KINDERHOOK–The village will not host ice skating this winter but it will have sewer lines, according the Village Board, which met Wednesday, January 8.
The sewer project, which will bring sewer connections to the main streets of the village, was in peril after the bids for construction came in over the proposed budget. Though the total project is expected to cost $941,802, made up of grants and $231,000 borrowed by the village, the construction costs need to come in under the total amount since some of that money had to go to engineering costs and other expenses. The 10 bids that came in December 16 were between $826,000 and $1.4 million.
Mayor Carol Weaver said she met with the representatives from the state about grant money before the January 8 meeting. “To my amazement they agreed to increase our grant,” she told the board. The state is increasing the grant to by $295,000 making it a total of $580,000. The mayor also said there may be money in another state grant coming to the village that she will know about at the end of this month.
“I was relieved when I heard that,” said board member Rich Phillips of the added grant money. “Your hard work has been really something,” he told the mayor.
The project will connect just over 30 properties in the B1 business district of the village to the Valatie Wastewater Treatment Plant, and Clark Engineering, the firm that designed the project, is reviewing references for the lowest bidder, Casale Construction Services, Inc. Mayor Weaver said the board will award the construction project contract at the board’s February 12 meeting.
The grant money, which comes through the state, requires that 37 new jobs for people with low incomes be created in the village because of the project. “I don’t see any problem with us meeting the 37,” said Mayor Weaver.
The Dutch Inn plans to open once the sewer is put in and that should create several new jobs, said the mayor.
Developer Paul Calcagno, who owns several buildings in the village, said at the meeting that he plans to put a café in the storefront building currently occupied by Bagel Tyme after the bagel shop moves to Valatie this spring. The café will add jobs as will a German restaurant that will open in another building that he owns in the center of the village business. The German restaurant, The Flammerie, expects to offer at least five jobs.
Mr. Calcagno also talked about two buildings he owned on Broad Street near the intersection with Albany Avenue that burned down last year. He is rebuilding one of the buildings and said that he still deciding what to with the other one. “I want to put a building on 4 Board Street,” he said of the empty lot where the building stood. Both sites are along the route of the sewer line.
As for the ice skating, Trustee Brian Murphy said the village didn’t have a level area under the pavilion at Rothermel Park for the lining of the rink, so the board is scrapping the plan for this winter. Village Department of Public Works Superintendent David Booth has suggested next year the rink could go on tennis courts.
The next for meeting will be February 12 at 7:30 p.m. in the Village Hall. The board will hold a public hearing at 7:15 p.m. that night to discuss a local law allowing the board to override the 2% property tax cap if it needs to.
To contact reporter Emilia Teasdale email eteasdale@columbiapaper.com.
