Last week, the Village of Walden Board of Trustees passed a motion to commence potential litigation against the Town of Montgomery.

The Hill Street Bridge has been a topic of numerous village and town board meetings over the past few months, and ultimately, there is one bottom line: Walden wants the bridge fixed.

The bridge that spans the Tin Brook was built in 1928 and deemed unsafe in 2013 when it was closed for traffic. Since then, Village of Walden officials have been advocating for the Town of Montgomery to fund the reparations of the bridge. Last summer, it was mentioned that there is a state law that makes the town, not the village, responsible for maintaining bridges in the town.

In November of last year, the town made it clear they weren’t ecstatic about paying for the bridge since it would be taken out of the town’s General (A) Fund. This fund assesses all town taxpayers. The village made it clear they were unhappy with this.

“The people in the Village of Walden have waited over 10 years for a bridge to be reinstalled. It’s not just a matter of convenience but a matter of necessity,” Walden Village Manager John Revella said last year upon hearing this.

At a Village of Walden Board of Trustees meeting last week, an attorney came to the board about the possible litigation over Hill Street Bridge after the Village Attorney David A. Donovan’s recommendation. Attorney Eric L. Gordon of Keane & Beane P.C., a firm that has been around for over 40 years, is very familiar with municipal law. He explained to the board his experience with the subject matter.

“We’ve worked specifically on bridge litigation involving the village of Rye Brook. We did go through a number of similar issues that, I think, will come up in the potential litigation with the town of Montgomery involving who’s responsible for maintaining the bridge, who pays for it and the obligation to maintain a bridge between a town and a village,” said Gordon.

However in January of this year, the town announced they were hiring an engineer group with hopes to apply for a grant.

They hired Greenman-Pedersen, Inc. (GPI) to discuss quotes on the bridge in hopes to then apply for and receive a BridgeNY grant. If awarded, the grant money would be used to fix the bridge and make it accessible for vehicle use again. The BridgeNY program increases at $200 million a year.

Though it isn’t exactly known, Lauren Rowley, clerk to Town Supervisor Ronald Feller, said they recently spoke with the grant writers, and that it could be the end of May before the town hears anything regarding the grant.

Gordon also seems willing to pursue different routes in such instances that the village and town come to an agreement.

“We also understand the cost of litigation. So if there is a method, and I know you’ve tried to work with the town before, but if there is a way to work with them and try to reach a reasonable solution, our firm is also very good at proceeding down those paths as well,” said Gordon.

Donovan mentioned their next steps if proceeding, including authorizing the litigation against the town of Montgomery relative to the Hill Street Bridge and then voting to retain Keane & Beane and authorize the village mayor to sign the retainer agreement.

Mayor John Ramos then asked what Gordon’s first action would be.

“Our first action would be to talk to Mr. Donovan to get the background and, assuming we want to go ahead, draft a complaint. It would be putting together a legal proceeding against the town, and setting forth all the background and the claims that the village has been asking the town to take action,” Gordon replied.

The board went through with hiring the firm.
Town of Montgomery Supervisor Feller declined to comment on the subject.