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By TOM WEIR Staff Writer MONTICELLO — A group of State Public Service Commission (PSC) staff members has urged the commission to force repairs and improvements in the water supply system serving the financially-troubled Emerald Green development in Rock Hill. In a brief filed in support of its motion, the staff recommended the Lake Louise Marie Water Supply Co. and Paul Pashkow, receiver in foreclosure for the company’s parent, Leisure Time Developers (LTD), be ordered to take three major steps: Implement a maintenance program sufficient to prevent further deterioration of the water system. Details would be subject to PSC staff review. Submit a schedule of repairs that will be made to the water system, including when each repair will be made, how much it will cost and how it will be financed. Immediately bring the company’s books and records into conformity with uniform systems of accounting. 'The unremitting deterioration of the company's water system ..jeopardizes the company’s ability to continue water services,'’ the staff said. Noting the water system is in poor condition, the staff observed that the company has no preventive maintenance program and no plans to make repairs. Pashkow’s attorney, Walter Gersten, said Pashkow was named receiver only for LTD and has no responsibility for the water company. Pashkow’s responsibility, he said, is ‘‘to conserve and manage the real property” of LTD. Gersten said the water company is a separate entity and has no real property. The PSC staff contended Pashkow is responsible under Public Service law. Thompson Town Supervisor David Kauffman, who made the staff brief available to the Times Herald-Record, called Emerald Green the town’s worst problem. The development has had troubles with water, sewage and roads. Last spring it closed its sales office with less than half of its 3,000 lots sold. This week, the State Supreme Court in Sullivan County ordered the sale of 11 lots and buildings at the development as a result of foreclosure proceedings by First Federal Savings and Loan Assn. of Port Jervis. ‘Maybe this (the PSC staff motion) will be a beginning,” Kaufman said. PSC staff counsel David Hecker, who signed the brief, said Wednesday any decision to impose the recommendations on the water company rests with the commission, and it probably will be a couple more months before a final decision is made. He said he doubted the PSC legally could force the town to take over the water works and set up a water district if the concern couldn’t afford to make any repairs that might be ordered. The staff motion was made after hearings on the water company’s problems were held in Monticelo Sept. 27, Nov. 7 and Dec. 18, 1974. In supporting its motion, the staff said testimony indicated that raw water drawn from Lake Louise Marie into the water plant bypasses a coagulator, which has been broken for about a year, and goes directly to sand filters which aren’t effective in removing the fine particles that the coagulator should remove. The filters are covered with scum and algae, the staff said. It added the system is likely to deteriorate further. High pH readings in some parts of the system indicate intrusion of some contaminants, but the source hasn't been determined, the staff said. High pH indicates the balance between alkaline and acidic components disassociated from water is tipped in favor of the basic components. The staff said water plant manager Harry Eisner admitted he hadn't located some valves, services and mains in the system and that bad valves in the pump station haven't been repacked or replaced.
Newspaper Details
The Times Herald Record
Middletown, New York, US
Thu, Jan 30, 1975
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Sullivan C.
NY, USA 22 Jun 2026
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