HUNTINGTON — A Special Town Meeting scheduled for Feb. 11 in Stanton Hall to discuss covering the costs for the Basket Street Water Main Extension project resulted in a unanimous no vote at the recommendation of the Selectboard.
The sole article at the meeting asked if the town would vote to transfer from available funds or borrow a sum of money for the purpose of funding the Basket Street Water Main Extension Project, to be reimbursed through an Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities grant.
Town Administrator Jennifer Peloquin said 25 people attended the Special Town Meeting, which met the quorum requirement. “Due to updated information from the state about being able to request reimbursements, the Selectboard recommended a no vote on the article since we don’t need the money now,” she said.
A lightly attended informational meeting was held on Feb. 4 from 6-7 p.m. to answer questions in advance of the Special Town Meeting.
Before both meetings, Huntington Board of Health Secretary John Bergeron said the water main extension project will hook up residents on Basket Street within a certain distance of a former landfill to town water.
According to Bergeron, the wells in the area of the former landfill are routinely inspected by Huntley & Associates. In April 2025, Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid was discovered in one well at a level higher than state EPA recommendations. He said in the past they were not checking for PFOS. “This is a new thing,” he said.
Bergeron said it was only found in one well, but the state is looking at a 500-foot radius to the landfill, which he said would bring in six or eight more homes.
Peloquin said hookups to all the houses along the new line were not allowable as part of the grant and are not being done at this time. The grant was only to extend the water line to connect to the house with the contaminated well. The reimbursement will be able to be received sooner for the work that was done after the grant contract date of Nov. 12.
“Until we got them on public water, I was delivering bottled water to them on a regular basis. It’s not done yet, and it’s costing us a lot of money,” Bergeron said, adding, “Even after this gets done, that’s going to have to be monitored again on a regular basis.”
“It’s something that really had to get done,” he said.
