Cobleskill Disputes Engineer Claims

COBLESKILL - The Cobleskill Village Board met at their village office last Friday to discuss last year’s sewer line replacement before moving to set a public hearing.

In the summer of 2023, the Village started to work with C.T. Male, an engineering firm based out of the Albany area, on installing new sewer plant upgrades. As part of this umbrella project, a smaller branch to replace certain sewer lines was approved and handled by contractor F.P. Kane.

While the contractor did good work, Village officials were less than impressed by C.T. Male’s presence, as both members Lance Rotolo and Larry VanHeertum cited seeing the engineer on site “stand around” or wait in their car for the majority of the day.

On top of the poor performance, Mr. VanHeertum said that C.T Male had overcharged on numerous occasions for the line replacement project, and they did not do their due diligence in protecting the Village.

Now, C.T. Male has asked for another payment for F.P. Kane’s work, which was unanimously disputed by those in attendance.

“If they think that Kane should be paid more, then they should write a check themselves,” said Mr. VanHeertum. 

However, Mayor Rebecca Stanton-Terk and several other members were hesitant to agree with the hardline stance, stating that they did not want to cause any bad blood with their long-time contractor.

A proposal was made to pay F.P. Kane the desired amount while seeking counsel, but the matter was tabled until the Village’s next meeting and no further action was taken.

In other news, the Village also set a public hearing for the Schoharie County Rural Preservation Corporation’s 5-Year Plan, which covers meeting the housing needs for low-income families.

The public hearing will take place during the Village’s regular monthly meeting for September at the Cobleskill Firehouse.