The Dirty Deeds at the Water Authority?
Oh, this a rich -I just saw this on the News 10 NBC when I had a rare opportunity to actually watch the news. The report shows us the dirt on the Water Authority. You can see the News 10 report for yourself with video.
See, they discovered that a Water Authority Engineer had Dump Truck loads of fill dirt delivered to his private residence in Pittsford. Dump Truck loads of dirt and a bucket loader owned by the Water Authority to spread it around. Fill dirt normally goes for 15 to 20 dollars a cubic yard. How many cubic yards is in a dump truck?
This is the Water Authority’s explanation:
“We accumulate quite a bit of fill and it’s getting harder and harder to find locations to put fill,” says Ed Marianetti.
He says by giving it to individuals who have properly approved locations, they’re doing the right thing by not having to pay to truck the dirt to a landfill
“So we also, besides doing the environmentally sound thing to do, we save the ratepayers an awful lot of money by finding locations to dump the fill,” Marianetti adds.
OK - how does one get fill dirt? and Get it delivered? Seems one of the best kept secrets in Monroe County. I mean Geez, I see signs always looking for fill dirt. And to have it delivered and spread around.
Can you say preferential treatment?
Can’t wait for this report to come out.
Legislator Heider [who was interviewed for the report], meantime, says he’ll be sending a letter to the water authority asking for records of deliveries and a value estimate of the dirt.
That reminds me of the day that Jack Doyle had RG&E completely rewire his home and up his service - for free of course. The crew that did the work got their orders from the top. But they knew what they were doing was wrong. But Jack was happy. To hire a contractor to do that kind of work would have easily cost 8K or more…
the NYS DOT does the same thing. I had them put it in my backyard 1/4 mile from a road widening project and I did not have to pay them a dime. I believe it was 4 truckloads. It was cheaper for them to drop off in my backyard than it was for them to truck it 20 miles to a landfill.
Regards,
Bigboy
That is nice about the DOT and a pile of dirt being 1/4 mile away from you..
And how did you find out about it? Was it during construction or something else?
The thrust of the report was no one seems to now about this as it spotlighted a women who has trying to get fill dirt from her own purposes.
Did DOT come in with a bulldozer and spread the dirt around?
More details please.
And do you work for the DOT?
Hmm….why does this situation seem familar? Let’s see, public goods and equipment used at no cost for private purposes to benefit public employees…brings back memories of the driving mrs. hevesi scandal.
I don’t work for the DOT. I called them because I had an idea that I had a hole in my yard, they were down the road on near pinnacle hill, expanding S. Clinton into a portion of it and I figured you know they have to put that dirt somewhere, why not make it easier for them if they travelled only a few hundred yards compared to 10’s of miles. No certain if there was a bulldozer or not but everything I did was above board. Ask and you shall receive.
And that foresight is to be commended - seriously -
Again people don’t know because it is as the article and report pointed out it is not widely known.
I suspect that there is more here than mets the eye - the key will be to get the report that Heider asked for - who has received benefits of this in the past.
Conceptually I have NO problem with the DOT or WA giving away dirt as a means of disposal. What I do have a problem with is employees of either taking advantage of a situation
TRhe fundamental question remains - who knows about free dirt delivery and equipment usage at the water authority?
I think stlo7 and jrviper are on to it…if they are giving away topsoil to their “friends”, then it’s inappropriate activity. If the topsoil can be “requested” by the public and they haven’t adequately communicated that, then they’re inept. So what is it? Both?
This gives new meaning to having dirt on someone. This dirt seems dirty.
[...] wrote about the possible dirty deeds at the Water Authority. Sure looks that [...]
[...] We wrote about a News10 NBC story where a Engineer at the Water Authority received truck loads of free fill dirt. The county Water Authority delivered the fill and spread it around. The program of giving away dirt was not previously advertised. Upon the breaking of the story, Water Authority management went into full damage control. Brighton Legislator Travis Heider requested additional information from the Water Authority. Now, Jill Tierreri has an article in the D&C this morning about this. Here are some article grafs in context. Frankly, I’m not convinced the Water Authority responses hold water let alone wash this stain off of a tarnished managerial reputation. [...]
[...] Water Authority got into a little hot water when it was discovered that it was trucking fill dirt 12 miles to a private residence at the rate [...]
Its amazing what they tried to get away with
They should be reprimanded as an agency
They ought to be ashamed of themselves