HORTONVILLE – At the latest Town of Delaware meeting on Wednesday, November 13, the board heard an update from Engineer Bill Brown on the Hamlet of Callicoon water project. The construction of the project has been underway for the last few weeks with the contractor, Rutledge, installing a water main on Mill Street down to 17B as part of the initial steps. 

Brown said that they will likely be able to work for a couple more weeks along that stretch before being mostly shut down for pipework during the winter. 

“We will come back in the spring and finish up whatever we can get done on 17B,” he said. “And then work on Upper Main Street from Callicoon Proper.”

Brown also said that they have poured the foundation and the base walls for the new well house behind the Delaware Youth Center, which is adjacent to the existing well house. 

“That is progressing and we should be able to work on that over the winter,” said Brown. “And there is some other site work and piping work that is going to go on around in the vicinity of the wellhouse. Putting in the wells and depending on the weather, a lot of that can proceed over the winter as well.”

Brown also reported that about 80 to 90 of the 150 water meters required by the New York State Department of Conservation (NYSDEC) to be installed have been put in. He said that they will continue outreach with the contractor in charge of installing the meters, A. Treffeisen & Son, as a lot of businesses and homeowners have not responded to the installation scheduling requests. 

“Just want to let folks know that it is a formal request and it is not optional,” Brown said. “The installation of these meters is mandated by the state.”

Brown noted that they got an invoice from the general contractor, Rutledge, and the meter installer for work they have completed over the past month. He said the invoice from Rutledge was just over $313,613 for the work they have completed thus far and the ordering of a bulk of all materials for the job. 

The contractor is currently on-site, with subcontractor Wittcon working in conjunction with Rutledge, working on the well house behind the Delaware Youth Center. The electrician for the project is Vacri Construction based out of Binghamton. 

The Town Engineer said they received two invoices from A. Treffeisen and Son, one for September work and another for October for just over $33,500. 

“The process there is, once the board approves these invoices, they get forwarded to New York State Environmental Finance Corporations,” said Brown. “They go through them and once they approve them, they wire the funds to the town to then issue payment for the contractors.” 

Also occurring at the meeting was the Town Board approving its 2025 budget of $3,842,916.27, which saw a 1.84 percent increase from 2023. 

Notable increases to the budget were Real Property Taxes going from $512,136.65 to $602,012.47 and Employee Benefits increasing from $153,000 to $163,500.