Resolving the Hinckley mess

Local and state officials say the Hinckley Reservoir Working Group's final report due today will serve only as the starting point for examining issues related to this important water resource.

Here’s what state officials and representatives had to say:

* State Department of Health officials, who have been facilitating the working group, still were receiving input and finalizing the report Tuesday night, spokeswoman Diane Mathis said. She said she expects today's deadline to submit the report to Gov. David Paterson will be met, and the report will be made public.

*Paterson's office will review the report and release a response about how the governor plans to address it, governor's spokesman Jack Downey said.

*State Assemblyman Marc Butler, R-Newport, said the working group made recommendations about some key components of the situation, such as improving communication, but the report is just the first stage of fully understanding what should be done.

“I think this is only part of the puzzle — a very large puzzle that needs to be resolved,” he said.

*State Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-Rome, said he looks forward to reading the report and determining what issues were left unaddressed. The next step should be following through and preventing problems from occurring again, he said.