North East/Millerton shared Highway Garage wins grant

NORTH EAST — It was good news for a change in a year that’s had little positive to report when North East town Supervisor Chris Kennan announced that State Assemblymember Didi Barrett (D-106) helped secure a loan worth half a million dollars. The money will go toward building the new shared highway garage with the village of Millerton on Route 22, just north of the main traffic light, in the final phase of a project that has been years in the making.

‘A really big deal’

“This is a really big deal,” said Kennan the day after the grant was announced and a resolution passed at a Town Board meeting on Thursday evening, Dec. 10, to accept a proposal from CPL, an architecture, engineering and planning firm, to provide engineering services for Phase III of the project, the final construction phase. 

The first phase of the project was the construction of the storage building. That was bid out for $429,219, although the supervisor said costs could have changed as is common with construction projects. 

The second phase of the project was for the sand and salt storage building. The town accepted a bid for the construction of that structure for $557,000; again, that was just a pre-construction estimate.

The $500,000 grant will go a long way toward paying for what Kennan estimates could cost upward of $3 million, when all is said and done. The highway garage, which will be shared with the Millerton Highway Department, will include wash stalls, provide all maintenance capabilities, allow for equipment storage, include Highway Department offices for both the town and village and much more.

Barrett offers support

“This is an enormous help in bringing this to completion,” said Kennan, who added the town is continuing to look for other sources of funding, including from the county. “I should immediately say it’s thanks to the hard work and initiative of Assemblymember Didi Barrett, who nominated us for this grant, probably two or three months ago. That did happen pretty quickly. There are still many steps that one has to go through before we actually see the actually financial support.”

That’s because, as Barrett explained it, the grant is a reimbursement grant, which means the work must be done and the funds spent before the town gets the money. The grant itself comes through State and Municipal funds, making it a SAM grant. It’s a complicated process, going through the Ways and Means staff and processed by the New York State Dormitory Authority. Barrett said the project was likely favored because it was a joint services project, something “the governor has been encouraging,” she said, which she was “very happy to recommend and delighted for it to go through.”

The assemblymember added such joint projects don’t occur as often as one might think, and with Millerton and North East actually being adjoining municipalities, the logistics couldn’t have worked out better. 

“This is a natural fit for that,” she said. “And if you can get two municipalities to benefit from one grant, it’s a win-win-win. It’s a win for each of them and a win for the State of New York.”

“I cannot express enough my sincere appreciation to Assemblyperson Didi Barrett for her work to secure this grant,” said Millerton Mayor Debbie Middlebrook. “Without support in the form of grants from the state and the county, this project would not have been able to move forward.”

Taking advantage of rates

But it’s the town and village that are the real winners here. Especially the town, which is the municipality that’s pursuing the grants and in charge of construction and heading up the project. Kennan said he’s not wasting any time; he’s pursuing more funding options, as interest rates are at a rock-bottom low right now due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“At some point we’ll be looking to bond the remainder of this. One of reasons I want to continue to move as quickly as possible on this is that interest rates are very low,” he said. “The BAN [bond anticipation note] we have is at a 0.95% interest rate — we have bonds out at the moment at 3.5%; to find something less than a third of that is really great. Interest rates are low at the moment. That’s one of  the things I want to take advantage of. Interest rates have been fairly low recently, but COVID has made them even lower.”

The need is real 

And, of course, the current town highway garage, which is still in use, can’t hold out much longer. Located at 11 South Center St., Kennan said “the cinder blocks are coming apart” in the 100-year-old building, adding “it’s not tall enough for the equipment to come inside during the winter; it’s decrepit, it’s falling apart -— it’s inadequate.”

Even Barrett expressed concern about the building’s safety.” 

“The old garage is barely standing,” she said, adding it’s also an environmental hazard as salt from the salt shed leaches into the Webatuck Creek it’s adjacent to.

“I feel this project is moving forward at an even better than expected pace due in part to the strong efforts by former town Supervisor George Kaye and current town Supervisor Chris Kennan,” added Middlebrook. “Both understood the necessity of a new highway garage for environmental concerns as well as the need to replace a deteriorating physical building that no longer could meet the needs of our community.”

Nice to focus on the positive

When asked how it felt to be the bearer of good news in a year filled with so much sadness, the assemblymember said it was a welcome change. She clarified, though, that it was actually Kennan who called to tell her about the grant award.

“We’ve been so challenged on the front lines these last months, so I’m delighted to be a part of something positive and upbeat for parts of the community,” she said. “This whole experience representing my district has been so heartbreaking; all you want to do is help people and road blocks keep being thrown in your face, so it’s really nice to have some good news for our communities. He was so delighted — it was so nice to hear that.” 

Kennan added while shared projects like the joint highway garage are often “compelling,” they don’t always happen. He’s glad this one did, though, and said there are many incentives to pursue similar projects, including saving money and being more efficient. Fostering positive community relations is another.

“I think one of things I am really proud of is we have an excellent working relationship with the village these days,” said the town supervisor.

Middlebrook agreed working together has its benefits.

“I am a strong proponent of shared services when they meet the needs of the community,” she said. “As you know, the village of Millerton and the town of North East currently engage in a shared services program for the recreation program and the police department. Sharing space for a highway garage is just one more instance where these two municipalities have found a way to work together. I think it is important anytime government can find a way to share and conserve resources to the benefit of the residents and taxpayers in a community they have an obligation to do so.”