It's A Good Thing The City Has A Rainy Day Fund!

Today's installment of What The Heck Is Robert Perry Up To Now? will focus, once again, on the mess our DPW Superintendent created in the Washington Street lot across the street from the temporary location of City Hall in the Firehouse Station. While this is the 8th Hudseen article about this expensive, time-consuming and regrettable debacle, I won't focus so much on the mess in the lot itself as who is involved with the cleanup and how Mr. Perry communicates to others about his mess that the New York State DEC wants cleaned up this year.

To recap:  Last year, Robert Perry allowed the State DOT to dump an enormous amount of fill and debris from the creation of the Empire State Trail on Harry Howard Avenue into the lot on Washington Street, doubling the size of the lot over the span of two or three months.  I tried to warn the city as best I could, including Mr. Perry, that there was bound to be a problem with the unregulated dumping in a sensitive area.  Sure enough, this past March, there was a mudslide which covered the end of a Combined Sewer Outfall pipe located at the north end of the lot, near the Oakdale Park parking lot.

Right away, I called the DEC Water Division phone number on the green sign for the CSO pipe, located along the driveway of the County Social Services building, to suggest they come have a look. A DEC employee by the name of James (Jamie) Malcolm came out to inspect the site. He was not satisfied with what he saw. Jamie contacted Robert Perry and told him that the pipe had to be unclogged. Then Jamie went further: The site with the new fill was unstable, so it needed to be stabilized. The site also needed to be graded and seeded to stop muddy runoff from reaching the stream below. And, last but not least, DPW was to stop dumping any more fill and debris in the lot. DPW immediately cleared the pipe, but they have made no other improvements since. How do I know all this? I observe, and I send Jamie emails with pictures and questions.  He tells me that he appreciates my updates (especially the pictures) and he usually lets me know where things stand with DPW and the lot.

More unauthorized dumping in July
 that Robert Perry had "no idea" about

In late July, I noticed that someone had dumped more fill and debris in the lot.  I took more pictures and sent an email to Jamie informing him of the situation.  Then, curious as to what exactly DPW was required by DEC to do in the lot, I FOILed the State DEC for documents and correspondence between the DEC and the City of Hudson regarding the lot.

One of two things I received in response was an email thread that took place on July 31st, the day I sent Jamie that email about the new dumping in the lot.  In that initial email, besides informing Jamie of the dumping, I asked him if the dumping was allowed or not.  Jamie responded later in the day that the city was going to remove the dumped material.  According to the thread, he also emailed Robert Perry right away.  I have no doubt that Jamie was furious about the information I had updated him with.

I sent that email to Jamie at 9:11 am.  

Jamie then sent an email to our DPW Superintendent Robert Perry, including the following people in the cc line:  Brock Juusola of Delaware Engineering, the company that DPW was forced to hire to help clean up the mess; someone named John Weidman at DEC; our City Attorney Andy Howard; and an address of hudsonsewer@gmail that had no name attached to it.  

At 9:27, Jamie wrote to Rob:  FYI, I thought the Department and the city agreed the area would no longer be used for disposal of fill?  I also seem to recall that Brock promised us the area would be regraded/seeded during this summer but it doesn't appear that any of that work has been done.  Pls provide an update for me as we continue to be concerned with the lack of progress.

At 10:22, Robert Perry responded to Jamie:  No idea who put that there.  We haven't authorized dumping there.

At 10:25, Jamie responded to Robert and everyone else:  Ok, what are the city's plans to remove the material and move forward with the details of our previous conversation? 

At 10:31, Robert responded:  I found with (sic) the contractor, they weren't aware we weren't dumping there now.  They are going to remove the material.  Pipe extension and stabilization plan attached.

At 10:37, Jamie responded:  Good to hear ... schedule for removal of the material and full implementation of the attached plan?

At 10:46, Robert responded:  Removal over next week.  The contractor was only using the area to stage because it was close to the site.  If you approve of the attached plan, we'll start purchasing materials.

At 10:58, Jamie responded:  Ok, please let me know when the material has been removed...  Attached plan is approved and please proceed with purchasing materials ... I will need a schedule soon.

At 11:02, Robert responded:  Removal: ok.  We start purchasing pipes and fittings.  I believe the structure needs to be fabricated, but we'll put that submittal together and get that over to fort miller.  We can't start any work until after labor day, as there is a summer camp at Oakdale and that's were (sic) we need to access the site from.

At 11:07, Jamie responded:  I just want to make sure that we don't miss the growing season for grass/vegetation as it will make for a messy winter condition (which was present all last year).

And that was the end of that email thread. 

I called the Hudson Youth Department office at Oakdale Park last Thursday, August 10th.  I asked the woman who answered the phone if the summer camp lasted through Labor Day.  "No," she responded, "camp is finished tomorrow."

This is not fill!  This is construction 
and demolition waste!

The mess in the lot?  The money that the city/DPW has spent, and will be spending, on the cleanup?  These emails (and any others!) that Robert Perry spends his time on?  All the other time Mr. Perry is spending as a result of his mess in the lot?  IT'S ALL HAPPENING BECAUSE OUR DPW SUPERINTENDENT, SALARIED AT OVER $115,000 A YEAR, MADE A REALLY POOR DECISION ON HIS OWN THAT ANY SENSIBLE PERSON COULD HAVE SEEN WOULD RESULT IN SOMETHING REGRETTABLE.

Robert Perry must have known that dumping all that fill mixed with huge chunks of concrete in the lot without providing any means of stability was risky -- he's not an idiot.  He's also smart enough to know now that given the opportunity to do it all over, he would send the fill and debris to a proper dumping site, where chunks of concrete are supposed to be dumped; that given the chance to avoid the time and money he and others in City Hall are spending on his mess in the lot, he would never have allowed the dumping to happen there in the first place.  Our DPW Superintendent, along with anyone paying attention to the matter in the lot, must know that he made a huge error in judgement.

Dumping in the same area as the dumping in late July continued last week and yesterday.  Over two weeks after Robert Perry told Jamie that the fill would be removed, it has only been moved, not removed.

National Grid has made part of the lot a staging ground for their gas line replacement project currently happening on Green Street.  Last week, two enormous piles of concrete-making material appeared. According to Jamie, DEC is allowing this to happen. (picture above)

I also received an email thread as part of a FOIL request from the City of Hudson DPW.  I won't go into too much detail about it, but it is interesting to see who is involved in this separate Washington Street lot issue, which, according to one of Rob Perry's emails, has nothing to do with the CSO pipe and everything to do with "the site plan review and regulatory referrals for the City of Hudson Planning Board."  That's right, the Hudson Planning Board (and its attorneys) has been forced to get involved with the cleanup of Robert Perry's mess in the lot.

Here are the participants in this thread of emails:  Robert Perry; Jamie Malcolm of DEC; Ryan Weitz, from the environmental and engineering consulting firm Barton & Loguidice; Thereas Joyner of the Hudson Planning Board; as well as Victoria Polidoro and Shane Nissen of the law firm Rodenhausen Chale LLP.  Those two attorneys do not do pro bono work for the Planning Board, we all know that!

All the important infrastructure issues and work that Hudson DPW is dealing with, and we have to add this to the list?  Really?  Due to one person's decision and huge friggin' mistake?  What a crapshow!  Think about this:  It appears that the City of Hudson has had to hire two engineering firms (Barton & Loguidice and Delaware Engineering) to try to correct Robert Perry's huge misjudgment and mistake.  And the Planning Board will have to do a site plan review to approve the plans designed to correct our DPW Superintendent's huge misjudgment and mistake.  Rather than going in front of the Planning Board to get permission to double the size of the lot on Washington Street last year, it appears that Mr. Perry, with the help of an engineering firm or two, will now have to offer a site plan review for approval by the board -- now that he has created such a regrettable mess. 

Who do you suppose is paying for all this?  What part of the 2023 city budget is all this money going to be coming from?  The rainy day fund? (Get it?  Rainy day...mudslide!)

Last thought, in all seriousness:  Can the city afford another huge, expensive error in judgment like this from Mr. Perry?  Has he learned one lesson from his mistake?  If I'm the Mayor of Hudson, Mr. Perry is given a warning:  "One more mistake like this and you are done.   This never should have happened, and you know it.  We can't afford your cavalier and reckless approach to your work anymore.  Consider this your first and last warning."

Here is the most recent Hudseen article on the subject of the Washington Street lot fiasco: Left hand right hand.  You can find the other articles by putting the word Washington in the search bar.