Paperwork for new senior van crawls along

The town's aging senior van. THANE GRAUEL PHOTO

The gears of bureaucracy often grind slowly.

That appears to be the case with the town’s pursuit of a replacement bus that takes seniors to social events and tours around the region. Seniors have been pushing for a new van for a couple of years because, they’ve said, the current one has features that aren’t fully operable, and overall, it can’t be trusted on longer road trips out of town.

The replacement being eyed is an updated model similar to the current Ford E-350 14-passenger van. The van is used for other Recreation Department activities as well.

The Town Board on Tuesday voted to temporarily deputize member Dan Paschkes, who is a lawyer, as an assistant town attorney so he could sign grant agreement paperwork. Supervisor Kevin Hansan said later the town attorney already had signed some forms, and various rules required a different statement be signed by another attorney. (The town is in the process of filling a vacant assistant town attorney position.)

Once the paperwork wends its way through Albany, the town will look at the bids it obtained many months ago and keep fingers crossed the cost was still close to the previous $122,000 bid.

The town is banking on two $61,000 grants facilitated by state representatives, one from state Sen. Shelley Mayer and the other from Assemblymember Chris Burdick. The grants are administered through the New York State Dormitory Authority.

“It’s a good step,” Hansan said. “Once we get their confirmation, acceptance of the contract, hopefully we can then start the procurement process.”        

— THANE GRAUEL