The City of Troy will receive more than $12.5 million in state funding to replace its lead contaminated service lines.
At Thursday night’s City Council Meeting, Mayor Carmella Mantello shared “good news” with the council: on March 29th, she received a letter from the New York state Department of Health informing the city of the funding, more than $8.5 million with interest-free financing of nearly $4 million.
The city has inventoried half of its water lines. The first-term Republican says the city will meet an October 16th state deadline to complete the inventory — a campaign pledge.
A 2023 report by the Environmental Protection Agency estimates nearly 1.2 million service lines in New York are unreported. The report projects that more than 5 percent of the state’s lines are contaminated.
Mantello says the grant is a huge step forward and will not cost property owners.
“We're gonna get that inventory and we're gonna keep rising, and we’re going to be a model for the state,” Mantello said.
Resident and advocate Greg Campbell-Cohen says he was watching the meeting online when he heard the news and rushed over to city hall to rejoice with councilors and other residents.
“It would have been exciting to bond absent the grant, but now that the grant has been awarded, it makes a lot of sense to bond based on it,” Cohen said.
Bonding has been a thorny issue for municipalities, which are unclear whether they can use public money on private property. Syracuse has started to work through the process.
Democratic state Assemblyman John McDonald represents the 108th district, including Troy. He has been working with the state comptroller to explore the question.
Mantello says the state budget, still under negotiation, has a proposal to include funding for private properties.
Council President Pro Tem Thomas Casey says he has been canvassing in his district, District 6, to continue educating residents about the dangers of lead and the importance of inventorying, even if they know their lines are safe.
“It helps with the overall quality of that building. So, if you know anybody that has one property, two properties, three properties, 50 properties, let them know about this program. That way we get our numbers up, and eliminate the lead,” Casey said.
The council also approved the appointment of Randal Coburn as the city’s new Commissioner of Planning and Community Development. Coburn had worked for Empire State Development Corporation before retiring. He says while he is still wrapping his head around the city’s code, he looks forward to speaking with stakeholders and residents in the community.
“I need to meet people, I need to know who all the players are, who are all the stakeholders. And I definitely plan on doing that,” Coburn said. “But there's so much for me to learn just about code about planning process about all the economic development projects right now, and kind of really focused on kind of doing my homework there.”
Additionally, the council approved a resolution to mark April as Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month, a measure that hits close to home for several of the councilors and the mayor. Katie Spain-McLaren, a Democrat representing District 3, says her daughter is on the spectrum.
“Not only is awareness important, but acceptance and inclusion is also important,” Spain-McLaren said.
During a special finance meeting before the regular meeting, Mantello’s administration spoke before the council regarding a transfer of funds within the general fund to pay for accounting firm Pronexus, which has been helping the city close its 2023 books. City Comptroller Dylan Spring says the work would be impossible to do without the firm.
“Pronexus aren't just helping with stuff in 2023,” Spring said. “They're also trying to improve processes moving forward. Some of the recommendations they've had, we've been bouncing off each other, and we're going to probably start implementing some new strategies to hopefully streamline some things.”
In March, Mantello called a special meeting for the council to discuss unpaid rent on City Hall.
While the city’s rate of roughly $30,000 per month had been paid, the adjusted amount of $45,000 was continually crossed off and approximately $15,000 per month went unpaid between October 2022 and December 2023 by the previous administration when the lease expired.
Minority Democrats voted against the transfer within the general fund last month.
Mantello says the payment has helped spur negotiations with the landlord.
“Now that's not in the negotiations,” Mantello said. “And that was the whole point of paying off that old rent debt because now we're able to negotiate with First Columbia without them having to say, ‘we're gonna lump that $226 in whatever lease,’ whether it's short or long-term.”
The next city council meeting is April 18th.
