I FOILed for the invoices related to the purchase of those stones. Here is what the blurry copies of 2 invoices show: On April 20th and 21st, DPW brought 4 dump truck loads of stones to the mudslide site from Colarusso's gravel plant on Newman Road in Greenport. The taxpayers of Hudson paid one thousand three hundred sixty dollars for 80 tons of what Colarusso calls "gabion stones."
Why did DPW Superintendent Robert Perry need to purchase $1,360 worth of stones? For nothing else than preventing DPW's giant earth mover from sinking into the mud as it made its way down a mud-filled incline from the parking lot of Oakdale Lake Park toward a huge pipe that feeds a stream.
What on earth was an earth mover doing down there and why so much mud? There had been a mudslide a week or two prior that covered the mouth of the huge pipe and a portion of the nearby stream. This was the only way to move the mud and allow the water to flow properly again.
A mudslide in Hudson? I've never heard of such a thing. How did that happen? Because Robert Perry, DPW Superintendent, allowed unregulated dumping of fill and debris in the Washington Street lot last year. He allowed far too much dumping, the lot grew and grew, the dirt and debris were piled steeply and unstably without any oversight or plan, and a rain eventually washed a portion of it down to the stream and pipe.
Did the work involving the earth mover conclude the work at the site of the mudslide? No, far from it. The State DEC, who I originally informed of the mudslide, has informed Mr. Perry that the site needs to be cleaned up and stabilized. DPW hired an engineering firm to survey the site, which took place last week (I hope to have a copy of the invoice from that company soon). Next, an excavation contractor needs to get involved to handle the dirty work of moving lots and lots of dirt and debris that never should have been dumped there in the first place. My guess is that hundreds of dump truck loads will soon be removing fill and debris to a location that should have received the loads last year. Things might get busy and dirty in the Oakdale parking lot soon.
What about the 80 tons of stones at a cost of over thirteen hundred dollars that were used? What will become of them? As I said, those stones were needed for just one purpose -- to keep the earth mover and other machinery from sinking into the mud. The large stones had nothing to do with actually improving or stabilizing the site. Those stones will likely be just mixed in with the soil when the contractor soon arrives to handle the major excavation work needed to repair the mess that Mr. Perry created. They serve little to no purpose now.
Are you saying that Hudson taxpayers had to fork over $1,360 to our friends at Colarusso so that DPW could just drive a piece of machinery or two to a problem that never should have happened? That's it, in a nutshell. Of course, there are all sorts of other costs associated with the stones: manpower, fuel, and, of course, Mr. Perry's headaches. This $1,360, as well as the mudslide, are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Do you know what line of DPW's 2023 budget the money comes out of for the stones and all the other work and material required in the lot? Is there a WE GOOFED line? Maybe a REGRETTABLE MISTAKE$ line? I'm not sure, but I think you are on the right track. I was thinking it might be from the LET'S JUST PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED line.
Yeah, this all seems like kind of a big deal. Why hasn't the DPW Superintendent mentioned any of this at any of the last two council meetings during which he offers his monthly reports? Does he feel that this situation and his department's ensuing work, which seems like a lot, is not worth mentioning or discussing? Why has he been so mum about this? For the answers to those important questions, you will have to try to get a straight and honest answer out of Mr. Perry. Before you attempt to track him down, you may want to know (if you can believe it) that the DPW Superintendent does not have an office of his own in his own department's office in City Hall. Good luck -- you are going to need it.
Wait a minute! What??!!! That can't be true, can it? That can't be acceptable, can it? If you don't believe me, go to City Hall and ask Mr. Perry's clerks where he might be. They will be no help. Or talk to Mr. Perry's supposed boss, Mayor Johnson, maybe he can help you out. The mayor actually has a desk in the Mayor's Office in City Hall, where he can often be found. The mayor doesn't know where Mr. Perry works from either, but maybe he has seen the DPW Superintendent around recently -- perhaps filling the garbage bag vending machine out front, or showing off the hugely expensive and time-consuming headache of a mess that he created in the lot across the street.
Let me know if you find Mr. Perry and he actually speaks to you, because I'd love to hear about it. Here is a recent picture of him in the Washington Street lot, near the site of the mudslide, if that helps. Mr. Perry's the one on the left. This was a rare day when he was not wearing his pink pants.
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