ELLENVILLE – An ad hoc coalition of business owners and community leaders has come together in the hope of attracting money from the coming federal stimulus bill. The Hudson Valley Economic Recovery Consortium, as the group is calling itself, has put together a list of dozens of infrastructure, and other needed projects, in the Hudson Valley area, several of which would be in Ellenville. Overall the group hopes to attract approximately $1.6 billion of federal money to help with everything from bridge repair to the renovation of old industrial facilities.

"The federal stimulus bill is going to mean a great deal of work for the Hudson Valley building trades, hopefully," said Todd Diorio, president of the Hudson Valley Building and Construction Trades Council, a spokesman for the coalition.

"We decided to get a whole group of people together," said Diorio, "the legislators were getting besieged by requests."

Diorio feels that by putting together a single package, within which would be funding requests for a number of different projects in Orange, Ulster, Rockland and Sullivan Counties, it is more likely that the federal government would respond favorably. A piecemeal approach might have the opposite effect and overwhelm federal agencies to whom the requests would be submitted.

"We put together [as many as] fifty projects that we believe are ready to go," Diorio said.

If the federal stimulus bill comes to pass, several of these projects would have a direct effect upon the Ellenville/Wawarsing area. The first would be the renovation of Ellenville's aging waste water treatment plant. A handout put together by the coalition states that the plant has "outlived its useful life" and that maintenance costs are "severely impacting" residents who use the system. The cost for this renovation would be approximately $7.2 million, would create about 250 construction jobs, and would take about 12 months to complete.

Another facility the group is targeting for renovation is the old Schrade manufacturing facility on Main Street in Ellenville. The group is hoping to free up approximately $2.5 million for the renovation project, which would create more than 400 construction jobs. A renovation of the building would make it a "marketable space" which hopefully would attract private investment in the form of new tenants. If the facility were running at full capacity it could create 300-500 permanent jobs.

"It would provide a much-needed boost to the local economy," said Diorio.

The federal stimulus bill — which could approach one-trillion dollars — has many communities in the region, and around the country, dusting off old infrastructure projects, as well as coming up with proposals to deal with deferred maintenance of municipal facilities like the water treatment plant in Ellenville.

Diorio says that the water treatment upgrade is "nearly shovel-ready"; that is, most of the permits and other red tape have already been cleared by local agencies. Getting the project up and running could be done in a fairly timely manner, according to Diorio.

Diorio says that those villages and towns that have done their research are the most likely to receive federal benefits, should they become available. Some municipalities hadn't done the proper homework, he says.

"When we asked them how much [the project] would cost, they couldn't tell us," Diorio said.

Now, all eyes will turn to Washington D.C., and the United States Congress, to see how much federal money might become available. Americans should see some indication as to the size of the stimulus package in the next several weeks.

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