Officials upset with Heater's Pond work

OGDESNBURG — The work at Heater's Dam Pond is finished, but Ogdensburg officials said on Monday, May 29, they are not pleased with its appearance.
Mayor Rachel Slater said the last stop wall was put in, but “looks like they dumped cement all over the place.”
Councilman George Hutnick met with the engineer and contractor to determine what could be done cosmetically, he said, because as residents go up the road, it is the first thing they see. A possible option is to bury portions of the river stone and still meet state requirements.
Slater agreed with the plan with the understanding the borough was not paying for it.
Regarding more dam work, Councilman David Astor will meet with the insurance representative George Morville to determine where to place no trespassing and walking signs in the area; and Council President Peter Opilla suggested talking to Solitude Lake Management Co. regarding recommendations for a healthy number of fish in the pond.
Hutnick said 837 fish were removed from Heater's Pond before the dam armoring.
On a more positive note, Slater said, Elizabethtown Gas is under way marking homes where natural gas will be piped.
After executive session, the council unanimously voted to forward the possible insurance change from Oxford PPO Plan to the State OMNIA Insurance plan, to the Fraternal Order of Police representative. Officials would like verification of contractual feasibility. Councilman Michael Nardini was absent for the vote.
Earlier in the meeting, Joseph Colombo of Arthur J. Gallagher explained to the council, the OMNIA Plan overall is a much better plan in almost every aspect. He explained, with the size of the Ogdensburg employee group being under 15, OMNIA would give better insurance than a small group going out by itself to regular market.
Opilla also said, the state plan would help in budgeting, because it is a yearly contract beginning the calendar year of Jan. first, instead of the current Oxford plan which renews on June first.
Morville suggested the FOP representative call either Colombo or himself to answer specific questions.
On a different issue, Borough Attorney Richard Brigliadoro recommended before the borough approves the garbage contract transfer from Global to Blue Diamond, the two companies outline exactly what will be transferred between them — in writing and at their cost — and then Ogdensburg can sign an agreement.
During public comment, Ted L'Estrange gave the council packets of information requesting a resolution condemning China's State-sanctioned harvesting of organs for-profit from prisoners of conscience. He explained, as a result of the Chinese Communist 1984 regulation where prisoners and their organs become the property of the state, tens of thousands of Falun Gong Practitioners, Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Christians are killed for their organs each year, in exchange for money. In June 2016, he continued, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously condemned the barbaric crime, H. Res. 343.
Astor commented, with the U.S. House of Representatives involved, he was unsure what Ogdensburg could do, but he was willing to look into it.