By Zach Simeone

RENSSELAERVILLE — Pearson Road is finally getting a new culvert pipe.

At its Jan. 8 meeting, the town board unanimously accepted a $298,000 bid from Dan’s Hauling and Demolition, Inc. to undertake the long-discussed Pearson Road culvert project.

“It’s a removal of the existing culvert and replacing it with a new, pre-cast concrete culvert,” Town Attorney Joseph Catalano told The Enterprise this week.

“It’s a box culvert; it’s like a big square,” he said. “The deteriorated condition of the culvert has been known to the highway superintendent, who alerted the board about it a couple years ago. The condition has been monitored, and it’s to the point where it needs to be replaced relatively soon, due to age and water damage. The reason why it was put off was because of finances, and trying to have enough money within the town budget to do that. The town has a number of these large culverts that almost operate like bridges. We replaced one a couple years ago, and this one was the next in line,” Catalano said.

Other business

In other business at its Jan. 8 meeting, the town board:

— Heard from Nadina Cavallaro of Radical Systems on possible solutions for backing up the town’s computer systems. No motion was made on purchasing related equipment;

— Appointed Andrea Cornwell as its new bookkeeper and clerk, to be paid $21,387 for the coming year;

— Chose Sickler, Torchia, Allen, and Churchill CPAs out of Hudson, N.Y., for its annual audit; and

— Thanked Ken McCulloch for his work on the zoning board of appeals, of which he was a member since its inception almost 20 years ago, and voted to accept his resignation.