ELLENVILLE – To sell or not to sell, that is the question that Mayor Jeff Kaplan and the Ellenville board of trustees will ponder after a persuasive presentation suggested there might be a pot of gold atop village hall. Or at least a steady income stream to help offset taxes.

Andrea Armstrong of Unison Site Development, an independent cell site management company, told the village board at its May 12 meeting that should they decide to sell the cell tower lease they currently have with T-Mobile, netting the village $1,850 a month, her company may be willing to purchase that lease at 120 to 150 times such a monthly rent gain, or a lump sum total of nearly $300,000.

But that's not all. Armstrong added that an agreement with Unison could prevent the village a future income loss due to the costs incurred when replacing antiquated equipment. In the meantime, Unison would work hard, according to Armstrong, to get multiple cell carriers to lease the tower — resulting in even more revenue for the village.

"It's worth thinking about," Kaplan said, noting the details would still have to be worked out. Perhaps, he added, the village and Unison could become co-owners of the lease, though the mayor did seem attracted by the idea of a large lump sum being used towards the cost of pending village projects.

Village attorney Peter Berger suggested that the village should retain ownership of the lease and attempt to draw in more carriers themselves, the better to both boost revenue and continue to have a steady income flow.

In talk of those pending village projects, village manager Joseph Stoeckeler informed trustees that progress on a $7.8 million water improvement project was being made. The booster pump, he said, was expected to be in by mid-June and ten of 36 valves were in place. Also, the archeological field work for the transmission line was completed and a report should be available this week, as well as hydrologist and geologist survey findings which should include a list of potential new well locations.

What hasn't seen much progress, Stoeckeler added, are the drying beds that have been out of order for a few weeks due to pump problems.

"It was absolutely imperative that they start working because we're paying huge money for the removing of our sludge," Kaplan said. "We want this repaired."

During the last trustee meeting, representatives from Barton and Loguidice, the village engineering firm, assured the board that the drying beds would be operational in a week's time. It has now been two weeks, Kaplan said, and they still don't work.

Leaving water issues behind, Stoeckeler also updated the board on village construction projects. Work should start on June 2 for the new government center roof, he said, and the Liberty Square lighting project, involving the installation of nine new street lights, should be wrapped up this Friday. The conversation quickly turned back towards money when potential project ideas were discussed regarding the $3 million in NY Rising funds the village was purportedly awarded last month, as well as the outstanding tax balance, which according to village treasurer Linda Polkoski, is at the lowest it has been in the last six or seven years at $729,590.

Amongst other resolutions, the board approved the Village of Ellenville police Policies, Procedure, Rules and Regulations Manual, a required document for NY accreditation, as well as the Inter-municipal Agreement with the town of Wawarsing for youth recreation services, on the condition that a joint committee be formed to discuss budgetary and maintenance issues regarding the Ellenville pool.