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ROTTERDAM & SCHENECTADY
City, town in talks after shutoff threat
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Reporter Michael Goot contributed to this story. Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette. net.

    Rotterdam and Schenectady are back at the negotiating table for a service contract after the city threatened to “plug all sewer lines” running to the town last week.
    John Polster, an assistant corporation counsel for Schenectady, said the city was contacted by Supervisor Frank Del Gallo, who scheduled a meeting to continue negotiations next week. Rotterdam’s agreement with Schenectady expired sometime in 2003, but had continued to receive service under the rate of the previous contract, which city officials considered inadequate to cover their costs.
    “It now appears as though they’re going sit down and we’re going to negotiate a new contract,” he said Tuesday.
    Earlier this year, the city indicated a new contract needed to be hammered out to reflect the increased cost incurred by Schenectady for treating Rotterdam’s waste. City requests for a new contract apparently went unheeded even after Polster hand-delivered a letter to Del Gallo’s offi ce requesting immediate attention in the matter.
    “That letter was sent only after dozens of phone calls and personal conversations with Town offi cials … over many months yielded no response,” Polster wrote in the Dec. 1. letter that was sent to Del Gallo and several businesses that connect to the city's sewer service
    Polster’s letter threatened to terminate the town’s sewer service on Dec. 14 unless negotiations were rekindled. He said the town’s failure to respond left the city with no other options.
    “The city can no longer subsidize the town of Rotterdam,” the letter states. ...................>>>>.....................>>>>.....................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01702&AppName=1

I'm confused - the city is treating Rotterdam's waste?  What's our sewage treatment plant doing?

I'm guessing that there's certain areas that it's treating.  The mall is pumped up hill to the treatment plant, so I'm figuring this is maybe the Altamont Ave area or some of the areas over towards that side.  My thing is (and I KNOW this won't be brought up in the negotiations, but), we're already taking care of a lot of Schenectady's garbage, as far as the overflow of crime, so what's the issue with them taking care of some of our refuse?

Quoted from Kevin March

I'm guessing that there's certain areas that it's treating.  The mall is pumped up hill to the treatment plant, so I'm figuring this is maybe the Altamont Ave area or some of the areas over towards that side.  My thing is (and I KNOW this won't be brought up in the negotiations, but), we're already taking care of a lot of Schenectady's garbage, as far as the overflow of crime, so what's the issue with them taking care of some of our refuse?

My understanding is that some of the sewer districts along the east side of Rotterdam .. send their sewage
through city pipes to be treated at the city's treatment plant.

The odd thing is that the old contract expired some 7 years ago --- this means that the city dropped
the ball for 7 years .. although that does not explain why the town hasn't responded to the city's letters
since the spring of 2010.

It would appear that Rotterdam owes the city of Schenectady some money for sewage treatment for at least 7 years along with the rest of the towns debts.

My understanding is that ... the city owes Rotterdam for some items and the town owes the city
for other items.

My question is ... how come it took the city 7 years to figure out that a contract had expired ???
And if the contract had expired and no agreement was in place ... does the town really owe the
city the money ???

More importantly - with BOTH communities facing tough financial times ... wouldn't it be MORE
REASONABLE to just work out a new contract  GOING FORWARD ... and shake hands and "wipe the
slate clean" of any past debts owed each other.

Thats probably because Schenectady has a major issue with a line on Kelton that has to be contracted out and someone has to pay for it.  

Dems in the town, dems in the city.  Need we say more?

you want FDG and Godlewski to negotiate a contract??????

they barely speak to any one now

I hear justin has to kick them just to get a grunt which could be thought of as an interview

this is a great example on how to "run this town like a business"

how goes the CSEA and police contracts?????

I'll bet the CSEA starves and the police dept gets the "Golden" egg

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EDITORIALS
Old sewer contract should’ve been updated years ago

    It’s too bad Schenectady city officials had to get so nasty to capture the attention of their Rotterdam counterparts regarding the sewage treatment service the city provides for the town.
    It’s understandable that the town was in no hurry to respond to the city’s request to renegotiate rates under a long-expired service contract; the city has every intention of raising them, to cover not just its own cost-of-living increases since the contract expired seven years ago but Rotterdam’s presumably increased flow. But after town officials repeatedly ignored the city’s request to discuss the matter, the city had little choice but to give them an ultimatum: either negotiate or no more service.
    As one might expect, that got the town’s attention in a hurry, as well as that of some town businesses that connect to the city’s sewer lines. And so negotiations are scheduled to resume this week. ...............>>>>...........>>>>....................................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00702&AppName=1

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Dems in the town, dems in the city.  Need we say more?

Yes ... "Working Together Works"  

So, there's been no contract for sewage services between the city and the town for the past 7 years.
There's also been no (written) contract for ALS services between the town and REMS for several years.
Does anyone on the Town Board, past or present, have any experience in negotiating contracts other
than high paying contracts for employment and/or services that benefit their friends and supporters?

This all seems to raise a lot of questions here. One being...........why did the city wait until the dems were the majority in rotterdam? It doesn't make sense.

We should send MC and MT to clean out the sewers.

I understand MT has a world record in cess pool diving.