WESTERLO — The councilman who oversaw Westerlo’s only water district, William Bichteman, was ousted from the town board in the 2017 election. He subsequently resigned from his position chairing the water board that oversees the district, serving 87 households in the hamlet of Westerlo.

No one stepped up to fill the post.

This month — after unsafe levels of bromomethane were found in the water-treatment facility — Bichtemen volunteered to resume his former post as head of the water board.

At its meeting on Oct. 2, the town board unanimously appointed Bichteman as a new member and chairman of the water board. Townspeople in the gallery applauded.

Bichteman had been appointed to the town board in 2013 on which he eventually assumed a leadership role as Supervisor Richard Rapp’s health declined.

The water system — Westerlo’s first public water — was implemented in 2005 and cost over a million dollars. The system has been plagued with financial problems with some residents and businesses going outside of the hamlet, drilling wells, to avoid the costs of public water. Four years ago, the billing structure was changed.

Bichteman was able to describe the mechanics of the water system with ease to curious residents at the October town board meeting. He spoke candidly about Westerlo’s public water system.

With interest rates for the bond used to fund the system increasing, the water rates will have to increase as well, he said. He added that this would be about 26 to 27 cents per 1,000 gallons.

“There’s 87 families, so it’s not like it isn’t significant,” he said, of the total amount added to the district’s revenues.

There are currently three members on the water board, but one is planning to resign, according to Edwin Lawson, the town code enforcement officer and deputy supervisor.

Town grant writer Nicole Ambrosio spoke of difficulties in finding funding for a filtration device to remove bromomethane from the water. Bichteman said that levels of various elements fluctuate in a water system, like Westerlo’s, that uses groundwater.

The carcinogen has apparently been in the water during the entirety of the town’s use, but the standard of five parts per billion for the acceptable level of the chemical in the water was changed, according to Lawson.

“It wasn’t anything that changed dramatically in the system; it was the test requirements,” Lawson said.

“The health department is as sure as us that it’s just occurring in the groundwater,” Bichteman said.

“The state’s standard of 5ppb for bromomethane has not changed,” Erin Silk, a spokeswoman for the state health department, wrote in an email on Friday in response to Enterprise questions. “As previously stated, the short-term exposure to this chemical at the levels detected in the Town of Westerlo’s water supply does not constitute an immediate health hazard.”

Lawson and Bichteman did not respond to repeated calls for comment on Silk’s statement.

Ambrosio had been trying to apply for a state grant that would pay for at least part of installing a “bubbler” filter to remove the chemical from the water, but said that the town did not qualify because the median income of Westerlo households is about $80,000, or roughly $20,000 more than the state’s average median income. The “bubbler” filter would use air to strip chemicals from the water, said Bichteman.

Ambrosio said she is now working with the Schoharie branch of the United States Department of Agriculture Office of Rural Development and is looking to have a third-party survey of just the 87 homes in Westerlo’s water district conducted to determine the median income in just that location. Bichteman said this will likely be free.

Residents in the gallery seemed surprised at the stated median income of $80,000, asking how the information was gathered or whether a few high-income households were throwing off the numbers.

Other business

The board also:

— Discussed who would be responsible for arranging a bond for decommissioning solar arrays in town. Board members felt they should have a balance of power with the planning board;

— Heard from Lawson that he had visited the town’s outdated highway garage with an engineer from Stantec and the engineer would do “a more forensic look”;

— Heard from Ambrosio that town Clerk Kathleen Spinnato will be working with someone from New York State to apply for grants to build a records room at the town hall. Records are currently stored at the town highway garage where the town hall formerly was located;

— Heard from Broadband Research Committee Chairwoman Dorothy Verch that the committee will be meeting with the cable company MidTel about providing internet in parts of the town;

— Heard from Lawson and a South Westerlo resident, William Scrafford, that there have been issues in disciplining an absent property owner on Route 401 for her tenant’s code violations that include leaving junked cars on the property, according to Scrafford, who lives across from the property.

The property, located at 62 County Route 401, is owned by Elizabeth K. Foster, of Fayetteville, Georgia, according to tax records. She goes by the last name Marone on a website for her profession as a behavioral analyst. Lawson told The Enterprise on Friday that there are a number of code violations related to items left out on the property, including cars, and that the town has tried to reach Marone by mail at an old address. He said Scrafford had initially tried to purchase the property but negotiations fell through years ago;

— Heard from Lawson, who is also acting as an interim code enforcement officer in Rensselaerville, that he is looking into Airbnb listings on properties in Westerlo and Rensselaerville that could violate zoning codes;

— Heard from town historian Dennis Fancher that he will be sharing a 1913 photo of Civil War veterans online and at the town hall in order for residents to identify people in the photo; and

— Heard from Councilwoman Amie Burnside that the Hometown Heroes Committee is preparing for its Nov. 17 closing ceremony. The banners honoring veterans, which were hung this year from utility poles in town, will be stored for the winter months.