The decision is in, and the decision is that the Mohawk Valley Water Authority has had a cap placed on the amount of water it may legally withdraw from the Hinckley Reservoir . . . limited to the area's historic water use circa 1970.
This ultimately is a cap on US, the water users -- the customers of the MVWA -- and the landowners within the area where water pipes have already been laid.
How did this cap come about? It came about by the incompetence of the Water Authority when it violated the very agreement upon which its rights to withdraw water from Hinckley were predicated. How smart was that?
Rather than negotiate a settlement (albeit from an inferior position), MVWA sued to assert its 'rights' . . . rights that any lay person could have figured out did not exist. Had the court based its decision on the agreement itself, we would now all be buying bottled water to drink and melting snow to flush our toilets. But that would create a public health crisis! The decision that ultimately came down was based on "equity" . . . or the fairness of the situation. . . . But, MVWA (us again) would be limited to historical usage. It was incompetence again for MVWA to have sued to get the benefits of an agreement that it itself violated -- and it passed the cost of the law suit (seven figures plus?) on to you its captive customers. Now the area has a numerical limit on the water that it may take, a limit for all the world to see. You can kiss your precious chip-fab fantasy away because such operations require millions of gallons per day. How smart was that?
But the double incompetence, apparently, is not enough for the leadership running the MVWA. Because current usage is down from the historic "high," the MVWA wants to extend water lines to service NEW users. Now what does that mean for former industrial sites in Utica, New York Mills, New Hartford, Oriskany, Whitesboro and elsewhere . . . that they can no longer be used by industries that may require water? . . . because the MVWA feels that the water should be sent to new users elsewhere? How smart is that?
Incompetence on Incompetence on Incompetence . . . . . Or is it really Arrogance?
When will our local leaders admit that it was a huge mistake to create the MVWA? . . . and that it will be a bigger mistake to allow MVWA to continue to exist!
15 comments:
The first step is to remove Mr. Becher. What interest dose he have for this area if he does not even live in the water district or even the same county served by the MVWA?
Second keep the regional plan for the water authority. Maybe merge them with the solid waste authority since they serve Oneida/Herkimer counties too.
Anon -- While I like the idea of merging MVWA with something else (because we have too much government anyway), merger with the SW authority would worsen the situation. MVWA only serves the Greater Utica area (not Oneida/Herkimer counties). . . and with the limit on the amount of water it has, it should not be allowed to extend lines even one inch into any new areas.
Don't forget that we have another totally incompetent regional (Greater Utica) entity: The OC Part County Sewer District.
Both of these organizations have a significant impact on regional development, but one only sells water and the other only takes it away. Both organizations were created myopic. It was a mistake to create them because it was a mistake to think that decisions over water issues and decisions over sewer issues could be made by separate organizations without repercussions on other aspects of municipal affairs.
The only merger that makes sense is for BOTH of these organizations to merge into a new municipality composed of Utica AND the surrounding Towns. Separate governance will lead to more of the same.
We have learned that, once created, any governmental agency, department or authority is virtually impossible to eliminate.It is also interesting to note that problem is as much one of a managerial and board compentency question as a structural one. I don't know the current membership but my memory serves me of a group of very mediocre people including the legal representation. And, are not these people appointed by municipalities? Scratch the surface of many of our problems and you'll uncover political leadeership failure which, in turn, points to the voter and non-voter.
It seems to merge MVWA and OC Sewer is not a easy task and would take years not months to merge sewer and water.
The solution now is to give government grants to young people for moving away from the area. Preferably to another state.
This way, the population will be [slightly] lower, thus helping up comply with the water usage cap. Besides, anyone that's a REAL human realizes that they're not human until they reach retirement age anyway...
The real problem here is the >100 year old canal law that states that the NYS Canal Corporation has the rights to use all waters of NYS as they see fit. There is plenty of water for development in CNY. Gray Reservoir was NEVER USED to augment flows in dry conditions. The State just didn't want the MVWA to serve the Oneida Nation. That's what led to the lawsuit.
There should be a combined regional water and sewer authority. There are many economies of scale by having "like" utilities merge. This arrangement works very successfully in many areas.
Anon -- Combining Water and Sanitary Sewer functions only makes sense. I would add to that storm sewers, which are controlled by the city, villages, and various town districts. Pipes are pipes and many of them for these services are laid right next to each other. It would seem logical that much of the same equipment and personnel could be used to service all of them, and when roads are opened to fix one service, inspection and maintenance could be done on the others.
But an authority? No. The workings of our water and sewer systems seem to be run well. The incompetence at both is found on the PUBLIC POLICY end.
Decisions on where these services go, the rate structures employed to raise revenue, and how costs are shared, profoundly affect patterns of development and the feasibility of delivering other municipal services. Authorities which are focused on providing a particular service lose sight of these other impacts because they have no responsibility to address them.
For example, as blogged about a few days ago, the cost sharing scheme that is emerging on the County Consent Order will make it more costly to live in Utica and the Villages. That creates a financial incentive for people to move out into the unincorporated areas of the Towns. The Towns then must develop services for the new residents, while Utica and the Villages have to figure out how fewer people will support the services already in place. A cascade of negative impacts will befall the region as a whole based on a decision that may seem prudent from the perspective of an entity that only needs to deliver sewer services.
This is why an enlarged city of Utica that includes the water authority, the sewer district, and the surrounding towns and villages served by both, should be the new government structure. While such a structure cannot guarantee competence, it will remove the incentive to, eg, build a business park on the outskirts that will only entice people to leave downtown with no net increase in jobs.
Utica did not have modern, available industrial/business commercial sites until it developed the business park on Burrestone Rd.. Itr now does not have one adequate site for redevelopment. No company will enter into a projected involving land acquisition, demolition and new construction due to time constraints. The five year and still no start of a tiny parking garage in downtown Utica is illustrative of the difficulties. And, no company for a long time has been interested in a multi floor arrangement. The Stetson Harza building for example can't be given away. The building next door was given to Tom Clark. Has that been redeveloped in any way that truly helped downtown? All it did was give Clark a cheap way to stash his enterprises which were already here. The sooner people admit that "the city" and "downtown" was redefined a long time ago the more realistic, and therefore, the more successful, development can take place here. The very concept of a vibrant urban commercial/business center is flawed. Pouring multi millions into it is folly. Look at the Stanley debacle. All that public money for creating large show capacity within a very limited market was only out-dumbed by one other nonsense project, the Hotel Utica.
New York State should abolish most if not all Authorities and start from scratch. This would be a good plan for most government run entities too. A fresh start without all the baggage already in place. Instead of trimming what we have in place we would then have to justify everything we did starting from the ground up.
Strikeslip, I see your point, but authorities are a good way to prevent competition between municipalities for new development. Sprawl without growth is bad, and that's what we have. It shouldn't matter into what municipality that a new business is moving as long as they're moving into this area and creating new jobs, not shifting them. Before there is new development, there should be reuse of vacant properties.
BTW, great banner photo.
Anonymous -- Regional authorities actually ENCOURAGE competition between municipalities for new jobs, new development before reuse of vacant properties, and the shifting of jobs from one part of the region to another. They do this by giving suburbs access to essential services that they could never have provided on their own. "Armed" with these services, and their state and county supported highway network, the suburbs can then use their supply of vacant land to out-compete Utica and draw business and population out of it. However, if Utica did not exist, the suburban growth would not have occurred . . . The people in Utica, through their user fees, subsidize competition with their own city.
The only way to prevent competition between the suburbs and Utica is to merge them. If a project increases the tax base in 'New Hartford' and decreases it in 'Utica,' the merged municipality would be able to assess both and be better able to decide if it is a good thing or a bad thing. Regional authorities, focused only on delivery of a commodity, can't do this.
Too often, we find that public Authorities to be laced with political appointees who manage operations or serve on their Board of Directors with little expertise in terms of how to conduct the public’s business. The taxpayers are footing the bill for uncaring and incompetent appointees who are swindling the Mohawk Valley. When we speak of public authorities, such as the Mohawk Valley Water Authority (MVWA), the Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Authority (OHSWA) or the Oneida County Sewer District (OCSD), one cannot help but wonder how many taxpayers can identify the board members who are appointed to oversee their operations? If their Board Members were to be publically elected to these positions perhaps the public would realize more responsible representation. It is rare when we find a politically appointed individual to be honest as well as competent. In fact, in the past the taxpayers of the Mohawk Valley have been victimized by incompetent and irresponsible political hack appointments. These very same appointed board members serve at the pleasure of those who seek ways to finesse taxpayer monies for their own personal gains. In the past, these political hacks have placed pressure on other more qualified and honest Board Members. They seek to coerce honest Board Members into going along with other members who have “questionable” motives to make shady policy decisions in order to benefit a few, all at the expense of the many incredulous taxpayers. I have had conversations with a municipal Board Member of one of the above Authorities who have complained of being badgered and berated after not going along with the majority who sought to fleece the unsuspecting public. This practice must stop. These Authorities need to be disbanded at best, or reorganized to give more accountability for their actions to the public who pay the bills at the least.
Most companiea demand modern site with room for expansion. Vacant sites in urban centers are invariably small. And, site requiring demolition and/or extensive rehabilitation are more expensive to redevelop tha building new. Couple this with the fact that most of the labor force now lives in suburbia and one must conclude that business development in a place like Utica is virtually impossible. Of course that does not include certain forms of retail. But, that retail such as restaurants, shops, etc., are secondary job creators.
Anon, you are assuming that water expansions being proposed now are to accommodate industrial sites . . . and that most of the labor force lives in suburbia. I don't know either to be true.
Regardless, I'm saying that whatever the expansions are for, they will take a limited resource and distribute it over a larger area. The system is already considerably larger in area extent than it was in 1970 when peak water use was reached, now encompassing large areas in New Hartford and Whitestown. There is already potential for growth in these areas without having to expand the system further to serve new ones.
I agree that it's probably not necessary to expand the reach of public water and sewer, but I would strongly favor water and sewer authorities over munis responsible for these utils. Their budgets arepublically reviewable and concentrate on the task at hand. We're paying a hugely steep price for Utica ignoring it's sewer and water infrastructure. These systems are not assets, they're liabilities!
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