Doug said   Especially with the possible liability that ALL of the STCC members might face if something tragic happened on canal embankments they wanted to keep "unsafe".


Oh! Yes, you're talking about CONSTRUCTIVE NOTICE I THINK.
 
That makes ALL STCC members liable in the event of a catastrophe, doesn't it? 

https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/constructive+notice

n. a fiction that a person got notice even though actual notice was not personally delivered to him/her. The law may provide that a public notice put on the courthouse bulletin board is a substitute for actual notice. A prime example is allowing service by publication when a spouse has left the state to avoid service (legal delivery of a legal notice) in a divorce action. The legal advertisement of the summons in an approved newspaper is treated as constructive notice, just as if the summons and petition had been served personally.


Everyone knows that the NYPA has said the dams are unsafe, so there's your Constructive Notice folks!