Watertown, Ogdensburg lawmakers voting on millions of dollars

WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) - Votes involving millions of dollars happen Monday night. One vote in Watertown; the other in Ogdensburg.

Watertown City Council is set to vote on approving millions in funding Monday night to improve city hall.

“It’s in the capital budget for $3.1 million to do some mechanical, plumbing, electrical, air handling, things like the elevator, roof, and some exterior work,” said Watertown City Manager Ken Mix.

He says the project is long overdue, as city hall is more than 60 years old, and minimal upgrades have been done to date.

“In the last fiscal year we had money in there for doing some preliminary design work but we need to move on to the final designs and construction drawings for it,” he said.

Mix says while the work needs to be done, the city needs to be responsible for how it pays for it.

“We’re getting to the point where we’ve got to be careful with what we’re paying for with cash. So it’s identified in the budget as a borrowing or a bonding,” he said.

In Ogdensburg, city council is set to vote on a resolution Monday night that would provide up to $5 million in funding for repairs on East David Street.

“It’s an area where we’ve had reoccurring issues. So much so it got to the point that we had to embark upon a bigger project, where the band-aid was no longer working,” said Andrea Smith, interim Ogdensburg city manager.

Smith says the repairs on East David Street will include more than just roadwork.

“We would have new water and sewer lines. They would meet the current Department of Health separation standards, and we would look to separate stormwater from our current combined storm/sewer which we have presently within East David Street,” she said.

Smith says the engineering report is already completed and approved by council. What’s left is a vote from council to bond for the $5 million in funding.

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