Renovation project moves forward at North Salem's Delancey Hall

NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - The blue tarps draping North Salem’s Delancey Hall are a sure sign that the historic building’s reconstruction is finally fully underway.

The project started out as a routine exterior paint job, but as it moved along more and more problems were uncovered, starting with crumbling siding and windowsills.

Things really took a turn for the worse when a beam holding up the roof was found to be rotting.

“The engineers freaked out and had us put supports inside the building,” recalled Supervisor Warren Lucas.

Part of the plan is to remove, repair, and reinstall the circa-1760s Georgian-style building’s leaky windows.

Delancey Hall, featured on the town’s seal, houses town offices and is located on Titicus Road.

Certain employees, such as the town clerk and the supervisor’s chief of staff, have already moved to temporary quarters in Loebdell House, another town building, next door.

As of this writing, it wasn’t certain where Lucas himself would be situated.

The board had already authorized the issuance of about $400,000 in Bond Anticipation Notes (BAN) to cover the expanded project’s costs.

On July 22, it approved going for another $500,000.

BANs are short-term debt instruments that allow governments or municipalities to raise temporary funds for a project before they are ready to issue larger, more permanent bonds.

While the town hasn’t yet borrowed on the first set, the move was necessary because BANing a project too far after it’s already been started “isn’t really allowed,” Lucas explained.

It doesn’t mean that the town has to borrow the money, but it will be there when needed.

Some of the costs can be covered by using the town’s fund balances.

Lucas also said it may be able to get a “small grant” as well.

At any rate, “cash flow” is a concern and passing the BAN resolution was necessary in light of future bills.

The town’s Capital Planning Committee (CPC) was onboard, according to its chair, Councilwoman Katherine Daniels.

“This put us in the position of being able to bond if we need to,” she said, adding that “it was the sense of the committee that this is a project that’s going to benefit future taxpayers.”

“This gives us time to look at and decide how much fund balance we want to apply and how much we need to borrow,” she added.