HORTONVILLE — The Town of Delaware discussed sewage permits for the Bnos Rochel camp in Kenoza Lake, the ongoing water main project in the hamlet of Callicoon, and the state of limbo for the Job Corps building, which Supervisor Scott Dubois said accounts for approximately 80 percent of the sewer district budget. 

On Wednesday June 11, Building Code Enforcement Officer Kristoffer Scullion said, “Revenue is comin’ in pretty good… I just hit 49 or 50 building permits yesterday for June,” some of which were on River Road and in Kenoza Lake. Scullion said, “I visited the [Bnos Rochel] camp today. I was up there for a couple of hours because they’re doing a lot of renovations trying to get ready for the end of June again... they are putting a lot of money into it - millions. They paid off all the fire alarms from last year, their false alarm fines.” 

Scullion said the camp has their State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) Permit in place for their septic system and said they are scheduled to appear at the Planning Board next week for a public hearing on their annual Conditional Use Permit (CUP).

Town Clerk Tess McBeath reported, “The farmer’s market in Callicoon is celebrating 25 years of success. That partnership worked out really well because we let them use it and they maintain it.” 

McBeath said the Delaware Youth Center athletic court project is finished and  “Northeast Paving and Sealcoat did a beautiful job.”

Engineer Bill Brown said, “Construction is underway on the water project in the hamlet and all the water main is installed, all the services are installed with the exception of the line to go underneath the railroad tracks [between] upper main and lower main street. We’ve been working with the railroad to get the permit in place- it’s been a process but I think we’re at the end of that.” Brown said once the permit is in they can install the railroad crossing, which is the last of the water mains to be completed.

Brown said, “The Well House [behind the Youth Center] is being constructed, the building is going up and we’re working on interiors and getting it painted. The light pole that the town approved last month has been installed, so that will help us get the electric service hooked up.” Brown said they have six water meters left to be installed and that he hopes to be done with them in the next month.

Town Supervisor Scott Dubois said they penned several letters to state representatives about the tentative closing of the Delaware Valley Job Corps- “it’s a big deal for us because they’re probably 80% of the sewer use…. It looks like for now, they’re gonna stay, for how long, I don’t know… if Congress [cuts funding], there goes eighty percent of our [sewer district] budget. I don’t know how that plays out and I’m hoping it doesn’t. If it does then we obviously have to shrink operations.”