The Mount Vernon Sewer Crisis — The Clock is Ticking
**The following are remarks as prepared for delivery by Mayor Richard Thomas, City Council Meeting, Mount Vernon, July 11, 2018”
I would like to provide the Council and our residents with some context around our sewer crisis.
For years, because of our aging and crumbling sewers, waste has been flowing into our waterways, primarily the Bronx and Hutchinson Rivers.
So much so, that the federal Environmental Protection Agency has been citing Mount Vernon for violations of the Clean Water Act since 2008.
That’s 10 years ago … and in that decade the EPA has been pleading with the city to act.
Now their patience has run out.
Two weeks ago, the Department of Justice sued the city and Mount Vernon residents are facing crippling fines — between $37,000 and $54,000 a day.
If you want to know why the fines went up, it is because we have been in violation so long that government has added an inflation factor to them.
Who is to blame? Everyone and no one.
Everyone wants clean water. Paying for it is expensive. Overhauling sewers costs millions of dollars, and the natural reaction of politicians is to kick the can down the road, so someone else can pay the bill later.
Well, the day of reckoning has arrived.
The only negotiation with the EPA and DOJ is how long will compliance take and how much it will cost. On that point, the sooner we stop defying and denying …and start complying, the better it will be for our city and taxpayers.
The job now is to move forward, and we have a plan to do that. To get started, the city must inspect 600,000 linear feet of sewers and drains to identify where the problems are and help us prioritize the fastest, cheapest and best way to get the work done and bring the city into compliance.
If we act quickly and smartly, we can get the inspections done at a cost to taxpayers of only about $200,000. But that requires the support of the Council and Comptroller.
We need to fund the following:
A City Engineer to oversee the inspections and the entire compliance plan.
A DPW crew of four to be dedicated to the inspections.
A Planning Commissioner to get the project under way.
Two grant writers in the Planning Department to secure state and federal funds to offset the costs.
Add $500,000 for specialized equipment and the cost for two years is $1.8 million.
Here’s the good news.
The city has already been awarded a $1.6 million grant from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which knocks down the cost to $200,000 for our taxpayers.
But before the money can be disbursed, we need to have our plan and people — such as city engineer — in place so we can show the state that we have a detailed course of action for how and when the grant will be spent.
Coming into compliance will cost Mount Vernon millions of dollars and take more than a decade.
Acting now to make Mount Vernon clean and green can minimize the cost of the work and the fines.
Our plan needs the support of the Council and Comptroller. Legislation has been sent to the Council to fund these roles. Approval is needed on an expedited basis. The clock is working against us.
Mount Vernon will be before a federal judge in about two weeks. We need to show that the city is serious and wants to work in good faith with the federal government.
Both the Council and Comptroller have my commitment that my administration is ready in any way to help secure this necessary funding. I am ready to call a special meeting of the City Council every day until this legislation passes.
Compliance not defiance is best strategy for protecting our city and taxpayers.
Let’s work together to move Mount Vernon forward.
