Details that bring the big picture into focus

More than once, New Paltz Mayor Tim Rogers has used the occasion of an annual “looking ahead” article to highlight the contributions of the staffers whose dedication keeps municipal systems running — with mixed success. When this reporter arrived for the annual December interview ritual, Rogers was listening to a pitch by Joe Granieri as to why it’s time to replace the 25-year-old plow truck named Bubba, and the mayor smoothly invited the DPW equipment specialist to sit in on the conversation. 

Granieri’s presence fit the mayor’s management model perfectly, because while Rogers tries to consider the big picture in terms of finances and services in this village of around 7,500 human residents, it’s those like Granieri who provide the details to make that possible. Since Rogers first took office, the mayor has been using data such as the amount of time Granieri spent repairing aging equipment and searching for largely obsolete parts as justification to get these large vehicles and machines replaced on a rotating basis. While thoughtful care and skilled maintenance ekes years more out of most trucks than their projected useful life, eventually it becomes impossible to get replacement parts to keep them going. Rogers worked with Granieri, as well as Bleu Terwilliger and Nancy Branco — the public works superintendent and treasurer, respectively — to develop the capital plan to make this possible. 

Sometimes, though, a bigger win is in the cards. 

For replacing Bubba — a name that it received thanks to a contest held in early 2023 — village officials decided to ask Senator Michelle Hinchey for a grant to reduce the cost to taxpayers. Borrowing is sometimes necessary to procure equipment when it’s needed without hitting taxpayers with an increase, although Branco is in the habit of aggressively paying down debt whenever possible, and if the senator could pony up $75,000 — about a quarter of the cost — then it would be that much easier to make the purchase without asking taxpayers to shoulder more in return. When Hinchey’s team heard the pitch, though, and saw the level of preparation and professionalism that went into it, the senator came through with $300,000, leaving just $12,298 to cover from the budget. 

Bubba’s replacement won’t be an electric one, as some residents might have hoped, because the battery technology isn’t at a point of being able to carry enough juice to get one of these trucks through a day without recharge. It will certainly be a far cry more efficient with its use of fossil fuels, and much cleaner in terms of emissions, but electricity powering the heaviest equipment is still slightly out of reach. State transportation officials are pausing efforts to convert their plow trucks to an electric fleet. 

“We always have a wish list,” Rogers said, but usually those wishes aren’t granted by the wave of a legislative wand as this one was. It’s more often a combination of cobbling together one or more grants to bolster savings and borrowing. 

“That list can change drastically when stuff breaks,” Granieri pointed out. 

Putting an item on that wish list isn’t always as straightforward as asking for a plow truck, either. Sometimes a fair amount of work can go into understanding what’s needed to get the job done. As 2024 dawns, the mayor and others are giving a lot of thought to sewer planning, consulting with engineers, getting input from state environmental officials, and visiting plants in other communities. The big question to be answered is whether it makes more sense to repair the village’s existing systems, or upgrade the plant entirely. While that important question is mulled over, the mayor is leaning toward updating the headworks first. This is where the first step in the wastewater treatment process occurs: screening out inorganic objects that get flushed and can otherwise cause a lot of issues in the temperamental systems further inside. Rogers is actually running an experiment in the mayor’s office to understand and demonstrate how poorly “flushable” materials break down. Four jars, labeled “dude wipes,” “paper towels,” “toilet paper,” and “cottonelle flushable wipes,” contain those items and plenty of water. The result is a sticky, viscous mass through which light may pass, but which may not pass effortlessly through a treatment plant. While professional input is sought for these high-cost issues, the mayor also likes to gain a more visceral understanding. No doubt it’s an approach that’s appreciated by the public works staff, who among their varied responsibilities are also tasked with inspecting restaurant grease traps to see what’s going where. 

Not every item on the wish list is granted that easily, or that quickly. The mayor was again disappointed this year when funding for a water loop on North Chestnut Street was denied. Dead-end water pipes are more prone to low pressure and brown water, and connecting the North Chestnut and Huguenot mains would create a loop that keeps the water moving and the service to residents reliable. As with nearly every grant application, the strategy there is to apply again and again, improving the pitch based on feedback received, until at last the funds are awarded. 

While Granieri used to spend most working hours repairing trucks, every public works employee is a generalist — albeit with particular interests or passions. They each must be able to function as an interchangeable part in that small, tight-knit working crew, able to move from plowing snow to repairing buildings to attending to water main break. Rogers attributes that culture of cross-training and cooperation to Bleu Terwilliger, the public works superintendent, along with Nick Coddington, the senior foreman. Both have been at the job for nigh unto 30 years, and Rogers is grateful that Terwilliger is fostering the next generation of leaders for when the time comes that this pair chooses to retire. 

One of Granieri’s passions is parkland. A long-desired update of the Hasbrouck Park pickleball courts is expected to come with the new year. Pickleball has been played in New Paltz since before it was trendy, but those outdoor courts across from St. Joseph’s had seen better days before the sport was hitting national news outlets. With $100,000 in county grant funding, and public works employees taking care of site preparation such as drainage and retaining walls, this welcome change will be affordable under Rogers’ financial strategy. There will even be a staircase down to the courts to provide somewhat easier access from the main park area. 

“People hear about water and sewer, but they see the parks,” Granieri said. Rogers likes seeing children in particular avail themselves of local parks as a third space, outside of school and home, to simply be. That’s behind a desire to install a skate garden there — presently being considered for the corner nearest Tricor Avenue — as well as replacing the gazebo in the park, which was installed in 1992 after some real estate agents organized a fund drive to purchase it. 

Rogers is quite hopeful that the new year will bring new opportunities. Part of that comes from the college, where President Wheeler is proving to look at issues holistically, rather than only taking responsibility for what’s described in the law as the purview of university resources. The mayor imagines that the engineering school on campus could be a place to develop solutions to local problems, while also expanding the experience and education those students receive to include civil engineering. “We are not a nuisance” in Wheeler’s eyes, Rogers said, expressing appreciation for how well Wheeler “gets that.” 

New Paltz is a college, which is wholly within a village which is also New Paltz, which is wholly within a town which is also New Paltz. The glimpse the mayor offered under the hood of the village machinery is just the beginning. With the machinery of all three of these entities running smoothly together, it’s impossible to say what positive changes might result. Time will tell.