Watkins Glen begins steps for village water project

Watkins Glen begins steps for village water project

WATKINS GLEN--The Watkins Glen board of trustees has approved professional services for phase two of the village's multi-million dollar water system improvement project with Larson Design Group. Scheduled to cost roughly $12 million, by approving professional services, the village is much more apt to receive grant funding to help alleviate the village's financial burden for the project.
"This shows that the village is committed to go forward with the project by showing the engineering agreement... and an update on the progress of phase one...largely with permits in hand," said Greg Cummings of Larson Design Group.
Phase two would consist of rehabbing the Steuben St. water tank and pump station while at the same time replacing 34,000 linear feet of water main within the village. Superintendent of Public Works Terry Wilcox said that efforts will be made to target areas in the village that have been prone to repeated issues.
"We have certain areas of the village... where we are just constantly chasing break after break," Wilcox said.
Trustee Laurie DeNardo added that while it is important to address the water issues, she wanted to be cautious that other projects are taken into account while addressing the village water infrastructure.
"We don't want to pave our streets just to rip them up (a year later)," DeNardo said.
Cummings said the project would be designed in a way that it would not interfere with other projects but also so that multiple grants can be applied for to help pay for the cost.
"The approach is getting this second phase shovel ready so we can be competitive for the next round of grants...we are submitting multiple grants designed to fund the project over the course of the next year," said Cummings.
Cummings added it was also important to keep in mind that depending on how much money is made available through grants, the village can change the scope of the project before any final numbers are approved.
"Before we bid anything out we'll see where we are at with grants and see what the village is comfortable with and scale back if we have to on what we bid out based on the funding you are comfortable with," Cummings stated.
During the meeting, the board also addressed the recent request by the fire department for the board to look into the possibility of the fire department separating itself from the village.
Deputy Mayor Louis Perazzini explained this could mean they would form a fire district and allows for a separate line item on taxes for fire coverage. He cautioned they have only been asked to look into it and that if the board is against it, the issue will not go forward.
DeNardo added that before the board considers anything, the village attorney should go over the proposal first.