A state grant could fund the majority of repairs to the Westerlo Highway Garage, a task that the town has struggled to complete due to residents’ concerns about high cost.
Planning chairman Robert Price says the current Knox garage is structurally sound and can be upgraded for $62,000 while building a new garage would be costly.
"We'll do triage," Knox's Superintendent Vasilios Lefkaditis, told the town board as he showed pictures from a recent tour indicating problems at the highway garage and transfer station he said are too expensive for town funds to cover.
Including the public in plans for Westerlo's town buildings could improve plans as well as engendering support from the people who will have to fund it — the taxpayers.
The special election comes just a few months before a large general election but several years after stalled plans to fix a leaking roof and a weathered highway garage.