GLOVERSVILLE — The city Department of Public Works is looking at making repairs to city catch basins.
During Tuesday’s Common Council meeting, DPW Director Dale Trumbull said he has spoken with a general contractor about pricing for new pre-cast catch basins.
“The catch basins are in rough shape in the city,” Trumbull said.
Trumbull said the cost was $6,600 per catch basin. These would last the city about 20 years, double the 10 years the current basins were rated for.
He said there is a different system that would run about $4,800.
“For $600,000 we can get 70 to 80 catch basins,” Trumbull said. “We are getting to maybe 30 of them a year, but we need to get to more of them because it is an awful problem.”
There are 1,565 catch basins in the city, and the city was able to repair or replace 35 of them last year.
Trumbull said the city needs to repair the storm sewer basins, since some of them are crumbling.
The city had sought a grant for the catch basins, but Trumbull said the likelihood of getting a grant for those catch basins was very slim.
Mayor Dayton King said in the next several years, the city very well could see more issues with its sewer system, which has pipes that are more than 100 years old. He said the catch basins are a growing issue.
“Our city is a mess in many ways,” he said.
King said he understands that council members might be concerned about the amount of money the city is spending between the estimated $1.7 million sewer repair.
King said the city has been saving money in the past several years, and with more businesses coming in, they may need to start repairing items.
“These are real issues that we can ignore. We can put a cone in front of it and hope no one falls into it or drives into it, or we can repair it responsibly,” King said.
Second Ward Councilman Arthur Simonds said he needs to know how any repairs will effect the budget in the future.
“Let’s see how it all comes in. Let’s see how much we have so we can realistically allow ourselves the amount of money we need to spend so we don’t end up turning around and laying off people or raise taxes or do things we don’t want to do,” Simonds said. “Right now, I think we are spending a lot of money, more than most of us are use to.”
Simonds said that he is not arguing that things don’t need to be repaired, but said the city needs to make sure they can keep other services going the way they are.
Kerry Minor can be reached at [email protected]
