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Shandaken supervisor outlines midyear progress, flood-mitigation push and plan to relocate Town Hall
Summary
Supervisor Mansfield told the board the town has caught up on several years of financial reporting, secured funding for a town-hall relocation outside the floodplain, and is advancing multiple flood-mitigation projects while pursuing housing partnerships and zoning updates.
Supervisor Mansfield opened the meeting with a detailed midyear report, listing administrative upgrades and flood-preparedness work that the board says has increased the town’s capacity to manage recovery and development. "When I came into office I realized that the town staff have been working for a long time without tools needed to do their jobs," Mansfield said, noting the town updated accounting software and recovered data after a contracted IT vendor ceased operations.
Mansfield announced the town "was awarded funding from the CWC to do legal and environmental reviews and to subsequently purchase a property on Route 28 near Shandaken Inn that's entirely out of the flood plain," and described that relocation of Town Hall as one of more than a dozen current flood-mitigation projects. He said Local Flood Analysis (LFA) work is underway or about to be presented for hamlets including Phoenicia, Pine Hill and Mt. Tremper. On housing, Mansfield said the town began a partnership with RUPCO to develop the former Phoenicia Elementary School for affordable housing and that the town secured a DEC grant to hire zoning consultants to align zoning with community priorities. "A final draft of our comprehensive master plan was submitted to the board... and is posted on our website now," he added.
The supervisor also raised operational pressures: ambulance costs surged and staffing remains a challenge, and he said changes to ambulance leadership and ongoing discussions with county and state officials seek to stabilize ALS service. Mansfield said the town is preparing the 2027 budget amid rising costs for fuel, insurance and utilities and described an insurance-broker change that reduced a projected 18% increase to about 7%.
