HORTONVILLE  — The Town of Delaware celebrated the results of their cleanup events and discussed ongoing infrastructure projects at their monthly meeting on Wednesday, May 14. 

Town Clerk Tess McBeath reported that the Upper Delaware Council (UDC) Litter pluck was a huge success; she said the UDC provided t-shirts and equipment and that the crew of 23 volunteers collected 28 bags of trash in total. McBeath said the shred event disposed of 1,780 lbs. of shredded paper material. She also asked the board for their approval of shutting down lower Main Street in Callicoon for the Callicoon Country Fair on July 26, to which the board unanimously gave their approval.

Building Inspector Kristoffer Scullion reported a new tiny house on wheels that showed up without any permit or approval from the planning board; he said it was already hooked up to water and sewage and had skirting running around the perimeter. Scullion approached the owner, who called the house an ‘RV’ but had not filled out any paperwork or applied for any permits. Scullion said he’s planning on meeting with the owner in the next week to discuss building plans and permits so everything is up to code.

Engineer Bill Brown said “construction is underway on the water project. The bulk of the water mains have been installed with those being at the wellhouse itself down behind the youth center.” 

Brown said 300 feet of pipe has been installed and tested on 17B and they are starting to hook up water service there now. 

“They’ve started installing the water main on Upper Main Street, so one section of that is installed and we’re in the process of testing that right now,” he said. “We are still waiting for a railroad permit to come through, as soon as that comes through we’ll be going under the railroad, and that’s the last section of water main to be installed.”  Brown said he is “trying to make the system better so we don’t have water main breaks in the future.” 

Brown reported that there were still 16 properties that needed to have a new water meter installed and stressed that the cost of the installation was built into the project. However, if the homeowners continue to refuse to allow the installation, they will have their water shut off and have to pay out of pocket to restore water service and have the water meter installed at their own expense.