The Highland Falls Village Board will soon issue an RFP (Request for Proposal) for the operation of the Highland Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The board voted unanimously to do that at last week’s Village Board meeting – the move comes as Mayor Joe D’Onofrio announced that longtime plant operator John Jones will be retiring in a few months. “This is a big loss for us,” the mayor said.

Privatization of a major service is a move the village took in 2023 with the operation of the Water Plant; VRI Environmental now runs that facility.

“Looking for proposals doesn’t mean we are definitely going to do it,” Mayor Joe D’Onofrio said, adding that finding a plant operator with the same license Jones has is going to be difficult. “The engineer will go out with an RFP like we did for the water plant to find out what it would cost.”

Trustee Dr. Melanie Guerrero commented, saying that she is for privatization “if we can show cost savings and efficiency, which we didn’t at the Water Plant.”

D’Onofrio disagreed, saying “yes we did”.

Guerrero said she would like to see the operation of the Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant be combined to one provider but said that “VRI was the only bidder for the Water Plant, and it ended up being more costly”.

Deputy Mayor Jim DiSalvo commented “we can’t control how many bidders we get on any project”.

In one other matter pertaining to the Wastewater Treatment Plant, Trustee Jim Ramus said that in 2023, the average amount of waste treated daily at the plant was 992,000 gallons.

Water came up at the board meeting too. Trustee Peter Carroll said that the daily average flow at the Water Plant in August was 545,000 gallons per day; and added that is down considerably since VRI took over.

“I think these guys are worth what we are paying them,” Carroll said.

D’Onofrio also spoke about water, saying before the meeting that he has had quite a few concerns about dirty water recently, He said VRI has been “actively investigating the source of the problem”, including by flushing hydrants several weeks ago.

“We are increasing the frequency of water quality testing to ensure that any fluctuations are detected and addressed as quickly as possible, and we are also exploring long term solutions to upgrade our water infrastructure to prevent future issues.”

He said at the meeting the village’s grant writers are looking for funding for water-related projects, like removing lead from pipes.

In a final water matter, Carroll added that as of September 8, the Bog Meadow Reservoir is down “about four feet” and reading at 73% capacity. “They tell me that is not bad for this time of year,” he said.