HORTONVILLE – On Wednesday, January 14, Town of Delaware Supervisor Scott DuBois greeted new employees and looked ahead to the new year for one battle after another. 

“Happy New Year to all, I look forward to the new year,” he said. “[We have a] new board member, new town clerk, new highway superintendent, so obviously we’ve got a lot of new moving pieces.” 

During its reorganizational meeting, Delaware welcomed Town Clerk/Tax Collector Leila McCullough, Councilperson Matthew Mullally, and Highway Superintendent Christopher Hermann. Also new to the team are Planning Board member Matthew Kitson and Deputy Town Clerk/Deputy Tax Collector Gail Carbone.

Looking ahead to 2026, DuBois assessed the coming challenges, including the legal confrontation with the Millennium Pipeline, which has challenged each town’s assessment of its property along the pipeline’s corridor. 

DuBois asked the board for a motion to sign an agreement with law firm Harris Beach, who he said is representing Sullivan County against Millenium Pipeline Company, L.L.C. The board gave him full support with a unanimous vote. 

Another feat DuBois wants to tackle this year is to secure funding to build a protective structure for Delaware’s highway equipment. “I would definitely like to get some structure up there, of what size is to be determined,” he said. 

Engineer Bill Brown floated a possible solution: the United States Department of Agriculture offers grants for community facilities including highway garages.

Dealing with the sewer district will also be a steep hill to climb for Delaware this year. 

“We’re still working on the sewer, but the big question mark is what the government’s going to do with the Job Corps because they’re the largest user of the [sewage] plant and they’re the largest contributor of revenue,” DuBois stated. “It’s still a scary situation. I was told the other day that they’re down to 79 clients, so I don’t really know where that’s going to leave us—they’re a big question mark.”

 Despite these challenges, DuBois remained upbeat and celebrated news of new building permits from Code Enforcement Officer Kristofer Scullion. “It’s good—we get more homes being built, which is great, people are moving to the area and that’s the only way we can generate revenue,” he said.