BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

POTSDAM -- The town board moved a few steps closer toward establishing water and sewer districts for local households and a planned factory employing 200 on State Route 56, a project which has been in the works for six years.

The board voted to accept the final reports and map plans for the two districts at their meeting Tuesday, Aug. 11. The reports and plans were presented at the meeting to the board by consultant Kevin Feuka from engineering and planning firm C2AE and Potsdam attorney Roger Linden who are handling the logistics of the projects.

The board has also set Sept. 1 public hearings on the consent orders to establish the two districts. Both hearings will run concurrently and begin at 6 p.m.

The town learned a few months ago that almost $3 million in grant funding they had expected for the project from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA) may only be about $1 million. The original expected funding amount could still be funneled to Potsdam, and while the town remains "cautiously optimistic," there is a level of uncertainty.

If the town receives the entire $3 million initially predicted, the overall cost of the project and thereby the cost to each individual resident living in the districts who will pay annually for the municipal services established there will be lower.

Potsdam is hoping the districts could attract business development along Route 56 and provide better services for town residents who live within the proposed district boundaries. Both districts would have to be approved by voters in a public vote.

The cost for the two districts is estimated around $10 million. About $4.78 million in grants and loans from USDA Rural Development will help pay for the project. Costs to individual residents could be around $605 per year for sewer and $462 for the water district without the extra grant money from the EDA the town initially expected.

The town and the consultants working on the projects are listing the cost numbers for the final reports and plans, reflecting the lower $1 million funding to be received from the EDA, and include a "best case scenario" cost in an addendum to the document if they receive the entire $3 million.

During discussion of the project, Councilwoman Judy Rich said she thought the reports were not adequately conveying the true cost of the proposed districts to the residents residing there who will foot the bill for water and sewer service should the districts be established.

Specifically Rich questioned why the higher and lower costs to district residents were not located next to each other in the plans in an easy to read chart for residents to see easily. The current estimated cost to residents if the town only receives the $1 million from the EDA are featured at the front of the reports.

"It's a shell game," Rich said.

Town Supervisor Ann Carvill disagreed.

"It's not a shell game Judy. I don't really think that's fair," Carvill said. "We have hired somebody, an expensive attorney, to get the accurate information. We've worked with Kevin Feuka. The right information is there (in the plan)."

"This is dreaming," Rich said, referring to the lowered cost for district residents featured in the back of the document in the addendum of the plans.

"That's (the lowered cost if the town receives the grant) is an FYI at the end of the document Judy. Which I would want to know," Carvill said.

Rich responded that both costs should be in the document so residents could see it. Carvill and Town Councilman Marty G. Miller pointed out that both costs (the lower with the full $3 million EDA grant received and the higher cost if the entire grant doesn't come through) were in the document, with the higher cost listed early in the document.

During discussion Rich also repeatedly questioned why the town board needed to move on the plans for the district instead of waiting longer to find out more information on the grant funding.

"I just think its a rush. It's a rush and it's an attempt to obfuscate," said Rich.

"I don't agree at all," Carvill said.

Board members pointed out that innovative motor maker LC Drives plans to construct a manufacturing facility at 6968 State Hwy. 56, across the road from the intersection with the Sissonville Road, which would provide about 200 jobs for the area. The town would like to provide water and sewer services to the facility in the districts which would help offset the annual district fees for residences in the area. The project is expected to be be completed in the spring of 2023.

Feuka also pointed out that the town has five years from the town's initial acceptance of the USDA money last year to complete the project, if the public approves the project in a vote. Linden added that his legal work on the district will take between 2 and 4 months. Construction and design on the project will be about 2.5 years, Feuka said, and the initial topography studies for the district won't be able to take place until next spring after the snow thaws. All of the work and the weather issues for completing the project must be completed in the remaining 4 years left on the USDA grant conditions, they said.

Later when the vote was called for several measures related to the proposed water and sewer districts, Rich logged the lone no votes on each.

"As I said before, I think this is rush. There is no need for the rush," Rich said. "I think the thing that was prepared for us was definitely there to obfuscate. And, I know how people read things, I was an English teacher . . . Most people when they look at a packet like that they are not going read the whole thing. They are going to look for something that summarizes the whole thing and they are going to go to that chart. And, that makes me furious. I'm disappointed in this board for not holding people more accountable."

"I think what I have to say about that is that I take exception to impugning the reputation of somebody who has been working hard on this and honestly, it's really damaging to one's reputation," Carvill said. "And I don't agree that people go to the last addendum in a thick document as their go-to document, when on page three right at the front you are told what the numbers are."

Carvill added that she didn't think the town board having worked on the proposed district projects over the last several years have been actively trying to misrepresent the information to the public.

"When we get closer we will have documents sent to every household so people know exactly what the numbers are," Carvill said.

"Well I hope its not this document," Rich said.

"Well Judy I don't agree with your characterization," Carvill responded.