On January 5, Cornwall Supervisor Josh Wojehowski was just starting his second term in office. In sitting for an interview with The Local, he said he knew the year ahead would be a busy one.

To help keep track of the work that needs done, in his office the supervisor has a large whiteboard that he can easily see from his desk. That day, January 5, the whiteboard had the following list of priorities on it: 1) NYMA 2) Hasbrouck 3) Golf Course 4) Rings Pond 5) Hand property 6) Pool 7) Hotel 8) Comprehensive Plan and Zoning.

On September 26, Wojehowski sat for another interview. One can’t help but look at the whiteboard – and it was obvious the list had not only changed slightly but had also grown. On that date it said: 1) NYMA 2) Cornwall Commons 3) Hasbrouck drainage 4) Hotel 5) NY Forward contracts/RFPs 6) Office of Innovation & Community Engagement 7) Sands Ring Capital Project 8) American Legion Capital Project 9) Weaks/Riverlight drainage project 10) Comprehensive Plan process 11) CSEA/PBA contracts 12) Hotel Tax/Tourism Facility 13) Employee Handbook 14) Budget 15) Tree Street drainage project.

Asked on that date to pick out the most pressing of the projects, he picked the new number 14, the town budget. Those interested in that process should know that the town’s tentative budget is online (cornwallny.gov) and that the first budget workshop has been held. Another was held on Wednesday, Oct. 16 and a third is tentatively scheduled for October 24. He’s been working on it since July, and has already predicted that the town will need to exceed the state tax cap.

“Health insurance and ambulance service increases alone will put us over,” the supervisor said, adding that in the 2025 spending plan the town is also trying to bring the salaries of its employees up to a more competitive level. Outstanding contracts – CSEA, PBA and Cornwall/New Windsor EMS – will also all affect the budget (number 11 on the new list).

He said he is very much focused on bringing in revenue. Which brings him to new numbers two, four and 13 – Cornwall Commons, the hotel coming to Main St. and the hotel tax. “We need the hotel,” he said. “And we need to figure out the Cornwall Commons property.”

Residents will remember that the Cornwall Commons area was recently in front of the community as a proposed warehouse project. There has been no new communication from Tree Top about that project. “People ask me all the time, ‘hey, why don’t you just get rid of their application, isn’t there a clock ticking’?” he said. “But there isn’t, at least for the town. The next step in the SEQR/Review process is determined by the applicant, not the lead agency, which is the Town’s Planning Board.”

“What I heard at the Tree Top public hearing and subsequent conversations is that the community is more supportive of appropriate housing development as long as it doesn’t alter the community character and small-town charm, and is less supportive of large scale commercial or industrial development projects, so maybe a better project will come along,” Wojehowski added.

Regarding the hotel tax, the first collection of that will be the last quarter of this year – the supervisor is looking forward to seeing what revenue that will bring in.

In one other matter regarding revenue, he reports that the new electric car chargers in front of Town Hall are expected to generate about $3000 in revenue this year and expected to cost about $325 in electricity. It’s not a ton of money, he said, but it’s something.

Here’s a little more about some of the other items on the whiteboard.

- Rings Pond: “We wanted to dredge Rings Pond, but that’s now become a drainage project,” he said. “We’re calling it the Weeks Ave. drainage project. Our new idea is that Rings Pond has always kind of functioned as a drainage retention area, so we want to now include the dredging as an overall drainage project.”

- New York Forward didn’t make the new list since that project is well underway, with state-approved projects.

- A new item is the Office of Innovation and Community Engagement. “That’s something we’re trying to figure out: what’s the best way to communicate with the public and to engage the community. How do we handle communications better? Is that a position we need to create? How much can you expect the town supervisor, his staff, and volunteers to do. Are we at the point where we need someone to manage all the grants and projects and communication?” He called it an open question.

- The Hand property is a Rt. 32 piece of land the town keeps its eye on to expand the highway garage. Wojehowski said they’ve kind of backed off that right now. “We’re certainly interested, if we have the opportunity to purchase a piece, we’d do that, but it hasn’t materialized yet.”

- About the town swimming pool (number six on the old list). A study was done on what it would cost to replace the pool. “Now we’re about to ask the Town Board to approve an engineering task order to approve the pool engineer to give us some designs,” he said. “Options will be to repair it, replace as is, make bigger, or not have a pool at all.” He has said repeatedly that the public will be included in that process, and notes he’s only talking about the adult pool, not the kiddy pool. The pool is costing the town about $100,000 to operate, and usage continues to decline, with the exception of the town’s summer camp. “Nobody wants to come to an aging, decrepit pool,” he said.

- Regarding the comprehensive plan update and zoning, he said his board is waiting to find out what’s going to happen with NYMA and Cornwall Commons. “We’re not going to reopen the comp plan until we have an idea of what’s going on with them,” he said. With regard to NYMA’s property (outside the school proper), he said the town has been talking with school leadership and the property owner.

“They very much want to do a mixed-use development project that fits in with the character of the community and is beneficial to all parties,” he said. “They’re interested in us working with them to build some community facilities. We haven’t gotten that far, but I can tell you the current owner very much wants to do something with the property and it’s important for the town to be involved in planning the future of this key property.”

- The “Tree Street” drainage/catch basin project (number 15 on the new list) is mostly completed, Wojehowski said, and, when it rains heavy next, he is looking forward to seeing how that helps, hoping it keeps water off private property. Most of that work was done in-house. “We have a few more problem areas that need to be addressed but we are trying to complete them in-house to save on costs,” the supervisor said.

- The Sands Ring project has been awarded, and as for the Golf Course … that’s moving along nicely, he said.