From the Desk of Village of Owego Mayor Michael Baratta III

I wanted to take a minute to update everyone on some things that the Village of Owego has been working on over the last few months. The village DRI grant projects are well into construction and will be finished this spring and summer. Here is the project by project status.

Marvin Park – we have completed improvements to the playground, the basketball courts have been resurfaced and redone with a new surface to add pickleball courts. We are still working on a more permanent net solution; currently, the village has three portable nets that you can borrow to use on the new courts once the weather breaks. 

The new skate park is complete, and everyone is loving it. We will be having an official opening in the spring. This skate park was designed by professional skate park designers and built by specialized contractors, making it a one-of-a-kind feature not found in other area parks. 

The fence along Main Street was replaced. New signs have been installed at the main entrance, as well as the skate park and other areas of the park. New lights now illuminate the skate park, basketball, and pickleball courts. 

The only ongoing project still to be completed in the park is the construction of new bathroom facilities, which will be finished in the spring. The total project construction cost is $2,355,997. Keep in mind these numbers do not require any sort of match from the Village and are all funded by New York State. 

Downtown Parking – Last summer, we completed the parking lot project where all of the municipal lots were resurfaced, and the lighting in the lots was repaired or replaced. The total project construction cost is $466,824.

Lake Street Infrastructure – A sewer line that serves the buildings on Lake Street that runs under the Court Street parking lot, was in dire need of replacement. This was a privately owned line that is now replaced, sloped correctly, and owned and maintained by the village. This was a critical DRI project to support the development and businesses on Lake Street along with the apartments on the upper floors of those buildings. Total construction costs were $185,754.

Southside Lighting – As many know, the lights along Southside Drive have not worked in many years. We are happy to report they are officially back on. This project also fixed other electrical issues in the downtown area. The total construction costs were $204,383.

Central Station – Owego Central Fire Station will be getting much-needed repairs to the clock tower structure as well as a new roof. This work will take place in the spring. Right now, we’re just waiting on NYSEG to do some work on the transformers near the clock tower before we can put up the scaffolding that’s required to do the job. Current timeline is to start the work in the April timeframe. Total construction costs are $499,455.

North Avenue Art Park – The art park was originally in the DRI scope, then cut due to finding some contamination at the site. Things have shifted, and it’s partly back on the table now but for a different scope. The streetscape along North Avenue will be cleaned up with DRI funding to make things flow better and look better as you approach the downtown. This project is still in the design phase and will still include artistic elements to clean up the view from North Avenue. The total budget is $219,704.

All of these projects are projects that are much-needed improvements in the village, and we are grateful that the state chose to fund them. In supporting these projects, the state DRI funding also covered $30,000 in legal services related to the projects as well as $522,560 in design and architectural fees. Overall, the DRI invested $4,484,677 in village projects. The remaining funds from the DRI were awarded to private projects around the village, and most of them have been completed. 

Just a reminder, the worst of winter is typically in February, please keep your sidewalks clean. If you know of a resident who is unable to shovel for some reason, please get in touch with us, and we can see if there is a way to help. Things coming up on the radar include the village elections on March 18 from noon to 9 p.m. at 22 Elm St. This year, one trustee from each of our three wards is up for election. 

Thank you to all of the Village employees, the board of Trustees as well as all of our volunteers on both the fire and ambulance sides. This fall and winter have been great, and we have worked together as one team with the betterment of our village as our top priority.