Amenia allocates $20,000 for sewer report

AMENIA — The Town Board passed a resolution during its meeting on Thursday, Feb. 9, that allocates up to $20,000 for professional engineering services for the proposed sewer district.The figure of $20,000 was agreed upon by the board after Ian MacDonald, attorney to the town, shared an engineering estimate with the board.MacDonald drafted the resolution to allow the town to accept bids on an engineering survey that may not be reimbursed from the county.“There’s no authority for the town to spend money on a report for a county district, only for a town district,” he said.The proposal was drafted to allow the town to spend no more than the agreed amount on the survey and to take bids to get the lowest price.“It could be around $15,000 to $20,000. I would go with the high end for this resolution because then you will spend no more than that amount. If you do the low end at $15,000 and the bids come in at just over, then we have to do this process all over again,” he said.The only money actually being spent as a result of this resolution will be the fee to advertise for the bids.“We’ve come so far on this, I think it’s worth the cost of advertising,” Councilwoman Darlene Riemer said.Town Supervisor Bill Flood pointed out that much of the work already done on the project has been at no cost to the town.“The county water board has done a lot for free already. We could receive a large grant from this. I think it’s worth the cost of advertising to move this along,” he said.Councilman Cornelius “C.J.” Hoss and Councilwoman Vicki Doyle were also in agreement.“The small fee for advertising versus how much work has gone into this seems reasonable to keep this project moving,” Hoss said.“I agree. It’s a priority and this is a one shot deal for us, “ Doyle said.The resolution passed unanimously. The Town Board will be accepting bids for an engineering survey on the proposed sewer district.

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