Work on building new sidewalks and replacing water lines on three streets in the hamlet of Wallkill was expected to start this week.

The $300,000 capital repair project on First, Second and Third Streets in the Town of Shawangunk was slated to begin on Monday, August 21.

Following the August 17 Town Board meeting, Supervisor John Valk said the bulk of the funds for the sidewalks ($234,000) came out of the sidewalk district funding. The rest of the project will be paid out of American Rescue Plan funding the town received.

Green Meadows Enterprises, a Wallkill-based construction company, was chosen by the town to do the work.

Additional work must also be done due to a water main break.

“They also realized the water main that is right under the sidewalk on First Street broke again last week,” Valk said. “They’re going to replace all that and it’ll come out of the water district (funding).”

Valk said traffic in the area shouldn’t be disrupted during construction.

“They’ll be able to drive through the area,” he said.

“We’re excited to see this project commencing,” Councilman Brian Amthor said. “These three streets are going to look amazing once they’re done.”

In other news, the town has one vacancy on its zoning board of appeals that it is looking to fill.

Valk said interested residents should email their resumes to him at townsupervisor@shawangunk.org. Normally the term of office is five years, but Valk said the vacancy may be for a partial term.

Police Chief Gerald Marlatt told the board that there is a shortage of police officers with the opening of schools starting shortly.

“In a perfect world, we need five more part-time officers,” Marlatt told the Wallkill Valley Times in an interview following the Town Board meeting. “And that’s just so we have a healthy roster to rotate through.”

Marlatt explained that the part-time officers are supposed to supplement the full-time officers on the force.

“They don’t work full-time for us so they may go on vacation,” Marlatt said. “They may be at their full-time job. They may not feel like working one week. You can’t use the same ones every time.”

Marlatt said three officers are needed to work as school resource officers (SROs) at the Wallkill High School, Ostrander Elementary School and John G. Borden Middle School.

“We have the brunt of the Wallkill School District,” Marlatt said of the SRO coverage.

Marlatt said the chances of adding five more part-time officers before the start of the school year “were very slim. I have two good candidates right now that I know, and I’ve worked with one of them. I think we’re going to have good results with them. The others are kind of a crapshoot. We’ll see if it works out.”

County legislator and county Republican chairman Ken Ronk reported that the Wallkill Volunteer Ambulance Corps received several awards recently. Ronk is a member of the organization.

He said the Wallkill ambulance corps was named Agency of the Year in Ulster County by the Ulster County EMS Council.

“That included all the ambulance agencies in Ulster County,” Ronk said. “Also, Andrew Stoll was named the EMT of the Year.”