HORTONVILLE, NY — The first meeting of the year for the Town of Delaware town board, held on Wednesday, January 10, included talk about the town’s water.

The town is currently considering the public benefit of forming a special district for the public water system in the hamlet of Callicoon. Currently, the water system is privately owned by the Callicoon Water Company. The town is looking to take over the water system, and to do so will need to prepare a map of the special improvement district, a plan and a report. They also plan to make improvements to the current system. To do this, they enlisted the help of Delaware Engineering.

William Brown from Delaware Engineering was at the board meeting Wednesday night to update the board on the progress of the project, and to present a resolution to initiate a State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) of the water district project for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

The resolution to serve as lead agency for the SEQR process was passed with all in favor. Brown anticipated the SEQR process will go smoothly, as they are not breaking ground, but simply making improvements to the current water system. Those improvements include: the construction of a new well house with a new filtration and chemical feed system, replacement of distribution pipe and installation of water meters at all service connections.

The estimated cost is now finalized, and the water system’s 128 users may see a change in the rates to pay for the upgrades. However, this information will be made public, and residents should be able to review and express their opinions at a public hearing at next month’s town board meeting. The meetings are held the second Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. The board reviewed a timeline of the project prepared by Delaware Engineering and thanked Brown for coming to speak with them. At the end of the meeting, the board also thanked the highway department for taking good care of the roads during snow events and said they have received many compliments.