KINDERHOOK – The Kinderhook Fire Department is hosting the county Firefighter’s Convention this month and parts of Route 9 and several streets in the village will be closed for the parade on July 26 for an hour or so.
First Assistant Fire Chief Larry Eisen told the board about the plans to close the street and the events that will take place during the convention at the July 9 Village Board meeting.
Events associated with the convention will be going on throughout the Friday and Saturday of the gathering, but the streets in the village would only be closed for an hour Saturday, the day of the parade, Asst. Chief Eisen said. Over 30 fire companies have signed up to march in the parade.
“The best we can hope for is that it’s not a big a mess,” he told the board.
The parade vehicles will line up on Albany, Sunset and Railroad avenues. The line of march will follow Albany Avenue to Broad Street, which is Route 9, turn on Eichybush Road and end at Rothermel Park, where the trucks will park. There is a parade route map on the fire company’s website at www.kinderhookfiredept.org and village officials plan to post information on the village website, www.villageofkinderhook.org.
“Events are rain or shine,” Asst. Chief Eisen told the board.
The board talked about getting the information out about closing the main roads for the parade and also about closing Hudson Street August 2 for a Kinderhook Business and Professional Association (KBPA) evening event. The event, called Dancing the Street event, drew 300 people and the village green was packed last year, said KBPA representative Renee Shur. She asked the board to close the street for the event for safety and space.
The board agreed and Asst. Chief Eisen said the fire company would help reroute traffic for the August 2 event.
Before the meeting, the board also opened construction bids for the repairs on the Village Hall roof. Trustee Bob Puckett said the board received three bids ranging from $290,000 to $510,000, and that the board would spend the next week looking in more detail at the scope of work in the proposals. The board has scheduled a special meeting on Thursday, July 17 at 6 p.m. to award the bids.
The board also heard an update on the wastewater collection project, a major construction project in the village that will connect several buildings in the business district to the sewer treatment plant in Valatie.
Project manager Jim Dunham said that it could be “two to three weeks before hooking people up” to the system. The project is being funded by state and federal grants. Several property owners had to grant the village easements for the work. Mr. Dunham said only one property owner, Michael Devine, has not signed an easement agreement. “We’re working on that,” he told the board.
The next meeting regular will be Wednesday, August 13 at 7:30 p.m. at the village hall.
To contact reporter Emilia Teasdale email eteasdale@columbiapaper.com.
