City Council approves bond ordinances to fund Washington Avenue pump station and Rice Road treatment plant

The Schenectady City Council approved two bond ordinances on consent Monday to finance improvements to the Washington Avenue pump station and the Rice Road water treatment plant. The council adopted an ordinance authorizing the issuance of $29,117,825 in serial bonds to finance improvements to the Washington Avenue pump station and the city's water resource recovery facility, and a first supplemental bond ordinance authorizing an additional $2,493,424 in serial bonds for Rice Road water treatment plant Phase 2. Together the ordinances authorize roughly $31.6 million in borrowing for water and wastewater work. Those measures were read into the record by the clerk and noted in the meeting as having been "discussed in committee without objection on consent," and the council moved them forward on the consent calendar. No separate debate was recorded on the council floor during the meeting. The ordinances list the estimated maximum costs for each project as read aloud during the meeting; the Washington Avenue item was introduced with the figure $29,117,825 and the Rice Road supplemental figure of $2,493,424 (the item reading also referenced an estimated maximum cost of $8,560,536 for the Rice Road project as part of the record). The measures will permit the city to issue serial bonds to fund engineering and construction activities described in the ordinances. No speakers from the administration provided additional public details at the council meeting, and no council amendment or alternate financing plan was recorded during the session. The ordinances were handled on the consent calendar, meaning formal council discussion at the meeting was limited and no roll-call vote was recorded on the floor during the session transcript. The clerk read the ordinances into the record as part of the regularly scheduled agenda; subsequent steps, including official publication of bond details and scheduling of closings, were not discussed on the record during the meeting.