LITTLE VALLEY — Cattaraugus County lawmakers will be asked Wednesday to add their voices to those asking the state Department of Transportation to fix Routes 219 and 417 through the city of Salamanca.
Salamanca Democrats Susan Labuhn, the County Legislature minority leader, and David Koch, along with Legislator John Padlo, D-Olean, are sponsors of a resolution “demanding” the state Department of Transportation reconstruct major portions of Central Avenue (Route 219), Wildwood Avenue and Broad Street (Route 417).
Labuhn said she hadn’t gotten much reaction to the resolution yet, but a staff member for state Sen. Tim Kennedy, D-Buffalo, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said the senator had expressed interest in the situation after Labuhn invited him to lunch in Salamanca.
“I haven’t heard back from the state Department of Transportation,” Labuhn said. Inviting the Senate Transportation Committee chairman “was a shot worth taking,” she added.
The Salamanca legislators said she and others have been working for years to get the roads fixed. State DOT officials point to $90,000 a year the state provides to the city to maintain the roads.
Salamanca Mayor Mike “Smitty” Smith has asked the state to fix the streets — state highways that pass through the city — for years.
While no one will say so publicly, many feel the reason the streets have remained in bad shape for so long is because they are on Seneca Nation of Indians territory. The city seems to be caught up in the fight between the Senecas and New York State over wording of the gaming compact.
“It’s not a compact issue,” Labuhn stated. “This goes all the way back to when (the late) Pat McGee (R-Franklinville) was in the State Senate.”
Labuhn said Route 219 north from the Pennsylvania state line is in worse condition than the Salamanca streets. Money for that Route 219 reconstruction is included in the 2019 state budget, but no funding was included for Routes 219 and 417 in Salamanca.
Another resolution sponsored by Majority Leader Donna Vickman, R-Farmersville, and Barbara Hastings, D-Allegany, chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the Human Services Committee accepts the lone bid the county received for mosquito spraying.
Duflo Spray Chemical Co. of Lowville was the lone bidder for both adulticide and larvicide applications. Spraying larvicide over 3,505 acres would cost $44,802 for a first application and $42,874 for a second aerial application.
If adulticide is called for, the cost a first application would cost between $46,352 and $48,219 depending on whether Scourge or Anvil is used to spray 10,984 acres in the cities of Olean and Salamanca and towns along the Allegheny River valley.
Legislators are expected to vote to accept a $200,000 grant from the state Department of Environmental Conservation for construction of a joint sand/ salt storage facility for the county Public Works Department and the Town of Ashford.
Also on the agenda is the reappointment of Information Services Director Patricia Davison. Richard Klancer, R-Gowanda, chairman of the Public Safety/County Operations Committee was joined by the Labor Relations Committee as sponsors.
(Contact reporter Rick Miller at rmiller@oleantimesherald.com. Follow him on Twitter, @RMillerOTH)
