Despite the mid-April snowstorm that had crews out plowing the roads, Wawarsing Town Highway Superintendent Tony Paes actually had a smile on his face on Saturday. That’s because, when Paes returned from his own plow run, the ribbon was cut on the town’s new highway garage, ending the biggest single issue Paes’s department had to manage.

The project cost about $10 million. Supervisor Terry Houck said the town paid $9.1 million of that through bonds, and any overages would be covered by American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding and the town’s fund balance, thus not affecting the taxpayers.

But as Paes has said before, it would have been much less expensive if it had been tackled ten or even twenty years ago. Paes had advocated for years to have the town tackle the project, explaining that the old highway building leaked badly, was falling apart, and couldn’t even hold all the town’s trucks – meaning half of them stood outside in all weathers.

Two years ago, the town board heard him. Board members even took a good look at the situation, touring the highway garage and noting the leaks, the water on the floor and the gaping holes in the back wall. Mike Moschetta called the old building’s roof a “colander.” So, in early 2022, the board made its decision and set the project in motion.

The ribbon cutting on Saturday, April 12, was attended by members of the town board, past and present, as well as highway employees. That was in spite of the unseasonable snowstorm drifting across the region. The public were invited to come and look as well, but alas, people are busy and very few braved the snow to take up the invitation.

“It’s great to be standing here today knowing that the town is in the process of closing out this much needed highway department project,” Houck said. “Having the facilities to maintain all the equipment and vehicles and technology that is required today.”

The newly renovated garage has ceilings high enough to allow the highway department’s trucks to be worked on with the dump beds lifted up, something that was not possible inside the old garage.

“The old garage was built in 1972, 53 years ago,” Houck continued. “It served its purpose and then some.”

The original plan, Houck explained, was to tear down the old, but the board “was advised that demolition could cost three times the amount that it would cost just to repair the building for limited use.” So, that’s what they did. The old building has been refurbished and is available for additional storage, saving a lot of money and a good deal of metal from the scrap heap.

The garage also features a set of six Stertil-Koni column lifts, with 18-ton support stands and a plow adapter crossbeam, which can lift trucks six feet in the air, allowing undercarriage work. In other words, this garage has what’s needed to maintain all their snow plows which are essential to keeping Wawarsing’s roads navigable in winter.

A new truck in this class today costs about $500,000, even if you don’t count the scary delays of up to two years from an order to final delivery. This all suggests that taking good care of the fleet of trucks already owned by the town can be described as a best practice.

Houck then pivoted to an aspect of things that received little attention during debates over the garage replacement. “The timing of the NYC/DEP Wawarsing Water District turned out great for this project because the existing wells were woefully deficient.”

That $22 million investment from New York City, which was meant to ensure there were no problems when the aqueduct that takes water from the Rondout Reservoir to New York City closed down for repairs, was a boon for the project as the existing wells were mostly dried up. The only well still producing was issuing water described by those who remember it as “almost black.” That has all ended with the garage hooked into the new water district. Now, the district water tank is set up on department property on the hill above.

“Maintaining our facilities along with very low annual tax levies,” Houck concluded, “made it possible to maintain 180 miles of town roads, serving the residents and taxpayers of Wawarsing.”

Asked whether there were any major projects still left on his to-do list, Paes thought for a moment and then said, “Rock Haven Road needs to be blacktopped. Probably $200,000 to do that, it’s two miles long.”

Rock Haven climbs up the Shawangunk Ridge close to Route 44-55, leading to the Stony Kill Falls.

After another moment of reflection he added, “Beaver Dam Road.”

With 180 miles of town roads to keep up, the work never stops. But Tony Paes can be allowed a day or two to reflect that the biggest job is done.