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Officials: County must rebid contract
By Francesca Olsen
The Columbia County Planning and Economic Development committee met Sept. 22, and director Ken Flood updated the committee on the status of a study to coordinate transportation between Columbia and Greene counties.
Greene and Columbia hired Soule Consulting Services for a coordinated transportation study, with 90 percent of the costs of the study picked up by the state of New York, Flood said.
The purpose is to eventually coordinate Columbia and Greene counties’ transportation services “so we can have an efficient, single county transportation provider,” Flood said.
An existing transportation contract between Columbia County and Coxsackie Transport expires Dec. 31. Flood said that documents with Coxsackie’s bid state the contract would be renewable, but “in the actual contract, it does not say that.”
Flood told the committee that he had consulted assistant county attorney Brent Stack and in their opinion, the county should go out to bid for a new 2010 transportation contract.
Columbia County received $370,000 from the state for new buses, but Flood was told they won’t be delivered until next June. The two current buses the county owns are getting older; one won’t pass inspection, Flood said, and the other has problems with its heating and cooling units. Both buses, Flood said, “have a couple hundred thousand miles on them.”
Bus maintenance “is up to Coxsackie (Transport) to fix in the contract,” Flood said.
The county also got $134,600 from the American Recovery Act for two new 15-passenger buses, 10 new bus shelters, 10 bus route signs, and four electronic signs to place on the buses.
“We should accept the grant -- but I’m not quite sure we should be accepting the buses,” since the transportation study is not complete, Flood said.
A resolution was passed in the committee to accept the grant.
In other business:
Flood told the committee he attended the Hudson Bottom Line party meeting with the state Department of Transportation and local representatives. “People are looking to me to kind of coordinate with the surrounding towns and the city to take a hard look at what alternatives there really are,” he said.
The county is also “very close” to closing their deal with Aerocity Wind Power, a new company that has agreed to locate their wind turbine manufacturing plant in Columbia County. The Columbia Economic Development Corporation (CEDC) granted Aerocity a business loan in exchange for the agreement.
Once it is fully operational, the plant would add 50 new jobs to the county.
“They have significant names in investment behind them,” Flood said. Among those significant names is NYSERDA, who gave the company a product development grant in the amount of $1 million to modify and improve upon vertical wind turbine design.
According to Flood, if Aerocity pulls out of the deal, “they will have to pay a substantial penalty” due to their investment from the CEDC.
Greene and Columbia hired Soule Consulting Services for a coordinated transportation study, with 90 percent of the costs of the study picked up by the state of New York, Flood said.
The purpose is to eventually coordinate Columbia and Greene counties’ transportation services “so we can have an efficient, single county transportation provider,” Flood said.
An existing transportation contract between Columbia County and Coxsackie Transport expires Dec. 31. Flood said that documents with Coxsackie’s bid state the contract would be renewable, but “in the actual contract, it does not say that.”
Flood told the committee that he had consulted assistant county attorney Brent Stack and in their opinion, the county should go out to bid for a new 2010 transportation contract.
Columbia County received $370,000 from the state for new buses, but Flood was told they won’t be delivered until next June. The two current buses the county owns are getting older; one won’t pass inspection, Flood said, and the other has problems with its heating and cooling units. Both buses, Flood said, “have a couple hundred thousand miles on them.”
Bus maintenance “is up to Coxsackie (Transport) to fix in the contract,” Flood said.
The county also got $134,600 from the American Recovery Act for two new 15-passenger buses, 10 new bus shelters, 10 bus route signs, and four electronic signs to place on the buses.
“We should accept the grant -- but I’m not quite sure we should be accepting the buses,” since the transportation study is not complete, Flood said.
A resolution was passed in the committee to accept the grant.
In other business:
Flood told the committee he attended the Hudson Bottom Line party meeting with the state Department of Transportation and local representatives. “People are looking to me to kind of coordinate with the surrounding towns and the city to take a hard look at what alternatives there really are,” he said.
The county is also “very close” to closing their deal with Aerocity Wind Power, a new company that has agreed to locate their wind turbine manufacturing plant in Columbia County. The Columbia Economic Development Corporation (CEDC) granted Aerocity a business loan in exchange for the agreement.
Once it is fully operational, the plant would add 50 new jobs to the county.
“They have significant names in investment behind them,” Flood said. Among those significant names is NYSERDA, who gave the company a product development grant in the amount of $1 million to modify and improve upon vertical wind turbine design.
According to Flood, if Aerocity pulls out of the deal, “they will have to pay a substantial penalty” due to their investment from the CEDC.
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