Gilboa Changes October Meeting Date

By Liz Page

GILBOA – The town highway crew was expected to pave Wyckoff Road last week and move on to chip sealing other town roadways in the town of Gilboa and town council members approved the close out of the project on the town highway garage during their regular meeting on Monday.

After a conference call that involved the town highway superintendent, town supervisor, designated council members and the town attorney with the contractors and material suppliers the town board approved the final payment and change orders on the project of $44,981. The town had questioned frost along some of the seams in the newly installed siding. After consulting, it was determined that altering the original installation process would negate the warranty.

The town is now preparing for a project at the sand/salt shed, which is expected to begin later this month.

The cost of paving Wyckoff Road will be shared, 50-percent, by Schoharie County. It has served as a detour around the closed area of county-owned Flat Creek Road for three years. Flat Creek Road has been repaired and is open, but still needs a culvert installed. The culvert is expected to arrive in late October. It is unknown if that will be too late for installation this year.

Supervisor Alicia Terry reported that South Gilboa Road is expected to reopen later this month.

She also reported that the tax exempt bond funding application for the Camp Oorah's girls division, will be reviewed and decided at the Sept. 25 meeting of the Schoharie County Capital Resource Corporation. She said a transcript of the public hearing is now available to the public at the town clerk's office.

Due to Columbus Day, the next town board meeting will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 6:30 p.m. in the town hall.

Board members also set a budget workshop for Oct. 20 at 8:30 a.m.. The budget hearing will open at a special meeting on Nov. 6 and will remain open through the regular meeting on Nov. 10. A public hearing on the Gilboa Fire Protection District will also be held on Nov. 10.

Supervisor Terry said work on installing fiber optics will begin in the southern end of the county, to provide service to areas without any service.  A current lack of EMS personnel is responsible for the lack of an ambulance being staged at Blenheim by the county.

Before adjourning the meeting, board members closed a public hearing on a NewYork City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) proposal to purchase 517+/- acres of BARI Valley Farm LLC, property along Road Seven and state Route 30 for watershed protection. The town is requesting that all easements to the property be honored, because it is located in an area where NYSEG electric lines are often affected, creating outages and that it remain open to recreational uses, such as hiking and hunting, as well as existing agricultural uses.