State comes up with $100 K for Shelter Island infrastructure

New York State will grant the town $100,000 to help pay for replacing the roof of the Medical Center and resurface the parking lots at Town Hall and Police Department headquarters.

Supervisor Jim Dougherty announced on September 17 that a “State and Municipal Facilities Program” grant had been awarded for the amount.

At a Town Board work session in July, Department of Public Works Commissioner Jay Card Jr. identified the Medical Center’s roof as a project that should be addressed soon and estimated the cost to be somewhere north of $30,000.

At the same meeting, Town Clerk Dorothy Ogar mentioned the parking lots at town hall and Police Department headquarters, both described by Mr. Card as “terrible.”

The $100,000 in state money will not completely do the job, Mr. Card said Friday.

The work will include re-configuring the entrance/exit at Town Hall off Route 114, re-landscaping and drainage, Mr. Card said Friday. New drainage will also be required in the Police Department lot.

The actual cost of the projects could be as high as $200,000, Mr. Card said, and the state grant will only cover the cost of materials.

“We’re going to use [the state money] right to the number,” Mr. Card said. “I don’t think there will be any money put in the budget to do these projects, so we’ll use all that state money as far as it will stretch.”

Mr. Card noted that if, for example, there’s no money left from the grant for landscaping, “I’ll try and find it in another budget.”

He added that “we’ll have in kind services doing a tremendous amount of work ahead of time.”