Richmondville To Apply For $500,000 In Grant Money

By Chris English

RICHMONDVILLE — The Village of Richmondville is making a bid to leverage a large chunk of money into more.

After a briefing from Engineer Brendon Becker, the Board of Trustees at its Monday, Aug. 25 meeting voted to apply to the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation for $500,000 in grant money. If it comes through, that money will be matched by $500,000 from the village for a total of $1 million that can be used for various improvements in the village, including but not limited to expansion of the sewage treatment plant.

The village's match will come from a $1 million one-time payment from the Town of Richmondville as a buy-in fee for the village treating sewage that will come from a big $12-13 million project to expand the town sewage system, a project that will include bringing public sewer service to Warnerville. Town officials are hoping that project will go out to bid soon, and Becker said Monday night the village should be getting one chunk of the $1 million this year and the other chunk next year.

He added the grant application is due in September and emphasized the village is not guaranteed to get the money. Also approved Monday night was a State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) resolution regarding improvements to the Village Wastewater System, stating that such improvements will have no significant environmental impacts.

Also part of the process if the village gets the grant is a bond it will have to float to receive money before grant funds come in. In view of the tight time frame, that bond will have to be considered at a special meeting next week. If Village Attorney Michelle Storm is not able to do the bond, the bond counsel for the Town of Richmondville should be able to do it, Becker said.

He told the board Monday night that applying for a full $1 million grant and matching it with the full $1 million payment from the town might make for a stronger application, but Village Mayor Carl Warner Jr. preferred the $500,000 and Trustees Robert Hyatt, Lisabeth Kabel and Jennifer Golden felt the same way.

In other news from the Aug. 25 meeting, Golden gave what she felt was an encouraging report on this past season at the village swimming pool, despite the fact that it was forced to close about three weeks earlier than normal, on Aug. 10, because of a lack of lifeguards.

Golden said the pool was open for a total of 37 days this summer, with a total of 1,176 people signing in and a high one-day attendance of 56.

"That's very good," Golden said. "I didn't know more than 1,000 people used our pool."

Everyone agreed the lack of lifeguards is an issue and among the ideas gone over again to improve the situation was the village paying fees required for lifeguard training ahead of time instead of reimbursing lifeguards, and doing more marketing and promotion of the position by various methods. Warner added he would like to see lifeguards WSI (Water Safety Instructor) certified so that swimming lessons can start up again. There were no swimming lessons at the pool this summer.

"I told the lifeguards who worked this summer that they did an awesome job," Village Clerk-Treasurer Jenifer Fisher said.

Golden further reported that an arts and crafts program run at the Firehouse for three weeks this summer drew six or seven students every day.

Julie Pacatte, Executive Director of the Schoharie Economic Enterprise Corporation (SEEC) dropped in on Monday's meeting to help highlight for the village board services available from the Mohawk Valley Economic Development District (MVEDD). Several representatives from MVEDD visited the village municipal building recently and spoke with Fisher, Village Department of Public Works Director Eric Jones, Pacatte and others.

Pacatte said MVEDD is a federally funded agency that can provide help within the six counties of the Mohawk Valley, including Schoharie. She said she believed the MVEDD would initially be able to provide help to the Village of Richmondville by funding most of the cost for the village to update its comprehensive plan, something that hasn't been done since 2006.

Another strong possibility is the MVEDD helping the village obtain a Community Development Block Grant that could fund various improvements, including to the village pool, Pacatte added.

"Those would be two priorities," she said. "They (MVEDD) have a ton of knowledge and a great staff, and have expanded their services to steer you in the direction of things that matter most to you."

Kabel said she would be willing to help on a comprehensive plan update. There was discussion on whether the village should do it on its own or do a joint plan update with the Town of Richmondville, with Warner saying a joint effort would be able to take advantage of more people helping and more resources.

In his DPW report, Jones mentioned that he had spoken with someone who might be interested in purchasing a 12-lot parcel on Brooker Hollow Road and possibly funding needed water and sewer improvements that are a requirement for more houses being built there. Jones said three have already been built, with the potential for nine more.

Jones said he advised the person that if he wanted to pursue the matter, to come to a Board of Trustees meeting and talk to the full board about his possible plans for the land.

Village Building Code Enforcement Official Jesse Wilcox said in his report that the owner of a pig being kept as a pet on River Street said he had gotten rid of the animal. The animal was being kept in a fenced-in area, but pigs are not allowed as pets in the village.

"He has told me the pig was gone before and not done it," Wilcox continued. "If I see the pig again, I will write him a ticket."

Richmondville Power & Light Director Tim Smith reported that he got a price of $57,000 to $58,000 from Ford on a new hybrid pick-up truck and is waiting on a price for the same thing from Toyota.