Major Richmondville Sewer Project Could Start Late This Year

By Chris English

RICHMONDVILLE — A multimillion dollar Town of Richmondville sewer improvement project could get kicked off late this year, Brendon Becker of Lamont Engineers in Cobleskill estimated at the Richmondville town board meeting on Thursday, April 3.

Becker, one of the main professionals involved in the project, made this latest estimate on the project's timeframe in response to a question from Councilman George Horning after the board had approved a resolution connected to the project.

"This fall, maybe August," said Becker when asked by Horning when the project might go out to bid. "My guys are still plugging away on design stuff, there's still some design work to do. We may start work this year, maybe get a couple of months of laying pipe in before winter. The project should be functional about a year after going out to bid."

Those estimates are later than the original hope of going out to bid and starting the project later this spring or early summer. The project will provide public sewer service to a large part of the town, including most of Warnerville, and it's hoped that it will encourage development and provide an economic and tax roll boost for the town.

At the April 3 meeting, the board for the second time held a public hearing and at the close of the hearing approved a resolution that increases the maximum amount to be spent on the project from $12 million to $16 million. Becker explained that the first resolution passed in May of last year was the result of one of the project's main funding agencies requiring a 30 percent contingency.

That resolution from last May was found to have some technical and format deficiencies and so the board approved a do-over that was essentially the same as the document approved last May, officials at last Thursday's meeting explained.

Town Supervisor Jeffrey Haslun has expressed the hope that the project's final cost will not approach $16 million but that the resolution was necessary to cover all bases. He said at the April 3 meeting that the town has secured $12,907,000 in funding for the project, including one grant of more than $7 million, another for more than $5 million and $500,000 from Schoharie County from its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) fund.

While the project might require some short-term financing, that will come at no extra cost, Haslun said. "The town won't be laying out any of its own money," he noted.

Town resident Steve Miller, who will be one of the beneficiaries of the public sewer service provided by the project, asked how individual homeowners get connected from the main lines to be laid into their houses. Becker explained that's often done by workers from the main contractor during their off hours but that a cheaper option could be doing it yourself if you're able, or having it done by a local contractor or knowledgeable friend.

According to the resolution approved last Thursday, the estimated maximum cost of the improvement project to a typical property owner who will benefit is now expected to equal $653.80 per year.

The project will entail "acquisition, construction and installation of improvements to the District, including but not limited to the construction of approximately 15,000 linear feet of collection sewer piping in addition to the replacement or rehabilitation of sewer mains, manholes, pump stations and other facilities," the resolution stated.

In other actions from the April 3 meeting, Town Clerk Maggie Smith said she has gotten calls complaining about students from Cobleskill-Richmondville High School and others bypassing the blinking red light on Route 7 near the I-88 interchange by "whipping around" Court Street at excessive speeds. Haslun said he would talk to state police, the Bucks County Sheriff's office and C-R District Superintendent Matthew Sickles about the situation.