The Shawangunk Town Board approved $91,500 to complete the long-delayed road work on Stein Road at its January 25 meeting.

For the past several years, Stein Road residents have complained to the Town Board about the poor condition of part of the roadway. Stein Road is located west of Walker Valley in the town.

Town Highway Superintendent Rich Blazeski, who just began his third year on the job, estimated that the road has been in bad shape for the past four or five years. The road has deteriorated so much recently that it has been reduced to one lane.

A total of $70,000 in American Rescue Plan funding was approved by the board that would include $21,500 for engineering work and the remainder of the funds are earmarked to complete the work on the road by the town highway department.

“This project should stabilize the road and allow us to reopen the road (to two lanes),” Blazeski said. “This is important to do for the residents and for emergency services.”

Following the meeting, Blazeski said $19,000 had already been spent to remove a huge boulder that had to be removed to redirect the road. Then $68,000 was allocated for sheet shoring to stabilize the slope of the roadway.

“We needed to blow up that giant boulder that was the major cause of the route of the road,” Blazeski said following the Town Board meeting.

The highway superintendent said about 200 feet of Stein Road would be repaired.

Blazeski said work on fixing the road would begin immediately.

“We’ll work on it through the winter,” he said. “We want it done as fast as possible. It’s been a long, long journey on this situation. We have a plan. We’re ready to go.”

In other news, the board set public hearings on two local laws for its Feb. 15 meeting that will begin at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall.

Local law No. 1 is entitled “Authorizing Best Value Purchasing.”

The local law, if adopted by the town board, authorizes the town to award purchase and servicer contracts subject to competitive bidding to either the lowest responsible bidder or “best value” as defined under New York State Finance Law.

The “best value” option may be, but is not required to be, used to award an applicable purchase contract for either goods or services to optimize quality, cost and efficiency among responsive and other responsible offerors instead of the lowest responsible bidder.

Goods and services procured and awarded on the basis of “best value” are those that the town board determines will be of the highest quality while being the most cost efficient.

Local Law No. 2 is entitled “Partial Real Property Tax Exemption for Volunteer Firefighters and Volunteer Ambulance Service Workers.”

The local law would provide a 10 percent partial real property tax exemption of the assessed value of the primary residential real property located in the town that is owned by a qualified, enrolled member of an incorporated volunteer fire company, volunteer fire department or an incorporated voluntary ambulance service that provides services within the Town of Shawangunk.

The applicant for the tax exemption must have served the town as volunteer firefighters and or as ambulance volunteers for at least two years.