The Stillwater village Board of Trustees has formally approved financing to pay for the installation of the long awaited water line project that will serve the Hillside water holding tank.

Trustees voted unanimously on Dec. 22 to issue $1,222,364 in serial bonds to pay for the water system upgrade, 60 percent of which will be financed through a $733,418 New York State Water Infrastructure Improvement Grant awarded in December, 2019.

Bidding and construction on the water line can proceed as soon as the closing on the state financing is completed, said Ed Hernandez of Adirondack Mountain Engineering PPC, the village’s engineering firm overseeing the project. Plans and the engineering report have been approved by the New York State Department of Health and the NYS Environmental Facilities Corp, and all environmental requirements have been met. The firm Barclay Damon LLP has been appointed Bond Counsel for the village in connection with the bonds and notes.

The project calls for replacing the deteriorating water line from the Hillside water tank down to Rt. 4. The supply line from the storage tank into the distribution system is more than 83 years old and consists of a 10-inch heavily corroded and tuberculated cast iron pipe. The line is approximately 4,840 feet in length and needs replacement.

Replacing the water line will put a wrap on a more extensive project which included replacing the outdated Hillside water holding tank in the fall of 2018. Demolition crews removed the old corroded water tank to make way for a new glass-lined tank. The old tank was in disrepair and needed to be replaced. The tank replacement cost about $325,000 and was paid for by reserves from the General Electric lawsuit settlement.

Though the water tank project was complete more than two years ago, the Hillside pipeline replacement had to be put on hold until grant money could be secured. The village had applied for other grants over the years to help fund the work but those grants were denied until the 2019 grant was successful.

In other business Dec. 22, Trustees approved the village’s annual Reorganizational Resolution and meeting schedule for 2021.

• View the 2021 Reorganizational Resolution here