County Puts Pressure on Adler Project

SCHOHARIE - During the County Board of Supervisors meeting on Friday, a finance committee motion sparked discussions surrounding the Alder Hotel project in Sharon Springs.

More than a year ago, the county ordered custom-made tarps with ARPA funds for the Greater Mohawk Valley Land Bank to use to stabilize the roof throughout the winter months.

However, despite their promise to install the tarps before this last winter, they have still gone unused and abandoned.

As the fourth motion of his report, Supervisor Alex Luniewski of Wright offered to withhold all payment made to the Greater Mohawk Valley Land Bank until the Alder project is completed.

This would cause the GMVLB to go unpaid for another project they recently contracted for, with the hope that it would be enough motivation for them to install the tarps as soon as possible. With the Board in agreement, the motion was passed.

However, Supervisor Earlin Rosa of Seward wanted to take it one step further. In order to really light a fire, he suggested that they give the GMVLB until April 1st before the county repossesses the tarps.

There were concerns about the tarps being paid with ARPA funding and repossessing would cause that money to bounce back to the state’s pocket, but Supervisor Rosa noted that they could allocate the tarps to another project, possibly for DPW’s use.

Supervisor Don Airey of Blenheim said that he would second Supervisor Rosa’s motion if the deadline was moved back to June 1st, and they compromised to May 1st instead.

However, Supervisors Ben Oevering of Schoharie and Harold Vroman of Summit thought that the motion wouldn’t accomplish anything, as Supervisor Luniewski’s motion effectively does the same thing.

When Supervisor Rosa’s motion was voted on, Supervisors Oevering of Schoharie, Hait of Jefferson, Haslun of Richmondville, Leavitt of Carlisle, Skowfoe Jr. of Fulton, VanWormer III of Esperance, Vroman of Summit, and Youmans of Middleburgh voted no, effectively defeating the proposal.