1978-08-01 - Laserfiche WebLink

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A workshop session was held by the Board of Trustees on August 1, 1978, at 8:00 P. M. in the American Legion Hall to discuss the matter of development of the Wappingers Lake and the status of the Village's agreement with Ward Associates. Present: Mayor Synnett, Trustees Alfonso, Dolan, DiGregorlo, Schinella, Lawrence and Silvestri. Also present: Art Mittelstadt of Ward Associates, Village Attorney Lyons and Lake Committee members Louis Antonelli, Norman B~ault and Raymond Paggi. At the invitation of Mayor Synnett, Mr. Mittelstadt made the following preliminary statement: The agreement between Ward Associates and the Village is set forth in the consultant's letter of June 28, 1977, which was accepted by the Village. In his opinion all of the work covered by the first phase was performed. In ad- dition, after considerable unanswered correspondence with the Lake C~%~ittee and several phone calls, no decision had been reached on an application for funding, and therefore in order to keep the project going he had prepared and submitted such application to us. As far as he was. concerned, the consultants had done their job, and in his opinion the fee was minimal. The usual fee was $2500 for the first phase work. Trustee Schinella stated that when Mr. Ward had appeared before the Board his major selling point was tb~ assertion that the consultants could obtain Federal and State grants at little or no cost to the Village. Mittelstadt replied that 50% matching funds are required by law, and considerable discussion followed as to the source of such funds. The consultant pointed out that while retroactive funds or expenditures are not eligible, general revenue sharing funds could be used. It was pointed out that the Village's revenue sharing funds were committed to other uses, and both Trustees Lawrence and Schinella commented that Ward Associates had been chosen because of their reputation for obtaining approval of similar projects with- out major local expenditures. They stated that Mr. Ward was aware that the Village could make no major commitment of funds to the program. Trustee ~i~regori~ noted that he had not been on the Board when the original presentation was made, but inquired if Mittlestadt was inferring that the Trustees had given blanket approval for a plan they had not seen, and advance acceptance of an unknown cost. Mittlestadt replied that his firm had been instrudted to work with the Lake Committee, and that they did so to the best o~ their ability. He pointed out that there had been a breakdown of communications, and stated that he was willing to change or modify the plans if so instructed. Trustee Dolan stated that the proposed total cost of the plan submitted was $189,000.00 and the Village had no funds avail- able for a project of such magnitude.