Amenia Town Board reviews Trail to Train project status

AMENIA — For its first meeting of the month, the Amenia Town Board got updated on the status of the Trail to Train project and set a date for its budget meeting for the 2020 fiscal year on Thursday, Oct. 3.

All members of the board were in attendance. Since the board’s previous meeting on Thursday, Sept. 19, Town Attorney Ian Lindars said he reached out to A Colarusso & Son, Inc. — the company the town selected to construct a bicycle trail path extending from the hamlet of Wassaic to the Wassaic Train Station — to obtain additional information for the project. Lindars said he also contacted MTA Metro-North Railroad to get information about additional costs and was told he would be provided with an estimate. 

As far as hiring a project manager, which the town is mandated to do, Lindars said the board interviewed a potential hire before the evening’s meeting was called to order. Once the board makes a decision, it can figure the approximate costs entailed for hiring a project manager. Apart from that, he said everyone seems to be on board with the project, from the contractor to the engineer.

Budget date

In terms of setting a date for the 2020 budget hearing, Amenia town Supervisor Victoria Perotti said she wanted to see if the board could get a consensus for a date during the week of Sunday, Oct. 20, which would allow the board time to add any changes to the preliminary version of the 2020 budget. 

The board will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 21, to discuss the budget. A public hearing will be held on Thursday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m.

According to Perotti, the 2020 Tentative Budget is on the website, www.ameniany.gov.  It consists of what each department has asked for, which will be reviewed and likely adjusted at the 2020 budget meeting on the 21st. The second budget, with changes, is the preliminary budget, which will be made available on the 7th.