By RUSSELL JONES
Selectboard appointments were handed out at the meeting before the board went into executive session to discuss personnel matters on Wednesday night, the day after residents agreed to a new sewer system for the village.
On Town Meeting Day, residents in Pittsford elected to pass a $970,000 sewer bond. The bond will replace two old pumps and merge them into one pump as well as replacing nearly a half of a mile of old sewer pipes.
“The sewer bond passed by a pleasantly healthy margin,” Town Manager John Haverstock said.
The project could cost up to $970,000, though Haverstock does not think the town will see the cost rise that high because of several factors.
“Along with competitive bidding, there is funding available from the state, with low or no interest loans,” said Haverstock. “We are also in talks with the federal government. There is a package of loans and grants under the USDA rural development program, which we have used in the past, where 30 to 40 percent of the costs could be grant-funded. We’re optimistic that the actual cost to the town will be far less than $970,000.”
Haverstock was not available for comment this week, so details of the project’s start date and a timeline for the construction schedule will be discussed at a later date.
In their first meeting since Town Meeting Day, the Pittsford Selectboard welcomed new member David Mills to the board and re-elected Tom Hooker and Hank Pelkey as chair and vice-chair respectively. Former selectboard member David Trombley chose not to run for re-election, so Mills ran unopposed. The board chose to keep The Reporter as their newspaper of record. The next meeting of the selectboard will take place on Wednesday, March 20.
