OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Village Clerk and Treasurer Roxanne Astry and the Village Trustees are entertaining avenues to finish the Bathhouse at the Beach project with the limited funding the village has available.

The village of Cassadaga is looking to get creative in ways to finish the Bathhouse at the Beach project scheduled for completion by this summer.

After the project was put out to bid, only two bidders came forward with a formal proposal. NCI proposed a cost of $166,900, while R&N Customs bid $110,052.90. Both figures are far out of reach from the budgeted American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding the village has, which totals $60,823.

“I did review the budget to see if we can come up with money for the bathhouse. At this point, I don’t think we can,” Village Clerk/Treasurer Roxanne Astry said.

In an effort to reduce the cost of the project, the Village Board is entertaining alternative solutions to finish the project. One of the ideas the village had was contracting the construction, plumbing, and electrical work through the Cassadaga Job Corps Center.

“I love that outside-of-the-box thinking,” Village Trustee Cathy Cruver said.

Astry reached out to Cassadaga Job Corps about the project. Astry said, “That’s a possibility, that we could go that route and just pay for the materials, and have the labor done.”

Another option the village will explore is going through BOCES for assistance with the project. Mayor Bill Dorman has a contact with BOCES that he could speak with to gauge interest on the project.

“I was just thinking a little bit more about that. If they were interested in something like that, we could pull BOCES and (Job Corps) together and see if they could review the bid package and come up with something,” Dorman said. “I don’t know, it’s kind of a wild idea.”

Deputy Mayor/Trustee Bill Astry said, “That’s something to pursue, absolutely.”

The village is also reevaluating options after an application for the Downtown Revitalization Planning Grant was denied.

“I have followed up and asked for clarification on the criteria they used to award those grants,” Cruver said. “I appreciate the letter, but it really didn’t give very many details on exactly why we weren’t successful. … I did ask for clarification, and I also asked for elaboration on the weaknesses of our application so we can perhaps be successful at another time with another award.”

Regarding the Make Ready Grant for electric vehicle charging stations, Cruver spoke with BECC Electric about the grant, which is supported by National Grid through New York State. The village remains interested in moving forward with seeking a Make Ready Grant.