WHITEHALL — The Whitehall city council unanimously granted approval to White Lake Landfill, Inc. to access the city-owned former White Lake Landfill site for purposes of water sampling during its Tuesday meeting.
The approval was a renewal for a relationship that already existed. Clerk Brenda Bourdon told the council she was unsure whether there had previously been a formal agreement to allow this sampling or not, but the city has long allowed it. Council member Tanya Cabala requested that since it is city-owned land that the city be made aware of the results of the water sampling.
Council member Scott Brown asked about a letter the city received from the White Lake Eagles July 15 regarding the 2024 sewage backup at the Eagles, which occurred due to the wind storm that swept through the area last June. A second backup a few days after the first led to further damage to the Eagles building, and the Eagles estimated the total damage at over $130,000. The Eagles' letter requested to negotiate a settlement, believing the city should be liable given its insurance company refused to cover the damages, saying a sewage lift station caused the backup.
New city manager Dan Tavernier, sitting in his first meeting after taking office July 29, said in his research, "it was very unfortunate what happened" to the Eagles' building "and no one is happy about it," but as the insurance company denied the city's claim and the Eagles did not mitigate their risk with a similar insurance policy of their own, he believes there's nothing more the city can do. The council and Tavernier also noted the city made recommendations to the Eagles about what to install to prevent further issues after the first sewage backup occurred and those recommendations were not followed in time to prevent the second. The city did since, according to mayor Steven Salter, pay for the installation of a backflow preventer at the Eagles to avert a reoccurrence of the issue.
Also during the meeting, council member Tom Ziemer reiterated his recent suggestion that the board meetings for the Local District Finance Authority, the Tax Increment Finance Authority and the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority be either moved to a more convenient time rather than in the middle of weekdays or at least be included in the city's contract with CatchMark Technologies to stream meetings. He and Salter had a disagreement about a motion Salter made during a July 30 meeting, and Ziemer claimed the disagreement would be unnecessary if the public were more easily able to view the meetings.
The council did opt to renew CatchMark's contract with the city to stream council meetings for the next three years at the cost of $300 per month. The vote was 6-1, with Brown dissenting. Brown said in the previous meeting that he'd prefer a competitive bidding process for the live streaming. Council member Jeff Holmstrom said he'd like to see the city consider investing in infrastructure improvements at city hall to alleviate some of the stream quality issues council members shared at the previous meeting.
The council also unanimously approved a tag day request from the Whitehall High School band boosters for Saturday, Sept. 20. The council approved by a 6-1 vote a request from the Whitehall American Legion to close one block of Warner Street, between Colby and Spring streets, from 4:30-11:30 p.m. to accommodate extra parking for its Saturday, Sept. 27 benefit event that will raise money for a new roof. Brown, who has a standing objection to public streets being closed for any private event, dissented.
