Two men fish in the Allegheny River from thge Olean shoreline in this June 2024 file photo. The Olean Common Council voted to hasten the end to sewage overflows in the river Tuesday night.
By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
The Olean Common Council voted Tuesday to have Mayor Bill Aiello sign a state Department of Environmental Conservation consent order to speed up work to prevent future releases of untreated sewage into the Allegheny River.
An earlier consent order gave the city another 20 years to fix the intermittent overflow problem into the river that galvanized opposition over the past year and led to a coalition with the Seneca Nation and a $500,000 state grant to study and fix the problem.
City Attorney Bridget Marshall said she reviewed the consent order and stipulations that items must be completed by certain dates.
The state “pretty much drafted this,” she said. Sewer and Water Department Director Brad Camp suggested certain technical changes which DEC agreed to.
Aiello said the city would publish the consent order on its website as soon as possible.
Council President Vernon Robinson Jr., I-Ward 6, noted the consent order contains a $20,000 civil penalty which will be reduced to $7,000 if the city meets certain stipulations. If the stipulations are not met, the city could owe the remainder of the civil penalty.
The state has already hired an engineering firm to study the issue of sewage overflows and make recommendations to correct the issues that lead to releases into the river.
The council was forced to postpone a vote on removing the non-working strings of lights across North Union Street rather than spend more money to attempt to remedy the problems including electronic control boxes that are not weatherproof.
The city is currently in litigation with the contractor that provided and installed the lights that were to compliment North Union Street’s Walkable Olean features.
Aldermen emphasized that they want decorative lights downtown, but were ready to move on to a new lighting system.
Councilman John Crawford, D-Ward 5, said he couldn’t find a committee vote on the removal of the lights.
Robinson said in that case, the matter could not be voted on by the full council that night. It must be signed out of committee before the next meeting. The earliest a vote can be held now is Oct. 14, Robinson said.
The council voted unanimously to confirm the mayor’s reappointment of Greg Piechota as city assessor.
Ward 4 Democrat Sonya McCall reminded aldermen that the next Music and Art Walk is Oct. 3 in Olean. It is part of downtown merchants’ marketing efforts and will include food trucks, she said.
McCall also noted the recent RAM (Remote Area Medical) clinic at the Olean YMCA was very successful in assisting people with health, eyecare and dental services. The two-day clinic provided services valued at $273,442, she added.
Ward 2 Alderman Joe Keary noted this weekend is the Southern Tier Walk to End Alzheimer’s Saturday at the Jamestown Community College campus on North Union Street. Registration begins at 9 a.m. and the walk starts at 10 o’clock.
