By ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

CANTON -- The village is moving to secure up-front funding for a project to extend village water service to the Maple Hill subdivision along Tallman Avenue.

The village board has authorized Mayor Mike Dalton to accept a negotiated financing deal with Community Bank. The bank has approved the village to receive $1.25 million at a 1.5 percent interest rate, Dalton said at a recent village board of trustees meeting.

At the meeting, Dalton said the municipality has more than $500,000 in grants for the project, one of which is a federal grant, but that the village must put up the money for the work first and then get reimbursed by the grants.

The loan will be carried by the village for three years and then turned into a bond for repayment.

“The amount (of the loan) is estimated high,” Dalton said. “We believe that (the project) is going to come in under a million dollars.”

The mayor said the financing arrangement with Community Bank offered a good interest rate. “One and a half percent is very attractive,” Dalton said.

The Maple Hill subdivision is located along Tallman Avenue off Route 11 heading southwest out of Canton village, and across the Grasse River. The subdivision includes a Community Bank corporate office, and more than 30 residential lots, a few of which have houses on them. The majority of the undeveloped parcels are owned by LMS Enterprises of Canton, LLC.

The Community Bank facility, which has its own well at the site, employs more than 70 people there and has struggled with water-related issues for several years, including some minor flooding and a boil water advisory at one point. The building was constructed in the subdivision with the understanding that village water services would be extended to the site, according to a letter from bank administration to the town in 2014.

“They have a lot of problems with their water up there,” Dalton said.

Municipal officials at both the town and village levels have been planning the water service extension to Maple Hill and obtaining grant funding for the project for several years.

Dalton said at this point most of the engineering has been designed for the line extension. Tisdale Associates of Canton is handling the engineering for the line extension Dalton said, and core drilling samples have been done already.

The line will be carried from a main near the old water treatment plant close to the Canton Pavilion, then under the Grasse River and up the grade to the subdivision on Maple Hill.

Following a joint meeting of the town, village and village of Rensselaer Falls at the Rensselaer Falls fire station Monday, Oct. 7 regarding the plan.

The village board will convene at the Rensselaer Falls fire station Oct. 7 to discuss and consider adoption of a $1,250,000 bond resolution to finance the project. The board will also discuss and take action on a State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) study of the Maple Hill project.

The meeting will take place following a joint meeting of the town, village and village of Rensselaer Falls at the station to discuss the Comprehensive Plan. The joint meeting begins at 6 p.m.