Lee — Although the Select Board held its open meeting at 5 p.m. on Halloween evening, the venue didn’t get Trick-or-Treaters, ghosts, or hauntings, just an update on the town’s hiring of a remediation consultant. With at least three firms in the running, the measure pertains to the Upland Disposal Facility slated for the municipality pursuant to a 2020 Environmental Protection Agency permit that seeks to cleanup the Housatonic River. For decades, General Electric Company deposited toxic waste, the now-banned polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), from its Pittsfield plant into the waterway.
Town Manager Christopher Brittain said he received qualifications from two companies, Kleinfelder and GEI Consultants, with the latter bowing out due to a potential conflict stemming from work on another project with GE. Consulting firm Tetra Tech was also contacted, he said, but that entity is similarly tied up in a conflicting representation. Brittain is waiting to hear back from engineering firm Stantec regarding the company’s ability to take the job, with one more proposal, from Maryland-based engineering firm S.S. Popadopulos & Associates Inc., forthcoming. “I hope to have that to the Board shortly,” he said.
According to Brittain, two additional firm options were explored but not considered for a project manager-type position. “We did go through a lengthy process so far,” he said. “Number one, looking at which companies are qualified to represent us for PCB technical consulting, and they have the capacity not only to do the reporting but also transportation and monitoring. Then we had to take out all of the ones that are currently working with a conflict for someone else. And then the ones that have availability. So, we’re narrowing the field down and we’re down to about three or four.”
Environmental groups Housatonic River Initiative and Housatonic Environmental Action League (HEAL) assisted the town with finding appropriate possible consultants. Chair Robert “Bob” Jones thanked Judy Herkimer of HEAL for providing “environmentally inclined” options for the project.
Member Sean Regnier advised that, once all the information is compiled, the board should act “expediently” in the hiring process as the project may begin next year.
At about 5 p.m. on October 31, GE released its transportation plan in conjunction with the remediation project. The following evening, on November 1, Tri-Town Boards of Health held an in-person meeting with four EPA representatives present and discussed preliminary modes of transportation, projected routes, and other matters related to the remediation.
Jones said that HRI was also hiring a consultant to assist in the remediation project. “The more the merrier,” he said. “We need good people to oversee how we get to the UDF, in terms of just getting it started. And, also, of course, if it is started, to have eyes on how it is being built and maintained.”
No decision was made during the session.
