Grand Island: Water meter vendor chosen

‘Rolling quorum’ cited in fire contract negotiations

By Karen Carr Keefe

Senior Contributing Writer

The Grand Island Town Board has accepted the low bid as the best one for its high-tech water meter replacement project, upon the recommendation of Town Engineer Robert Westfall. The awarding of the contract is subject to legal review.

The winning bid was from Core & Mail LP of Lockport.

In his recommendation, Westfall said the Lockport firm provided “a more proven and reliable solution to leak detection” than the runner-up, as well as superior pressure monitoring.

Additionally, the private licensed radio frequency used by Core & Main “provided a stronger and more reliable system,” Westfall said.

Also on the evaluation committee to choose the best provider were Grand Island Grant Manager Elaine O’Neill and Water Department Senior Plant Operator G. Cody Clarke.

The new meters are scheduled to be installed in the first quarter of this year. The new system is designed to quickly detect a pressure drop at the source of the leak, cutting water loss and achieving far-greater efficiency.

In April 2025, a flat fee of $17 per quarter was added to each user’s water bill. Starting the fee early serves as a down payment on the costs of the meter project, according to Supervisor Peter Marston, who said that the town’s aging, failing water meters were overdue to be replaced.

The new water meters use a remote, wireless meter-reading process that allows the town to provide better customer service and reduce operational costs. That eliminates the need for a drive-by meter reading, Marston said.

‘Rolling quorum’ cited in fire contract negotiations

Council member Dan Kilmer clarified provisions of the state’s Open Meetings Law that apply to how public bodies conduct business. He said that, during recent contract negotiations with the Grand Island Fire Co., provisions of the law were not properly followed, thus constituting violations.

At Monday’s meeting, Kilmer said, “I want it said in public, and I think we need to actually work together as a board. And next time we get into negotiations, we should all agree – before one of us goes to meet with any entity – what our goals and objectives are, as (Council member) Rhonda Diehl said in her (opening) prayer. Let’s work as a board and let’s work together.”

Kilmer cited Public Officers Law, Article 7, of the Open Meetings Law. He said, reading from the law, that it requires that “any gathering of a public body for the purpose of conducting public business must be convened as an open meeting.”

“This applies even if the gathering is informal or not intended to result in formal action,” Kilmer said in the written explanation.

“A ‘rolling quorum’ typically involves members discussing or deliberating public business in a series of small groups, communications or sequential actions where fewer than a quorum participate at any single time, but the cumulative effect involves a quorum’s worth of discussions or consensus-building.”

Kilmer read, “This circumvents the requirement for a single, public ‘official convening’ of the quorum.”

The path to the pact

Marston said he met to discuss the fire company contract once each with Council member Tom Digati and with then-council member Christian Bahleda, in late 2025. Marston said the meetings did not constitute a quorum because, in a five-member town board, a quorum is three people, not two.

Two months before a Dec. 29 public hearing on the fire contract, a fire official said that the company thought it already had a deal for a 2026 contract worth $2.51 million.

In an Oct. 20, 2025, workshop meeting prior to the December public hearing, Fire Co. Board Chairman Jeremy Pullano told the Town Board that firefighters thought they already had clinched a contract with council members for a 28% increase for the following year.

Pullano said, “So, we negotiated a number in good faith, which we thought you guys were negotiating in good faith as well.”

Marston replied, “I was very clear that the whole board had to sign off on this.”

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IYE6eVv3v8.

Ultimately, on Jan. 5, the Town Board unanimously approved a three-year contract that gave the volunteer firefighters an 8% increase in their budget, a total of $1,800,360, for the first year of the pact, down from the 28% they had originally sought.

In other Town Board news:

•William Daniels asked the board to recommend an impact study to determine if a roundabout or a mini-roundabout is feasible at the intersection of Broadway and South State Parkway near Kaegebein Elementary School.

Daniels is the grandfather of Leah Mayer, who was struck and killed at that intersection on Sept. 11, 2024.

He said, “The police report states that the issue with the roadway is the width of the roadway, requiring five lanes to be crossed to successfully complete the crossing of the roadway. The second issue is that the lighting was extremely poor.”

Daniels said his online petition gathered 2,433 signatures calling for a traffic light and crossing signals at the intersection. He added that the Erie County Legislature last March unanimously passed a resolution to support a four-way stop there, but the state Department of Transportation rejected the idea.

Daniels asked the Town Board to pursue grants from all sources for the impact study.

•Town Board members gave kudos to new Highway Superintendent James Sedita and his staff for efficient clearing of the Island’s roads during the heavy snowfall, low temperatures and high winds that blew in early Monday and throughout the day.

“He’s off to a stellar start,” Council member Tom Digati said.

“The emergency response team was rather busy this weekend,” Marston said. “The Highway Department did a great job keeping everything moving. I think it could have been a lot worse for us than it was.”

Sedita quipped, “It was a piece of cake.”

He said everything went smoothly.