Conesville Eyes Possible Sale of Town Hall

New York State Electric & Gas Municipal and Community Relations Manager Arthur Klingler speaks during the Sept. 10 Conesville town board meeting.

CONESVILLE - With the hope of moving their town's meetings and operations to another location in the not-too-distant future, Conesville officials are taking early steps toward possibly selling the current Town Hall at 1306 State Route 990V.

The issue came up toward the end of the town board's Tuesday. Sept. 10 meeting and board members, without a formal motion, authorized Supervisor Bill Federice to talk to knowledgeable people about selling the building.

The early step is in preparation for the hoped-for move of town headquarters into the nearby historic Couchman House, a structure originally built in 1872 that Conesville recently purchased and is making renovations on.

"Most of us want to move Town Hall over there," Federice said. "I would like to talk to somebody about what we need to do to make it (current Town Hall) marketable."

He added it doesn't seem to make much sense to maintain ownership of the current Town Hall, also the location for local court. Renovations are ongoing at the Couchman House and are being funded with $65,000 from Conesville's share of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and a $42,000 donation from philanthropist Nick Juried.

Federice said the historic structure needs another $90,000 (an estimate) to make it fit for occupancy. He added the town has another $10,000 in ARPA funds that needs to be committed before the end of the year and could be used for replacement of doors and the garage door at the Couchman House.

In other news from the Sept. 10 meeting, Federice said that formulating the 2025 town budget will be the "most challenging budget we've ever had to work with" in his 11 years on the board.

"The biggest reason is inflation, big time," he continued and went on to cite rising costs for electricity, highway repair, employee salaries and benefits, and other areas.

"It's all unsustainable," Federice said. "We as a board will have to make some decisions, what we can trim while still delivering the goods for our residents. Taxes are going up. They aren't going down, that's for sure."

The town board will hold a public budget workshop meeting on Oct. 10 and a public hearing on Nov. 6 to go over the preliminary budget. Both meetings start at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.

In his supervisor's report, Federice _ who is also chairman of the Schoharie County Board of Supervisors _ said that the tentative county budget is $88 million but that county Administrator Korsah Akumfi and others are working "to trim it down."

Early in the meeting, New York State Electric & Gas Municipal and Community Relations Manager Arthur Klingler spoke for roughly a half-hour and also answered questions on how NYSEG operates, particularly during power outages and what the priorities are.

He explained that Conesville is served by the Grand Gorge 245 main line and "most of it is off road" and challenging to access. 

"We take outages very seriously," Klingler said. "Every outage is a nuisance, we realize that. We are customers too and we know what you're going through."

He explained that the vast majority of outages in Conesville are during major storms that damage or fell trees and cause them to interfere with power lines. Facilities like hospitals, nursing homes and homes with special care needs for its residents get priority during outages, Klingler added.

He urged everyone to be prepared if at all possible to get along without help for at least 72 hours in the event of a major outage. In answering a question from one resident, Klingler said he did not want to make recommendations on generators or other backup measures.

"I could tell you that you need one thing and it turns out you need something totally different," he noted. "But I do urge everyone to research backup measures and do what is best for you. Be prepared and be weather-conscious. Storms will not be any less severe in the years to come."

Klingler explained that NYSEG often gets help from its employees across the state during major outages and added during such occurrences employees work 17 hours on and seven hours off.

"We always try to accomplish restoration of power as quickly and safely as possible," he emphasized.

Highway Superintendent Ward Apgar said during his report that new full-time employee Marty Johnson has been on the job for two weeks and is working out fine. Johnson has many years of experience in both the public and private sectors and has an outstanding work ethic, Apgar said.