MILLERTON — The Village of Millerton’s board members met on Monday, Jan. 13, to discuss the Eddie Collins Memorial Park’s pool project, which is moving full speed ahead.
Total grant funding for the project is now over $7.6 million after an additional $675,000 in grant money from the state. The aim is for the project to be completed in time to celebrate a Millerton milestone next year.
“They’re expecting to start construction as early as mid-July,” Mayor Jennifer Najdek said of the project which will hopefully coincide with the celebrations marking the founding of Millerton. “So we’re really tightening up as far as being ready for the 175th anniversary,” she added.
The Village is planning to contact multiple banks in the area, such as Bank of Millbrook and Bank of Greene County, which can handle large money needs and associated requests to fulfill this project. “We know that all of that seven million dollars will be reimbursed. My conversation is how I would like us to do a short-term BAN [bond anticipation note] for the park,” said Najdek. “That way, as soon as we get into construction, we have a cash flow there to keep everything moving.”
With the bond anticipation note, the Village must remain mindful of its constitutional debt limit since the reimbursement will come after paying for parts of the project. “It cannot be more than seven percent, a full valuation of taxable river property for the five most recent years, you can’t go over seven percent of that,” Najdek said, “So that puts us at $7,461,395. Now that includes other debt that we’ve taken out. So, actually, our debt limit now is $7,000,301. I don’t want to borrow seven million dollars.”
Members discussed the best way to borrow money to pay for the construction and keep the project on their desired timeline for next year. According to Najdek, with some of the programs and grants the Village has received, the payments can be matched, one being 50/50 and the other 25/75. “Say we submit $100,000, they give us $50,000 back … Up to $500,000 and they hold on to the last 20 maybe 10% … We need to spend the money first, before we can get any of that money back,” Najdek said. “If we did somewhere in the middle, we don’t know what the cost of this project is going to be. We don’t know if it’s going to stay right at the 7.56 or if it’s going to be 7.9.”
If the Village exceeded its debt limit, it would have to contact the state comptroller’s office to get permission to spend. “Here we are talking about borrowing money that is being backed by an actual grant that’s coming to us,” said Trustee David Sherman. “This is not something that is going to cost the taxpayer money. We know if we have to pay the interest on the short term ourselves, but nevertheless, it’s not going to be six or seven million dollars that is coming out of taxpayers’ pockets.”
The board is currently working on a budget which outlines the spending schedule needed to keep the pool maintained throughout the year.
“The next thing I am not entirely keen on is the proposed one year service agreement for the LED lights,” Najdek said, “If something goes wrong, it’s going to happen within the first year, but there are warranties on the equipment itself. There’s a one-year workmanship warranty for it. I am not inclined to move forward with this.”
This additional service would cost the Village $150 a month or $1,800 a year. However, the Village would be charged an extra 20% of the commission the contractor receives. “In RealTerm [Energy], if something goes wrong with one of our lights, RealTerm will engage a third-party electrical subcontractor,” Najdek said, “We have to pay commission on top of whatever that subcontractor cost is.”
The board members chose not to move forward with the proposal for the LED lights in the Village.
The Village Board will hold a public hearing on Monday, Jan. 27, at 6:05 p.m. on the 2025 Community Development Block Grant.
“This is for the upcoming year, new money available,” said Najdek, “Typically, we’ve done Community Development Block Grant for sidewalks in the past.”
Justine and Victor Valla in their studio with a painting of Victor’s,”Jonah and the Whale.” Robin Roraback 
