Grant Steps Outlined For Waterville

Last week’s Waterville First meeting began with a tribute to Joyce Swanberg, who is retiring from running a group home in Waterville for almost 50 years.

The Village of Waterville began the work of figuring out how to spend their $4.5 million New York Forward grant last week.

About 50 people attended a meeting with Danny Lapin, a revitalization specialist with the NY Department of State. Lapin outlined the steps to be taken to determine what projects will receive funding from the grant.

Lapin will be Waterville’s state contact to lead the process.

The state has also hired Laberge Group of Albany as the consultants to work with the Village.

Lapin said there will be two community groups formed. One, led by Waterville Mayor Gene Ostrander and Dr. Nancy Pattarini, president of Paige Marketing Group in Utica.

That committee will work on a Strategic Investment Plan for Waterville to determine priorities and needs and a vision for Waterville.

The second group, the Local Planning Committee, will set the criteria for choosing projects, review all submissions, and put together the list that will go to Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Aside from reviewing financial information from those who submit projects, the LPC will conduct their meetings, allowing for the public to attend.

Lapin said an open call for projects will take place for about eight weeks over the summer, with the specific dates and instructions to be determined. The list will go to Hochul around the end of November.

While not all projects submitted and given to the governor will receive some of the $4.5 million, Lapin said other state funding sources could be found.

Waterville’s new status as a NY Forward community opens up funding opportunities elsewhere, he said.

In general, the four ...