Permanent Building Inspector And Assistant Hired
At its regular monthly meeting July 20, the Petersburgh Town Board appointed Craig Surprise as the permanent Building Inspector, and appointed Nathan Michaels as Assistant Building Inspector. Surprise’s salary was set at $600 per month, and Michaels’ was set at $11 per hour.
[private]The Board awarded the bid for construction of the new bridge at Broken Wheel Road to the lowest bidder, which was Bette & Cring. Their bid was $1,156,055. This was slightly below the engineer’s estimate – he expected a bid of about $1.2 million.
The Board had two competing offers from bond counsel to float a bond of $1.5 million to pay for the construction. One of the firms was recommending a note rather than a bond. With no attorney present to explain the difference between the two offers, the board was uncomfortable choosing one of them on the spot, and agreed to have a special meeting later in the week to take action on floating the bond.
The Town will be reimbursed for most of the expense of the bridge, but they must pay the contractor first, and then be reimbursed, so they need to borrow enough to make those payments, and can pay off the bond after they receive reimbursement. The Town is responsible for paying 5% of the cost, so if the project costs $1.5 million, it would cost the Town $75,000 plus whatever they paid in interest on the bond.
Court Renovation
The Board accepted the bid submitted last month by Hoosick Valley Contractors, but removed several work items from it in order to keep the total cost under budget. The project is now ready to proceed as soon as the contractor can schedule it.
ADA Compliance
Supervisor Krahforst said he has accomplished a number of things that were requested as part of the mediation, and more work is planned. Handicap parking spaces have been marked out in the municipal parking lot. He said a new walkway must be poured for the entrance to the Town Hall, because the existing one gets knocked out of place by frost heaves every year, which makes it difficult to roll a wheelchair up it. The Board passed a resolution to allocate up to $4,000 for that purpose. The project will be put out to bid.
More Town Hall
Renovations
The Board also agreed to spend up to $2,500 to buy more energy-efficient windows to replace those in the east wall of the Town offices. Krahforst said the contractor who is replacing the windows in the new courtroom has offered to replace those five windows for $2,455.
Krahforst also said he has an estimate to do work on the Town Hall basement entrance for an amount not to exceed $3,000 so that the offices in the basement can be used.
Road Dust
Supervisor Krahforst said washed sand is being ordered for the upcoming winter season to be used on the paved roads in town, and he is talking with the County about buying at least one of their trucks that has a computerized sander, capable of controlling the amount of sand laid down far more precisely than the mechanical sanders. Krahforst said the Town must wait until the legislature approves a sale of the trucks before a deal can be worked out, but he expects the price will be about $15,000.
Dog Control
Constable Gerald Russell, who has taken on some animal control duties as part of his job, said he is averaging one to two calls a week on animal control issues. He has been looking around for a kennel that the Town can use for keeping dogs when he picks them up. He said the only permitted facility in the immediate area is Creekside Kennel, and he has not heard back from them about price and availability.
Russell also said he wants to schedule another meet and greet session to give townspeople another opportunity to meet their new Constable. He said he is planning it for Saturday August 22, from 10 am to 1 pm.
Park Improvement
Peggy Cottrell said she has held a meeting but is seeking more people to get involved with the park improvement initiative. She said the park clearly needs to be mowed more frequently than it is now in order to make it more attractive. She said there is some interest in a pole barn or gazebo to use as a gathering place, but that would require some ambitious fundraising. Then she added, “We’re going to need a line item in the budget.” /[private]