The Town of Newburgh took multiple coordinated actions related to sewer financing, procurement and utility operations at the Oct. 13 meeting.

Bond and rate ordinances: The council introduced Ordinance 2025-7 (sewer bond ordinance) and Ordinance 2025-8 (sewer rate ordinance). Town Manager Chris Cook said the introductions are procedural steps to start the bond timeline; no final vote on bond issuance or rates occurred. Public notice and a Nov. 12 public hearing on the sewer rate ordinance were announced. Cook said, "I'm introducing it because the time frame on the next steps of the bond are based upon the introduction of the ordinance. So we wanna reflect in the record that it was introduced, and then we go from there."

Bond compliance and legal services: The council approved the regular engagement with Baker Tilly for bond compliance and arbitrage work (voice vote, unanimous). The council also approved an engagement agreement with Taft (outside counsel) for wastewater utility advisory services; Cook said Taft was retained to avoid conflicts because the town’s regular law firm represents other entities that could create conflicts on upcoming sewer projects. Both approvals were unanimous.

Utility committee recommendations and permits: Council considered utility-committee recommendations (items numbered in the committee summary). The council approved items 3, 4, 5 and 6 from the utility summary; the vote passed with recorded opposition from one council member and one member saying they would vote against the permit fee increases (council was concerned about recently increased county right-of-way permit fees). The committee and staff explained county permit fees are calculated on linear feet of disturbance, pavement disruption and days of work; staff said some projects are time-sensitive and recommended approving the permits to avoid delay while continuing to investigate the fee changes with the county.

Votes and next steps: The council introduced the bond and rate ordinances to begin the statutory timeline, scheduled the public hearing on Oct. 12 for rates (public hearing to be held Nov. 12), approved Baker Tilly and Taft engagements, and approved several utility measures to allow current sewer projects to proceed. No bond issuance or final rate adoption occurred at the meeting; those require later council action after notice and any public hearings.

The council recording shows the sewer bond ordinance introduction and the rate ordinance introduction were accepted on voice votes; the rate ordinance will return for a public hearing and subsequent action.