Monongah water plant has no violations

The Town of Monongah’s water plant has received a positive report — with no violations — from the state. On June 17, the water plant underwent its annual inspection by the state. Because of a loss of people that the water system serves, due to population drop with people moving away, Monongah was not required to collect as many samples for the recent inspection, said Bill McCombs, councilman and operator for the town’s water plant. He said the state’s report showed no major deficiencies in the plant operations other than the unaccounted for water loss, which has been an ongoing problem. “Our biggest problem right now is the water loss,” McCombs said. “Other than that, we passed with flying colors.” He explained that the water loss issue is better than it was previously, but the problem can only be solved through the implementation of phase two of the town’s project to update its water and sewer systems. Overall, recent upgrades to the water plant have helped the operations considerably, McCombs said. Council commended him for doing an excellent job at the water plant. In related news, town council held a work session on July 21 to screen potential engineering firms to design the additional phases of the water and sewer system updates. The members narrowed the list down from five to three engineering outfits that could potentially be hired for the job and plan to set up interviews with those parties soon. Also, Mayor Greg Vandetta announced that the town’s police chief, Chris Veltri, resigned from his position last week. The town had been advertising to try to hire another full-time officer in addition to Veltri, but has no police official. Monongah has received two applications so far and will schedule interviews as soon as possible. In preparation for an officer joining the town in the future, one of the council members and a former part-time police officer for the town recently took an inventory of the items present and investigations represented in the evidence room, Vandetta said. In addition, council members are continuing the search for a new attorney to represent the Town of Monongah in its business. Vandetta said they have two or three individuals interested and will find out further information about these possible candidates before choosing a lawyer.