OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Town of Dunkirk Supervisor Priscilla Penfold revealed “really good news for the Town” at a recent meeting.

For the past three years, the Town of Dunkirk has been trying to secure grant funding from New York State to support a capital improvement project to the Shorewood Water District.

Each of the past two years, the Town swung and missed. Down to its final strike, the Town took one more swing at a grant through the State’s Water Infrastructure Improvement Act (WIIA) program.

At a recent special meeting of the Town Board, Supervisor Priscilla Penfold revealed the result: the Town hit a home run.

The Town of Dunkirk was recently awarded a grant through the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation WIIA program in an amount up to $1,377,000.

“This is really good news for the Town,” said Town of Dunkirk Supervisor Priscilla Penfold.

The grant funding will apply to the Shorewood Water District capital improvement project. In order to remain eligible to receive the WIIA grant funding, the Town must enter into a project finance agreement by Sept. 30, 2026.

The Town is planning to implement a new water line at the Shorewood Water District, among many other updates in the Town. However, because of how narrow the roads are in many parts of the Town, easements are often necessary for the work to proceed. That is the case with the Shorewood Water District.

Architects from CPL, in conjunction with Municipal Solutions, submitted the grant application this year. The Town Board agreed to compensate CPL for securing 89 easements throughout the Shorewood district, at a total cost of $26,477.50, which could be reimbursed through grant funding.

In recent months, securing the 89 required easements has not been a smooth process, as many residents were reluctant to grant permission for the project to proceed. As of mid-June, only 18 of the 89 required easements were signed and submitted to the Town. The Town held multiple informational meetings with an engineer present to answer any questions the residents had regarding the project, and a notary was present at each meeting to assist with the signing process.

Three months later, as of mid-September, the outstanding easements dropped from 71 to 28. When the Town received notice of the grant funding it has been awarded, the process of securing the remaining easements was still ongoing.

If the Town is unable to secure the necessary easements for the project to proceed, the Town reserves the right to pursue legal proceedings through eminent domain – a government process that converts private property to public use. Any costs incurred by the Shorewood Water District in the process – including legal costs – would be applied to all members of the District, not just those who did not submit their easement.

Easements can be submitted to the Town Clerk’s office, located at the Town Hall and Court, open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m., unless otherwise noted.

The Town Board also recently approved a contract with iWorQ, a cloud-based software system to assist the Town with its code enforcement, zoning, and other related duties of the Town. Members of the Town Board met with a representative from iWorQ to discuss the capabilities it would provide the Town.

“I think it’s a great tool. It’s going to really help efficiency,” Town Board member Shari Miller said.

Town Board member Jean Crane added, “We’re a busy office. We definitely need to have it.”

The Town has also declared its intent to continue with its Certificate of Deposit (CD) savings account with Community Bank. The value of the account exceeds $500,000, prior to receipt of interest. Crane said the Town has generated a significant amount of interest from utilizing the CD account.

The next meeting of the Dunkirk Town Board is Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 5:30 p.m. at the Dunkirk Town Hall and Court.