RENSSELAERVILLE — The Rensselaerville supervisor called a special meeting of the town board Tuesday night simply so he could talk to the highway superintendent.

Tensions have been building between the Republican supervisor, Jost Nickelsberg, and the Democratic highway superintendent, G. Jon Chase, in the seven months since Nickelsberg took office.
"We’re not having discussions and had no idea what was going on," said Nickelsberg after the meeting. "You can’t solve things without talking. So we talked tonight. It was a good thing to do."
Asked what caused the schism, Nickelsberg said, "It’s a combination of the social, political, historical, and economic."

Nickelsberg says that Rensselaerville spends about $13,000 per mile each year on its 82 miles of town roads while the neighboring Hilltown of Berne spends $10,000.

Chase summed up the reason for the lack of communication in one word — politics.
"Once you’re elected, they should let you do your job," said Chase.

He sees himself as an experienced leader who oversees an efficient department of 10 workers.
"In the nine years I’ve been here, I’ve brought in one-and-a-half to two million dollars from federal, state, and county programs," he said after the meeting.

Chase said, when he became superintendent, the town had 25 miles of paved roads; now it has 50 paved miles.
He also said, "My dad did this job for 30 years. I’m the fourth or fifth generation in the town doing highways....I know every road. I know ever tree in town," he said, launching into a story of a butternut tree in Medusa that had once held a mailbox for multiple houses back in the days when the postal service traveled by horse.
"I never cut it down, but I got accused of it," said Chase. "I get accused of everything."

This rural Helderberg Hilltown has 43 miles of road for every 1,000 residents — by far the greatest differential in the county.

The supervisor says 60 percent of the town’s budget goes for roads.
"We’ve got a real problem," said Nickelsberg before Tuesday’s meeting. "We’ve spent $9 million on roads in the last eight-and-a-half years. They have to be fixed every 10 months instead of every 10 years."

Accusations and responses

Tuesday’s meeting lasted less than 45 minutes.

Nickelsberg began by commenting on the number of complaints raised at every monthly town board meeting.

At the April meeting, the town’s attorney, William Ryan, said that Chase broke state law by loading salt and sand from the town’s supply into a private citizen’s truck. His accusation was sparked by photos given to the town by resident Vernon Husek, a frequent critic of the highway department.

At that same meeting, Nickelsberg criticized Chase, who was absent, for violating the town’s new procurement policy, instituted by Nickelsberg after he took office in January. When purchasing materials and equipment, town officers must submit at least three bids.

At the July meeting, which Chase did not attend, several letters of complaint from townspeople were read.
Steve Conklin wrote a letter complaining about the "deplorable condition of shale roads in our town." He said he had had 22 flat tires in the last year, with the #2 stone cutting her car’s tires.

He also said that she has to spend $800 to $1,000 yearly for front-end repairs to her car.

Another letter-writer claimed that a rented bulldozer sat idle for one month on Kenyon Road.

Steve Wood, who narrowly lost his 2005 bid for highway superintendent, wrote that highway workers went on a golf outing on April 21 and falsified time cards to be paid for the day.
"Jon is up to his old, wasteful ways," wrote Wood, stating that his roads fall apart.
"He doesn’t seem to understand proper road construction," wrote Wood.
He also alleged that topsoil went to Chase’s son’s property on Arnold Road and he cited Chase’s "belligerence" to the town board and supervisor.
"Jon is a disgrace to the construction industry," wrote Wood.

Paullette Ryder wrote a lyrical letter about the red clay lane in Medusa where she bought a house in 1988 with her husband, Edward Steven Ryder, a Democrat who was defeated in his bid for re-election as a councilman.

Ryder said that the road was maintained until Jon Chase took over and dumped loose, rough gravel on top; cars skid and it’s easy for people to slip on it, making it hard for walkers, cyclists, and people pushing baby strollers.
The townspeople are "furious," Paullette Ryder said, that their beautiful red clay roads are paved and cited a state Department of Transportation man saying paving is not cost-effective.
She concluded by referring to the country hit that topped the charts, "Red Dirt Road," and indicated people wouldn’t celebrate or sing "Gray Gravel Road" or "Black Asphalt Road."
"I really think, as supervisor, you ought to call your dogs off Jon Chase," said Ralph Brant, of Methodist Hill Road, at the July meeting. "He did a lot of good in the town...He helped a lot of people out."

When The Enterprise asked Chase to respond to the allegations, he said the bulldozer was rented for four weeks and used on three roads. "We had it setting for three or four days," he said.

He gave a one-word answer — no — when asked if highway workers had played golf on town-paid time.

When The Enterprise asked Nickelsberg about highway workers playing golf on paid time, he said, "We did look into that. We’ve got to get a legal reading from counsel," he said, before he could answer questions about it.
About the clay roads, Chase said, "Red clay turns to mud. We’ve had a lot of problems with school buses," he said, on those roads and to eliminate the problem he uses "Item 4," which he described as four different stones that "bind together."
"There’s stone dust in it, and it will harden and be like concrete," said Chase.

Engineers’ views
Nickelsberg said at Tuesday’s special meeting, "It has nothing to do with personality. Zero. It has everything to do with where the buck stops....The buck stops here," he said, quoting the slogan that President Harry Truman famously displayed on his desk.

Nickelsberg introduced two engineers — Doug Van Deusen and Francois Vedier — from Lamont Engineers who had looked at three Rensselaerville roads — Cheese Hill, Travis Hill, and Niles, up to the county line.

The engineers, both verbally and in a letter written to Nickelsberg, detailed the town’s road specifications, adopted in 1991, and cited improvements that could be made to the condition of the roads they had looked at.

For example, Niles Road, in places, doesn’t have a crown, the engineers said, which presents drainage problems.
"Moisture is one of the single most detrimental effects," said Van Duesen, leading to potholes.
In other places, the road was soft. "Even under our own body width," said Van Deusen, "there were sections where the road was fairly soft.
Paving would probably not be "very long lived" under such conditions, he said.

The engineers also observed a number of tire-rut tracks where they could see drainage rills going down the tracks, they said.

When it comes to financing, Van Deusen said, it would be wise to pave fewer miles but do it better.
"This meeting is only about how we go forward," said Nickelsberg. "If we can get eight-, nine-, 10-, 11-year roads, we’ll be very happy," he said, and will have spent taxpayers’ money wisely.
Council member Sherri Pine, a Democrat, said she had lived on Cheese Hill Road all her life and praised Chase for the "great improvement" he had made to the road.

She also said, because the road is built on bedrock, there is not much that can be done with ditch depth.
Van Deusen agreed and recommended the use of geo fabric in places where, for years, shale was used and would go "out of sight and out of mind."
"You’ll see a remarkable difference," with the use of geo fabric, he said.

Neither of the Republican council members, Myra Dorman or J. Robert Lansing, had any questions or comments. The fourth council member, Gary J. Chase, a Democrat and the son of the highway superintendent, was absent.

"Daunting task"
"These three roads ain’t anywhere near complete," protested Jon Chase to the engineers on Tuesday. "Who told you to check them"" he asked.
"I did," responded Nickelsberg.
"I’m the superintendent," said Chase.
"I’m the CEO...," said Nickelsberg.
"Come when it’s finished and then look at it," said Chase. He also said, "Take a look at some of the roads I’ve done."
"What is your plan, going forward"" asked Nickelsberg, as he proceeded to closely question Chase about his plans for each of the three roads.

Through a lengthy, and at times testy, series of questions and answers, Chase revealed what portions of which roads he planned to use geo fabric for and why, and also what kind of base and paving materials he planned to use.
At one point in the exchange, as Chase was saying road work takes time, he complained, "I have to come in for $200 every time I buy a load of stone."
"The voucher system is not going away," returned Nickelsberg. "It is the business practice of this town."
"We usually do five to seven miles a year," Chase said of paving town roads. "This year, we’ve done nothing, because of the weather."
"A daunting task and we hope you get it done," replied Nickelsberg.
Chase said later that he was one-and-a-half years behind on a 10-year program. "Oil prices are out of sight," he said. "Fabric is up and down like a yo-yo."

Chase told The Enterprise after the meeting that the recent flooding had caused extensive damage to town roads that took much time and many resources to repair. The flooding washed out many shoulders and culverts, he said.
"One of the biggest holes was on Gulf Road," Chase said. "We lost half of that road. I spent $40,000 just on flood repairs."

He noted that Rensselaerville is located on the edge of Albany County right next to Schoharie County, which was designated to receive federal aid after the June flooding, while Albany County received none.
"Schoharie County had a lot of roads washed out; our roads washed out, too," said Chase.

During Tuesday’s special meeting, Chase also questioned Nickelsberg about the Lamont engineers.
"I do want to know where the money is coming from to pay these guys," he said.
"The town budget," said Nickelsberg.
Chase said afterwards, "I deal with county and state engineers every day of the week. They know they’re stuff and they’re free. Why should we pay these engineers""
Towards the end of the session, Nickelsberg said to Chase, "You give us 10 years, we’ll put a statue up."

One person clapped heartily from the gallery where about two dozen spectators sat; it was Chase’s wife.

Coordinate with other towns"

After the meeting, The Enterprise asked the Lamont engineers how long a paved road should last, "It’s a feasible goal to have roads last 10 years or more," said Vedier.
Asked if, judging from their look at the three Rensselaerville roads, the highway work was competent, Vedier said, "We really don’t know how long roads have lasted in the past. The highway superintendent said he wasn’t done...To pass judgment would not be fair."
He concluded, "The specifications for building roads, as outlined in the town manual, is the way they should be built."

The roads they looked at, he said, were not yet at that point.

Van Deusen said that, in Greene County, where he often works, there are a lot of intermunicipal agreements for working on roads collectively which can cut down dramatically on the per-mile costs.
Road projects are scheduled, he said, "so one leads into the next town." Savings come from shared workers, shared equipment, and bulk purchases of materials.

When The Enterprise asked Nickelsberg if Rensselaerville had considered coordinating work with neighboring towns in this way, he said that he meets monthly with the county executive and also with the other Hilltown supervisors.
Asked if these talks had led to plans for coordinating roadwork, Nickelsberg said, "Not yet, but it has to happen. A separate department for 2,000 people is expensive."
The neighboring town of Berne is considering consolidating its highway department with Albany County’s department of public works. Chase said there is "no way" that could happen.
"They’ve talked about it for 25 years or more," he said. "When it happens, the state will have to do it."