Wayne County Life

   “Beardsley hasn’t performed the job in a timely manner,” said Supervisor Dick Colacino tonight, “especially the restoration work. There have been problems all along.” Town Board Member Bruce Nielsen suggested that board members make a drive-through of the project with project engineer Al Barber, and form their own checklist of things that need to be done.

   Colacino said the town would withhold final payments until everything is satisfactory. But the frustrating news is that a pumping station for Blue Cut Road, a station that would raise water volumes in case of fire, has not been installed and may not arrive until a week from now – at least a month past due. Any delay in the installation and approval of the pump station could affect the financing of the project. “It could cost us money in the end,” said Colacino.

   The good news is that Arcadia road crews have spent some time smoothing out some of the hoop-de-do undulations of North Main Street (Rt. 88) in the village of Newark.

   “It may be a year or two before the major reconstruction of that street,” said Arcadia Highway Superintendent Dave Harder. “Meanwhile, the road continues to unravel and create difficulties for motorists.” The work done, Harder said, is “a 75 percent improvement over what was there, especially in the southbound lane coming into the village.”

   He said the work done “should make a marked temporary improvement and ease the complaints and the driveability. It’s a win-win for the village. If the work comes out lousy, they can say ‘The town did it.’ If it comes out well, they can say, ‘It was our idea.’”

   The board also discussed other topics:

   “I went on every road with him where people can’t get service…he didn’t give me a lot of hope,” Colacino said. There are businesses in town that need high-speed internet access to file taxes and to remain competitive, he added.

   Colacino then said the official offered a partial solution – the town could refund the franchise fees to Time-Warner, who would then consider using that money to expand its service to more roads in Arcadia.

   “You can’t do that,” said Town Attorney David Saracino. “It’s not legal. It’s an unconstitutional gift of public monies.”

   Colacino said he told the Time-Warner official, “You should be expanding your system every year as good business practice.” He then told the board, “There are other cable companies who can come in here and do business.”

   The promised funding disappeared when Rural Development changed how it calculated rural populations, making Arcadia ineligible for funds when the Newark population was added to Arcadia’s.

   Saracino said the town stands poised with all documentation prepared and ready for submission if the funding window reopens. “We’re ready to go to bid on this,” he said.