GLEN SPEY, NY — The news from the Lumberland Town Board’s 35-minute March 8 meeting that will impact the most people was probably Supervisor Jenny Mellan’s announcement of a New York Department of Transportation (DOT) notification of an upcoming detour on State Route 97 for the replacement of the Shingle Kill Bridge in Sparrowbush.

Mellan’s reading of the DOT notification drew groans from members of the meeting audience.

The detour, over Bolton Basin Road and State Route 42, will add travel time to ambulance and emergency travel to and from Bon Secours Community Hospital; the daily rides of rail commuters using MTA Metro-North Port Jervis Line trains; upriver residents who shop in tri-state area stores in Port Jervis, Montague, NJ and Westfall, PA; and northbound visitors and weekend residents.

DOT’s website says construction is to begin on March 16. The traffic detour will begin on March 23 and end with the scheduled June 30 reopening of the new bridge.

Work on the bridge includes demolition of the existing 43-foot single-span concrete T-beam structure, reinforced concrete slab, abutments and wing walls; and construction of a new 63-foot single span with precast reinforced concrete arch units on reinforced concrete footings, abutments and wing walls.

The footings will be on steel foundation piles. Roadway safety upgrades and abutment scour protection in the stream will also be performed.

In other town business, the board scheduled a 7:15 p.m. April 12 public hearing on the renewal of the town’s Time-Warner (now Spectrum) cable television franchise and heard Mellan report that Lumberland netted $38,500 after paying attorney’s fees of $1,192.50 from last year’s action to recover underpaid franchise payments from Time-Warner.

They accepted a $129.16 donation for the summer youth program from Carolyn Akt; agreed to advertise for summer stone and gravel bids and bids for a summer river trash cleanup; approved the $3,050 purchase of new Highway Department software funded by an Upper Delaware Council grant; accepted the dedication of the Shafer Heights Road to the town highway system; and approved the $5,100 renewal of the town’s contract with Barton & Loguidice Engineers for the continued monitoring the town’s former landfill.

They heard Lumberland Fire Department President Ann Steimle report that March 4 winds, classified as a micro-burst that caused extensive damage in the Mohican Lake area, had “really taxed” the department. She thanked the many area businesses and residents who brought food to the firehouse for the volunteers.

They also heard historian and grants coordinator Frank Schwarz report that numerous energy-saving projects on the town hall reduced fuel oil costs 21.7% between 2015 and 2016 bills, while other energy costs fell 69.7% last year from 2014 costs. Schwarz conceded that the milder 2016 winter also contributed to the savings.