Village sewer fund gets $600,000 more

By Dan King

The Village of Whitehall has received another $600,000 to work on sanitary and storm sewer separation in its sewer system.

With this newest grant, from the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, money to support the village’s quest to fix its ongoing sewer issues rises to about $3.3 million.

Shelter Planning and Development, a Queensbury-based community development group, has worked with the village for funding and additional help has been received from State Sen. Betty Little and U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer.

“We’ve applied for a lot of grants over the past few years and failed to get any of them,” Mayor Peter Telisky said. “This year we tried a different strategy and we’ve got all the grants we applied for except one.”

The $600,000 small cities grant is intended for the repair of sewer laterals and adds on to a $2 million grant, a $740,000 loan, a $540,000 grant and a $100,000 grant, all of which have strict guidelines for use.

“Between Don (Williams, DPW Supervisor) and Bob (Murray), this hard work has really paid off for the village,” Telisky said.

The money that the village has received thus far will go toward the sanitary sewer system run by pump station five, officials said. This station services the areas around Mountain Street, Pauline Street, Elizabeth Street, Skene Street and Montcalm Avenue.

The $100,000 grant is the only money not designated to go toward the pump station five section of the sewer system; that money is designated for a water line out the Whitehall School Campus. Williams said that work could begin as soon as the school year concludes, while the other work will likely wait until the summer of 2016.

“DEC has been wonderful to the village and I hope the village and DEC continue to work well together into the future,” Telisky said.

The total sewer renovations are pegged at about $24 million.