Aerial Shot of Cedar Creek
MINEOLA- On March 22, the majority members of the Public Works and Parks Committee and the Planning Development and the Environment Committee, completed a twenty-one page report to the County Executive about Cedar Creek Water Pollution Control Plant in Wantagh. This report comes in response to the February 25 Special Hearing about the facility, as reported in last month’s Express.
The primary findings of these committees were that there was failure to address known issues, failure to perform preventative maintenance, lack of training and certifications in areas such as confined space, inadequate supervision and most importantly to CSEA, a lack of personnel. The committees recommend to restructure plant management, implement mandatory confined space awareness and safety training and going forward to review staffing and implement a continuous hiring program, do periodic legislative review of all sewage operations, and review outsourced service contracts.
Many of these issues are interconnected, such as cutbacks in staffing levels resulting in preventative maintenance activities to be reduced or eliminated, according to the report. As reported last month, there are 81 workers at Cedar Creek with the budget calling for 100. A job for Sewer Plant Maintenance Mechanic Trainee, and Plant Maintenance Mechanic I was posted between March 1 and March 31. County Executive Ed Mangano announced at an April 14 press conference that 10 new hires were in the works and would be implemented in the next 4 to 8 weeks. He also said that $10 million would be used for new equipment at Cedar Creek.
New equipment includes two new belt filter presses, new roofs, and an update to the plant’s odor control system.
“This is a good first step. But there is still a long way to go. We still believe that a change in the management is necessary,” CSEA Local 830 President Jerry Laricchiuta said in response to the legislative report and Mangano’s announcement.
He finished by saying, “We do thank the Public Works and Planning Committees for taking their time to thoroughly review the health and safety concerns at Cedar Creek. This is something we have been fighting for 5 years. We look forward to witnessing the improvements at the plant, and seeing further steps take place.”