The Crawford Town Board approved the spending of $1.9 million to construct a new facility for the town's highway department during its April meeting. The money will go towards building a new highway barn that will consist of office spaces and four double bays to house equipment.

The project's approval comes on the heels of last November's mandatory referendum, when a larger version of the project was put before voters at a cost of $2.4 million. That measure, defeated by a 2-to-1 margin, was the administration's attempt to gather taxpayer input and get a sense of what residents would be prepared to pay to finance the project, said Crawford own Supervisor Charlie Carnes on April 29.

"Based on those results, the proposal is a revamped and pared down version of the $2.4 million proposal that was voted down last fall."

Indeed, it appears that few are happy about the expense of building a new highway barn. But town officials feel that such a move is necessary to address a number of issues facing the department and town residents.

Town officials have offered a list of situations that will be remedied by the new building, including the septic and water issues the current facility is facing and the creation of a more energy efficient building. One such example cites the current highway barn's inefficient, decades-old furnace, which leads some to assume that a new facility will end up possibly saving on heat and energy costs. In addition, town officials also point out the importance of sheltering the department's equipment, and say that construction costs will only increase as time goes forward.

"That's the cost [$1.9 million]. If we keep going round and around it's just going to rise and rise. We are either going to pay now or pay later," said Councilman Larry Marshall.

Councilman Jim Licardi lamented the size restrictions being placed on the new highway facility because of high construction costs. "The logistics say six bays, but the money says four bays."

Few pieces remain in lining up the project's contractors. But the town board did decide to go out for a second round of bids on the plumbing as some board members felt the town would be able to get the required work completed at a better price.

Carnes said that the $1.9 million proposal is subject to a permissive referendum, meaning that the project could be placed on an election ballot should enough residents create a petition challenging it.

The facility is expected to be an addition to the highway department's current barn that holds five single bays and another facility that houses four double bays. But some have raised the concern that the town might sell its current highway barn in order to recoup part of the building cost for the new facility. Should the town be contemplating such a move, the net gain in available storage space would be only three bays.

As of May 6, neither Supervisor Carnes nor Highway Superintendent Stephen Russell were available for comment.

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