By CRAIG FREILICH
North Country Now

POTSDAM -- A manufacturer’s recall of valves needed in the village’s $1.6 million wastewater treatment plant renovation will probably push back the anticipated completion date of August into the fall.

“It’s an assortment of valves, and it affects several different areas” of the complex project, said Village Administrator Greg Thompson in his report to the Board of Trustees on Monday.

“It brings to a halt several parts of the project,” Thompson said Tuesday morning. “It’s not at a complete standstill, but it’s a delay,” Thompson said.

The recall and the delays in some sections of the work has forced general contractor Blue Heron to put off bringing in some workers and releasing others for the time being.

“The contractor had hoped to enlarge the workforce over the winter,” Thompson said Tuesday morning.

“I’m cautiously optimistic” the valve replacements will arrive soon and that work in those areas can resume “in the next several weeks,” he said.

Thompson said the delay means the project will probably continue past its original August completion date into November or December.

“That’s really not bad in a project of this magnitude,” Thompson said.

He said electrical and heating and ventilation work “is not so dependent on those valves” and is moving along nicely.”