MALONE — The town board agreed on the expenditure of highway moneys for the current year at a meeting last Wednesday.
In total, the board agreed to put $590,575.20 toward general repairs on 6.14 miles of town roads.
Expenditure of highway moneys includes paving work on Wheeler, Clark and Low roads.
Highway Superintendent Mike Andrews said planned work also includes adding binder to Hicks Road.
“I really like the idea of what we started doing last year, picking a stretch of a dirt road and putting binder on it, that’s one less dirt road with we have to maintain with calcium, the grader and manpower,” Andrews said. “I chose Hicks Road with the Webster Street Road and up above with the Brown Road with water problems I think that will stop a lot of the springtime maintenance. Having to go back to Hicks Road a few times in the matter of week with the grader, because of the washouts we get up there.”
Scheduled work also includes adding gravel to Crooks Road.
“It’s all gravel, it needs that, there’s absolutely no material on that road,” Andrews said.
Andrews said work on Teboville Road includes 1.69 miles at a cost not to exceed $121,671.60.
“That is the complete road, if you want to cut back on that I am more than willing too,” Andrews said. “I don’t have a problem if we want to cut back on that, the blacktopping but still replace all the culverts because there are some severe culvert issues on that road.”
Work on River Road covers 1.5 miles, costing $155,758.
“A lot of that is the black top but there is also a pretty significant size culvert,” Andrews said. “That culvert is in rough shape, it’s an old box culvert.”
Andrews said he doesn’t believe any of the roads in the expenditure agreement require attention before the other roads listed.
“They all need some work, they all need some black top, need some culverts,” Andrews said. “It’s not like last year’s deal with Wheeler Road where I felt we needed to fix it before we lost it.”
Town Clerk Nicole Guerin asked how many houses need to be on a road before the town paves it.
“I don’t like to look at it like that to be honest with you,” Andrews said.
Councilman Terrence C. Maguire said he thinks it comes down to the quantity of traffic flow on a roadway.
“For me, it always comes down to traffic,” Maguire said. “We have had this discussion before, we have spent a lot of money on roads that don’t really get a lot of traffic, that’s what it comes down to for me, the amount of traffic, River Road, Webster Street Road, they bring a lot of traffic in and out of our community and they relieve pressure on other roads.”
Town Supervisor Andrea M. Stewart said it also comes down to how much maintenance unpaved roads require.
“The other thing is for the ones that are not paved, if you are spending a great deal of time on maintenance, with manpower and machinery, in any given year it can be offset by paving it,” Stewart said.
Councilman Jody Johnston asked if Andrews thought he could accomplish all the proposed work on the agreement this year.
“I met with all the guys at the garage on Monday, I gave them my idea, they felt we did it last year, and there’s absolutely no problem doing it,” Andrews said.
Town budget officer Denice Hudson said that when she met with Andrews during the budget drafting process she relayed the town board was comfortable with approximately $500,000 to $600,000 going toward paving.
Hudson said the town will be eligible for reimbursement through the state’s Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program, CHIPS funds.
Stewart said the town could entertain an amendment to pave additional roads if time and money allow.
“If they increase CHIPs in Albany we can always look at something else,” Stewart said, “I’d rather finish what we start.”
The town also scheduled a public hearing for 6 p.m. Wednesday on the cable television franchise agreement with Spectrum Northeast LLC.
The town board approved an agreement for the town to send $5,500 to the Malone Chamber of Commerce, as budgeted.
Maguire thanked the chamber for the work they have done in the community.
“They have really stepped up over the last couple of years,” Maguire said.
Additionally, the town board approved an agreement for the town to send $10,000 to the Malone Adult Center, as budgeted.
