LEGISLATURE STUFF - Happy Money

CATSKILL - Money was moving in a jolly direction for a change when the Greene County Legislature recently held its regular monthly meeting.

A long list of resolutions was approved, as usual, although there was a pleasant break from the usual bidding of sad adieus to dollars.

Lawmakers welcomed back $132,433.77 from $1.25 million previously set aside for restoration of the shoreline at Catskill Point.

The banks of the Hudson River were steadily eroding beneath the historic Freight Masters building and Maritime Museum.

And the underpinnings of a large warehouse that serves as a good spot for veterans memorial functions, weddings, banquets, etc. were similarly threatened by the venerable waters.

Minor repairs had been made over the years but it was decided, in the summer of 2022, that the day had come for biting the fiscal bullet.

“The damage goes deep down into the river,” legislature chairman Patrick Linger said at the time. “We have sent divers down and have determined this absolutely has to be done.”

Strong downstream currents and up-river tidal pressures had taken a toll on the river banks, prompting engineers to install a sheet pile bulkhead and geo-pile tie backs, also replacing timber pylons and tons of stone.

Work commenced as soon as crews from CD Perry, a marine construction and reparation company, could safely enter the river, last spring.

Most of the labor was executed from barges, using a large crane to ram 35-foot long sheet pilings into the shoreline with a “low vibration piece of equipment to protect the buildings,” the project manager said.

When the account was closed, including adjustments with contracts and engineering services, it showed the aforementioned remaining balance which lawmakers have reserved for future capital projects.

A similarly happy ending has come in the ongoing effort to bring broadband capability to every home and business in the county, the so-called Last Mile Project, a monumental task involving multiple vendors.

One of those vendors, Charter Communications, has advised the county they will not need their entire allocated amount to finish their section.

While those greenbacks came to the county in the form of Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, officials may reclassify them toward another eligible project.

“We had to have the funds committed by December 31, 2024, and we had that done, or so we thought,” Linger said in a recent phone interview.

“When we got the final invoices back on the broadband, we had a choice to make; either approve the ARPA funds under a different plan or wind up giving them back to the federal government.

“It was an easy choice,” Linger said. Lawmakers authorized the free dollars getting redistributed for the construction of a new Justice Center.

Lawmakers have committed $28.8 million to the Justice Center, a 3-story wing being added to the existing county courthouse that will house the district attorney and public defender offices.

As much as $25 million in serial bonds has been approved to finance that effort, and the $321,407 not spent by Charter Communications will be shifted toward paying off Justice Center debt.

County coffers were also enriched through the New York State Department of Health’s “Local Health Department Performance Enhancement Program.’

Greene County Public Health agency director Laura Churchill, in a letter from the State, was informed that “once again county participation in the program was strong.

“This year, 46 [local health departments] receive an award. Greene County participated, receiving a composite score of 5 and has been awarded a total of $20,286. Congratulations.”

Awards must be used to “support costs associated with Article 6 eligible services, the letter states, encouraging local health agencies to, “consider utilizing the funds in support of chronic disease prevention activities.”

Some examples of funding suggestions that can be promoted by the State are: Quick-build/pop-up/demonstration projects; Painted bike lanes, sharrows, and crosswalks;

Road, crosswalk and trail wayfinding signage; Planters, landscaping/other non-capital pedestrian barriers; Conceptual/Planning/Computer-aided

designs; Bus shelters/landings, bike racks/cages/fix-it stations.