LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — It began with supervisor Gary Maas’s announcement at the January 13 meeting of the Cochecton town board that the board would be going off agenda for a few minutes, and ended with former board member Larry Richardson’s heartfelt thanks to board members, town officials and volunteers with whom he has worked in the course of his 27 years of community service.

On behalf of the board, Maas gave Richardson a transparent clock with an inscription celebrating his long and varied service to Cochecton. Quipped Maas, “We appreciate all the time Larry has given us, so we thought we’d give him some back.” Much of that time was spent in unpaid service.

The board’s tribute to Richardson recognized his seven years on the planning board (1988-1995), 20 years on the town board (1995-2015), membership on the Upper Delaware Council (UDC), the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway (UDSB), the Sullivan County Charter Review Commission (SCCRC) and the Cochecton Preservation Society, Inc.

Although Richardson is no longer a town board member, he continues to act as the board’s liaison to the UDC, the UDSB and the SCCRC. He will represent the town’s interests with all of those organizations and present monthly reports to the board regarding their initiatives and accomplishments. Emphasizing that he welcomes citizen input, Richardson said that he can be contacted by email at lrichardson@townofcochectonny.org.

Other notable business of the evening included a public hearing on a proposed upgrade of the town’s sewer plant. The upgrade would include a land purchase, replacement of a chlorine filtration system with one using ultraviolet light, and repairs to the plant building.

The estimated cost of the upgrade would be approximately $100,000.

There were no comments from the public, and the only questions directed to the board came from the press, despite the unusually large number of spectators present at the hearing.

Asked for a cost breakdown, Maas said that the purchase of approximately three acres adjacent to the plant and abutting Olsen Road will constitute about 15% of total cost, or $15,000.

The $85,000 balance will be spent to replace the existing chlorine filtration system, which requires handling and storage of hazardous chemicals, with an ultraviolet light filtration system preferred by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Although conversion to the new system is costly, its maintenance would be safer, simpler and less expensive than the chlorine system; it will consist of changing a light bulb every nine months or so.

For complete meeting minutes and full text of resolutions, see townofcochectonny.org.