ALTAMONT — Non-residents who have not paid their village water bills are set to receive termination-of-service letters, after the village board approved the shut-off orders at a board meeting Tuesday.

Two homes included on the list are owned by former Village Attorney Joseph Muia, according to Village Clerk Patty Blackwood.

“These are all non-residents,” Blackwood said. “This is what seems to get them to pay.”

Mayor James Gaughan told the village board that the same names were listed for non-payment in April, the last time water bills were sent out.

The board’s approval begins the process whereby a final letter is hand-delivered or taped to the door of the building with the delinquent water bill, Blackwood said.

Previously, each delinquent non-resident property owner received two past-due notices and a final notice, she said. Termination letters are delivered on Tuesdays, so that owners have the remainder of the week to respond to the village. In April, the owners responded to the termination notices, she said.

In 2007, the village received attention for shutting off water to a home on Gun Club Road right before Christmas 2006, causing a widow and her children to leave their home. Water users just outside the village limits, like the Gun Club Road property, pay a higher fee for services. At the time, the property owner was in arrears to the village for $6,732 for water. The situation resolved after The Enterprise broke the story, as residents offered donations and a local organization, Safe Haven Inc., paid the bill.

Blackwood said this week that current village residents who are late with their water bills can have the amount due re-levied and put onto their village tax bills. The process the board began Tuesday is the one used for non-residents, she said.

Muia could not be reached for comment.

Other business

In other business, the village board:

— Agreed to have the mayor sign an agreement to pay $14,000 to its village engineer for an assessment of the village’s main reservoir.

“Part of the $14,000 is to do a complete safety inspection,” said engineer Richard Straut of Barton & Loguidice. The assessment is required by the New York State Department of Conservation.

“This requirement came out of a law…that came out after the failure of a dam, locally,” said Gaughan. He said that the state passed the cost down to the local municipal level.

“We’ll take the hydraulic analysis we’ve already done and incorporate it into these other analyses,” Straut said. He said that the assessment will attempt to reclassify the village’s upper dam to a lower classification grade;

— Set a public hearing for Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 7 p.m. to spend $13,744 to reimburse the village’s funds for an emergency water well repair on Brandle Road.

Superintendent of Public Works Jeffrey Moller suspects that lightning struck the mechanism on the well, according to Gaughan’s report to the board.

“We’re still seeking to try to get insurance coverage for this issue,” Gaughan said;

— Adopted a new compensation plan for village employees and terminated the previous plan. The board adopted the State of New York Deferred Compensation Plan over the former Nationwide Retirement Solutions plan.

With the old plan, Blackwood said, the village deducted the amount employees wanted deducted from their paychecks and mailed the amounts to the retirement plan.

“We send the check over. The village is responsible now, but we only have the check for a couple of days,” she said.

Gaughan said that Trustee Christine Marshall, who was absent from the board meeting, and the village staff had met with SNYDCP representatives and recommended the board’s resolution. The new plan alleviates the need and cost for the village board to audit employee contributions to their retirement funds, Gaughan said; and

— Authorized the Altamont Fire Department to submit a sealed bid of no greater than $17,000 for a used Chevrolet Tahoe, to be used as a chief’s vehicle.