Bipartisan leadership in Troy to tackle lead pipes

TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Troy City leaders coming together to tackle the lead pipe removal problem. NEWS 10 was at the Thursday night city council meeting.  We have the very latest on what the city is doing to get rid of the tainted pipes. 

“This is a public health crisis, and it needs to be treated as such,” said a Troy resident at City Hall.

City leaders say they are motivated now more than ever to get the lead out. “We are committed to rid all pipes of lead throughout the City of Troy,” said Mayor Carmella Mantello.

“We are united in wanting to get the lead out of the pipes as quickly as possible,” said City Council President, Sue Steele.

The city was awarded nearly 13 million dollars in federal aid for the removal. However, they cannot use it to replace the privately owned parts of the pipes with that money.

In a bipartisan effort, city leaders voted unanimously to move forward. “We're asking the Attorney General, we're asking the State Comptroller, we're asking the State Legislature to declare a Public Health Emergency. We're throwing it out there, somebody please answer our questions.” stated Steele.

Mantello hopes New York law makers will listen to the city’s requests and “declares you know, Public Health Emergency and basically says you can use these public monies for private households. Absolutely.”  She says this move is a must to get the toxic metals out. “The idea is put the pressure on the legislative branch to get the Comptroller and the AG to essentially give us this letter of support that's all we're looking for.” She says over half the city has been accounted for. “12,000 households 6,500 have participated. So, I look at it from that end. But those other 5,500 folks were determined to hit those households. Like I said, we're using A.I. We're using everything humanly possible to get that number up.”

The mayor says the process will take some time but says they are ready to go, nonetheless. “When the council authorizes the bonding, the next step for them is for us, the executive branch, to then go to our bond council and sell those bonds.” The mayor also wanted to reassure the city that the water is not a problem in Troy. “We have aging pipes. Aging infrastructure.  We are an old municipality; we need to make it clear our water is great.” Mantello says Troy has successfully removed lead pipes from nearly 300 lines and she hopes to complete another 100 by this year’s end.