“The state is starting to push stuff out to us, so I’m very optimistically hoping to be awarding RFPs (Requests for Proposals) for project leads and consultants by summer.”
Those were the words of Cornwall Supervisor Josh Wojehowski on November 19 as he gave an update on the town/village NY Forward grants. Cornwall-on-Hudson Mayor James Gagliano had done a similar update at one of his November meetings.
Wojehowski said that there are two New York State agencies managing the contracts for the municipality – the Department of State and the Homes Community Renewal.
Homes Community Renewal will handle the $300,000 ‘Small Project Fund’ that has been established. With that funding the town will hire a program administrator (paid for via the grant) and an application process for small grants from that fund will be created.
The Department of State will be overseeing the $382,000 the two municipalities were awarded for ‘branding, marketing and wayfinding’, and the joint town-village ‘Connector Trail/Riverlight Park Improvement’ project of $783,000.
Because the town and village are working together on those, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the two municipalities must be put in place. Wojehowski said the village’s attorney is currently working on that, and it will “stipulate the working relationship”. Both the Town and Village Boards will need to approve those contracts.
Wojehowski added that Cornwall and Cornwall-on-Hudson are the first joint municipality grant that the state has awarded, “so they’re watching us to see how it goes, and if they’re going to do it again”.
Once that MOA is done, the town attorney will create the RFPs for the municipal projects and assist the board in reviewing contracts with the various agencies and contractors.
So, what does the timeline of the NY Forward work over the next few years look like?
The supervisor said it will probably be this month or early January when that MOA is reviewed and approved, and the contract with Homes Community Renewal is signed. The Department of State contracts will follow, probably being complete by February. Then, RFPs will be drafted and issued, also probably in the near future. Awarding of those contracts will, ideally, be in May and June, he said, with “planning, design and implementation of grant-funded projects from Summer 2025 to Fall of 2027.