Richmondville Village Board Mulls Water, Sewer Rate Hikes

The Richmondville Village Pool is closed for the season after its last day on Aug. 16.

RICHMONDVILLE — Customers of the Village of Richmondville water and sewer system might be paying more for that service in the not too distant future.

At the Monday, Aug. 17 Village Board of Trustees meeting, Public Works Superintendent Eric Jones presented detailed numbers related to possible water and sewer rate increases. Mayor Carl Warner Jr. and the Trustees will study the matter and eventually decide if there will be an increase, how much it would be and when it would take effect.

"We need to set up a meeting just for this," said Trustee Robert Hyatt, who chaired Monday night's meeting because Warner was unable to attend. "We need to adjust our rates to keep up with operating expenses, but the idea is to not make it too big. (But) we're not covering our costs and have not been for a couple of years."

Another factor being considered by board members is that electric rates for Richmondville Power & Light customers are due to rise in November pending the results of a rate case now before the state  Public Service Commission. Richmondville Village Board members said they don't want to lay too much on residents at once.

In other matters from the Aug. 17 meeting, there was discussion of the 2026 season at the Village Pool, which closed for the season after its last day on Sunday, Aug. 16. It was the second straight season for an early closure, a situation caused mainly by lifeguard staffing issues.

Village Clerk-Treasurer Jenifer Fisher said she was only able to get five lifeguards to sign up to work at the Richmondville Pool this season, and those people also had other jobs and could commit only so many hours to Richmondville. That situation also caused the pool to not open on several days during the season.

Village officials had stepped up efforts to recruit more lifeguards before the season but it didn't have the desired effect.

"I've told the lifeguards that any of them who want to come back next season, to let me know by April," Fisher said.

Jones made a comment that he heard Schoharie (Village Pool) has 12 lifeguards this summer. "I wonder what they're doing to get that many," he said.

Fisher commended this summer's lifeguard staff at Richmondville for coming in early on some days to allow a handful of students in a summer program some swimming time before normal pool hours.

There was a rather extensive discussion on all the informational inserts from various outside organizations being sent out with village electric and other bills.

"Aliha (Deputy Village Clerk Aliha Harwood) and I don't mind helping, but it does become a cost," said Fisher of all the inserts. "It's not like we're trying to make money, but we're losing money. It also gets quite time consuming."

Trustee Lisabeth Kabel suggested that the outside organizations do more of the work in getting the inserts ready for mailing. Hyatt said there needs to be discussion and eventual decisions on what outside organizations should be charged for mailing their inserts and how much to charge.

"We need to come up with some criteria," Trustee Milan Jackson said.

During the water and sewer rates discussion, Jackson expressed some frustration that three or more board members can't meet and discuss matters in private so long as they don't vote on them. It would be a way to get more done, he said.

Village Attorney Michelle Storm explained that such a meeting would be a violation of the state's Open Meetings Law, and it's the same for every municipality in the state. She added that three or more board members meeting in private could come to a consensus on something that would be like a de facto vote even though it would not be an official, public vote.

During his report, Fire Chief Floyd Seales said Cobleskill-Richmondville High School on Route 7 in the Town of Richmondville is going off a large tank and hooking up to public water. He added he has taken steps to make sure water is available for firefighters in case they have to respond to a fire at the location.

Seales further reported that the Town of Richmondville's big sewer improvement project to bring public sewer service to much of the town is due to break ground Sept. 1. He added laying pipe will in spots involve ditching as deep as 15 feet, and so he's taken steps to make sure any personnel responding to a possible incident are trained in trench rescue.

There was a brief discussion on some residents letting their lawns grow too long and that Building Code Enforcement Officer Jesse Wilcox will be taking a look at some locations.

Jones said his crew started winterizing the pool immediately after its last day on Aug. 16 and that the task is already about 95 percent completed.

At the end of the meeting, Trustees Hyatt, Kabel, Jackson and Jennifer Golden all voted to approve village policies on harassment; workplace violence and procedure; hours of operation and work schedules; and meal and break periods that were put together and finalized with the help of attorney Storm.