Euvrard looks at alternatives to Mechanic Street project

AMENIA — At Thursday’s Town Board workshop meeting, the board discussed ways to save the long-delayed Mechanic Street project, with town Supervisor Wayne Euvrard suggesting the installation of a concrete sidewalk in lieu of the complete project.

Last month, the board rejected the lowest bid for the project, which came from Marquee Landscaping of Thornwood, N.Y., for $228,000. The maximum limit for the project had been set for $200,000.

The project, which was supposed to start last summer, includes sidewalk replacement, landscaping along the street and tree plantings to create a greenway around the street.

Mechanic Street is one of the trail heads to the Harlem Valley Rail Trail.

"We are dealing with a grant [which provides us with] $100,000 and I was prepared to borrow the other $100,000, but it’s gone over the original $200,000," town Supervisor Wayne Euvrard said at Thursday’s meeting. "The cost of everything just seems to be going up. They are blaming it on gas and fuel, but everything is going up."

Euvrard said he asked court clerk Dawn Marie Klingner to speak to local contractors about the project.

"I noticed that none of the local contractors bid on the project. They’re all from Kingston and Westchester County," Euvrard said. "Unfortunately, dealing with some of these [specifications] it’s hard for local contractors to deal with them. So I just wanted an informal opinion on how much it would cost just to put in a concrete sidewalk."

Euvrard said he received one estimate to construct a sidewalk for less than $30,000.

"It shows me that it can be done for a lot less and I have a lot of trouble spending the town’s money when I can shave $97,000 off of this project," Euvrard said. "I know we have had prior costs on this project including consultants and engineering, but I’m trying to work with [grant writer] Mike Hagerty and [Attorney to the Town] Michael Hayes where we can bid this out in a format where we can get it down to under $40,000."

Councilwoman Vicki Doyle said she is concerned about throwing away money that was spent by the town to develop the project. Doyle said she is also concerned about reinstalling the sidewalk in the same way that it was originally installed.

"The problem with the current sidewalk is that it’s lower than all the surrounding properties, so water goes down into the sidewalk and it becomes a skating rink," Doyle said. "It also breaks up the concrete with all the freezing and thawing. People have put driveway layers on top. It’s quite a big job to even all of that out."

Euvrard said the project would need to go out for another round of bidding no matter what form it takes. Doyle said she would try to conduct further research into options for the project.

"Oversight is very, very important where somebody qualified takes a look at it," Doyle said. "We had Wassaic lights installed and they’re ready to fall down. We’ve had lighting in Fountain Square but we had no lights for Christmas. Just because we’re paying money, we have to do it right. I would rather have no sidewalk go in if it’s going to get flooded."

A discussion on the project is on the agenda for tonight’s Town Board meeting at Town Hall at 7 p.m.