and Gas, at its Long Lake station.
Clint Hollingsworth, who oversees the electric department, praised the departing employee saying he has served the village well for five years. “He's a skilled person in his field and I just want to wish him our best” in this future career moves. Mayor Paul Maroun and the trustees echoed that sentiment.
“We wish him the best of luck and hope he's happy there,” said Trustee Ron LaScala.
Superintendent Dominie said his department had several trucks out of commission in recent days with mechanical problems. At one point the department was down to one bucket truck.
He said three of his employees have been away at electric school in recent days.
“We've just been doing our regular maintenance. We had a tree down today and customers may have noticed their lights blinking.” He said it was a big tree that came down near Big Wolf Lake which damaged transmission lines supplying electricity to the private development. The result was an outage to Big Wolf properties but not in the rest of the system. Power was restored to Big Wolf about 2:30p.m. that day.