Help Schiebel continue helping Vernon Center

Who wants safe, clean drinking water? Seems like a no-brainer — everyone. Unfortunately, for rural households without access to municipal water, this question isn’t as apparent, especially when contaminants such as salt exist in the ground water and surrounding soils.

Vernon Center’s needs are as clear as a good quality glass of water. As compensation, some homeowners in the area already receive water from New York state. Still others struggle maintaining households with inadequate, undrinkable water. Thus, our Town Board and County Legislator Keith Schiebel are committed to efforts in developing a better water supply for the residents of the hamlet of Vernon Center.

County Legislator Keith Schiebel and the Town of Vernon have taken several steps collectively to rectify the water problems, but the process is a very slow one. Resident surveys, drilled well studies, geological reports, location maps, household income data and potential water district plans have all been compiled to document our needs and state officials have been apprised of our water issues. While documenting the problem and developing the remedy has been quite easy, securing funding for the project has been anything but easy.

In the past year, the Town of Vernon approved funding of $18,000 to contract development of an Engineers Plan outlining specific infrastructure details and costs of the proposed project. Included in the plan are projections of combined current and future water needs, taxes, topographical, and zoning maps, listings of other utilities in the designated area, and a host of other data critical to the project. Other documents required for the project include State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) documents, Smart Growth Assessment forms, bond resolutions for funding from the Town, and a State Revolving Funds (SRF) application.

Most recently the Town of Vernon appropriated $8,000 to Thoma Development Consultants to apply for state grants through various agencies. Be it Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), Water Infrastructure Improvement Act ( WIIA) grants, Individual Mobility Grants (IMG), Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) grants, or Clean Water State Revolving funds, our local officials are exploring all opportunities. Securing funding for the $6 million project is complicated and tedious.

This project is one of hundreds statewide that must compete in a limited pool of state grants and funding. Please consider re- electing County Legislator Keith Schiebel who has played a vital role in this crucial water issue. Without the help of County Legislator Keith Schiebel this project would probably have stalled with very little progress. It is imperative we continue moving forward and we need the passion, insight and expertise Honorable Schiebel has to offer.

The working relationship that has developed through local, county, and state officials involved has been invaluable. Nevertheless, through continued efforts we will continue to push forward. Perhaps not at the pace we’d like to see. After all, it’s not as easy as turning on the faucet to get a drink of water. By Randy Watson, Town of Vernon

Supervisor