Town Talk: Town of Otsego

If you’ve driven through the charming hamlet of Fly Creek recently, you may have noticed a new structure being built at the Town of Otsego’s highway garage. We are very happy that our much-needed Salt Shed Project is nearing completion. One look at the former salt storage structure—if one could even call it that—makes it clear that something needed to change.

Thanks to support from a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Watershed Quality Improvement grant, grant funds from Otsego County’s American Rescue Plan Act allocation, and our own locally saved Building Reserve funds, this transformation is close to becoming a reality. Beyond the obvious benefit of curbing salt runoff into the ground and nearby Oaks Creek, the new engineered building will enhance our emergency preparedness with expanded storage for reserve materials.

I want to give many thanks to our hard-working highway crew and highway superintendent, who do an excellent job keeping our roads safe in the winter. I also want to thank the foresight of past town boards, particularly those who got this project off the ground with the initial grant application. This has been an improvement that has been long discussed, and I am very glad we are finally making it a reality.

Ben Bauer
Town of Otsego Supervisor