Editorial
Rensselaerville, roll up your sleeves

Layers of bureaucracy piled up and mired Sheila Whiteford just as surely as layers of mud filled her house after the torrential June rains.
"I need help, help, help, help, help," Whiteford told the Rensselaerville Town Board last Thursday.

Plenty of people in the packed hall sounded ready to help and we hope they do.

Whiteford’s home, near Potter Hollow Creek, has been flooding for years; she said the creek has changed its course as islands of debris have built up in it.

She named for us more than a dozen agencies or officials she called for help, to no avail. We made some calls ourselves this week — 13 to FEMA alone, as one person referred us to another.

We were trying to find out if a resolution made by the town board to request funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency was likely to bear any fruit.

Our answer: Probably not.
We only had to make one call to the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation; Rick Georgeson is a spokesperson who finds answers. He called us back and told us that Sheila Whiteford had, indeed, called the DEC on June 30 "wanting us to do something."
He went on, "We explained we wouldn’t do the work; we would be the permitting agency." Typically, contractors are hired, Georgeson said, or public works departments do the job. Whiteford was referred to the Albany County Soil and Water Conservation District, the state’s Department of Transportation, and the town’s highway department, he said.
"We just issue the permit and make sure the environment is protected while the work is done," said Georgeson. "It’s just a matter of finding someone that will step up and do the work or pay for it."

We’re printing the phone number — 357-2069 — that needs to be called to start the permit process. We don’t fault the DEC for wanting to protect our water, but we hope every effort is made to respond promptly.
Rensselaerville Supervisor Jost Nickelsberg called the effects of bureaucracy "stultifying."
"We’re the highest taxed state in the country and to have this kind of response to a lady with this problem isn’t right," he said. "That’s why we as a town are getting behind it. Sometimes, you have to roll up your sleeves."

Nickelsberg said that, when a DEC official comes soon to look at storm damage to a town dam, he will also look at Whiteford’s property.

The supervisor is concerned, too, about the evacuation route posted recently by the state. That road, Route 81, was under water with the June flooding.
"The water surged over 81; it tossed a car about; trees coming down were going 20, 30 miles an hour," said Nickelsberg.
He said of the water from Potter Hollow Creek, which flows to Catskill Creek, "It was up and over the bank; it was up and over the land, stripping it of its value; it was up and over the road."

When Whiteford discovered it would cost $4,000 just to get the mud cleared from her house — she has no insurance to pay for it — she started shoveling.

That’s what residents of Rensselaerville are ready to do. Bob Bolte said he could organize a group of citizens to remove the islands of rock and debris from the stream. We believe he has the heart and muscle to do it.

Bolte, along with K.B. Cook, and his wife, Marion, spearheaded a project earlier this year to build a ball field in Potter Hollow.
"Over $50,000 of equipment and time was donated. We just went out and did it, not with town money," said Nickelsberg, adding with pride, "It’s the best ball field in all of Albany County."

Townspeople call it the Field of Dreams.
"Right past the Field of Dreams is the nightmare," said the supervisor, referring to the flooded creek.

We believe the people of Rensselaearville will wake up from that nightmare to the sound of shovels moving earth.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer, editor