The Constantia Town Board packed a single June meeting with more paperwork than most towns generate in a season. In minutes filed for the June 16, 2026 session, the board adopted two resolutions setting July 21 public hearings on new local laws, approved a $950,000 borrowing measure for a new town hall, and heard an engineering update on the North Shore Sewer Project that has been in the works since 2019.

The two new local laws are Local Law No. C of 2026, described in the resolution as “A Local Law Establishing a Noise Control Ordinance Within the Town of Constantia,” and Local Law No. D of 2026, which would repeal the town’s 2010 dog control law and replace it with an updated version. Councilor Cory Monroe introduced both measures, with Councilor Thomas Moran seconding. The board determined each law qualifies as an “unlisted action” under the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act, meaning a full environmental impact statement is not required, and issued a negative declaration for both after reviewing a short environmental assessment form.

Under the resolutions, the town scheduled both public hearings for July 21, 2026, at 6 p.m. at Constantia Town Hall, 14 Frederick Street. The noise control resolution carried on a vote of three councilors in favor, with Councilor Michael Donegan absent and no supervisor vote recorded in the minutes for that measure. The dog control resolution carried with three councilors and Supervisor Ronald Chapman Jr. voting yes, also with Donegan absent. Neither resolution’s text spells out specific decibel limits, curfew hours, or leash provisions in the minutes reviewed for this story. Those details would be aired at the July 21 hearing itself.

The sewer project remains the town’s largest and longest running undertaking. Engineer Mr. Powers of Barton and Loguidice, who could not attend the June meeting, submitted a written report that Supervisor Chapman read into the record. The report described a narrow but real path toward funding the Constantia Bernhards Bay Sewer District, a project the town’s own project summary page says would serve between 900 and 1,100 homes along the north shore of Oneida Lake through more than 24 miles of low pressure sewer main.

According to the town’s project summary page, the project was originally estimated at about $32 million in 2019 under an intermunicipal agreement with the Village of Cleveland. That agreement was terminated by the Village of Cleveland on April 26, 2024, and the current estimate on the same town page has grown to roughly $72 million. The engineer’s June 16 report did not restate that total figure, but it laid out where new money could come from over the following six weeks.

Two numbers drove the update. First, an income survey completed by the engineering firm G&G came back with a district median household income of $60,000, a threshold the report said qualifies the town for a zero interest state hardship loan and federal Community Development Block Grant funds. Second, the town’s application scored 126 points on the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation’s 2026 Intended Use Plan, the ranking list that determines which projects reach the front of the funding line.

The report also flagged a structural condition: funding agencies have told the town that the regional Southern Oswego County Regional Interceptor Sewer project, known as SOCRIS, must be funded and underway before Constantia’s own project becomes eligible for state money. SOCRIS would carry wastewater from Constantia south along a rail trail corridor to the City of Fulton’s treatment plant. The June 16 report noted a win on that front: $12 million for SOCRIS was included in the state’s fiscal year 2026 to 2027 budget resolution, which the report called “a huge win for SOCRIS and all projects involved.” Oswego County Legislator Roy Reehil, who attended the meeting, echoed that assessment, calling the budget inclusion “a huge step for Oswego County.”

With SOCRIS money now in the state budget, the report said SOCRIS design work would begin in July, which in turn was expected to help Constantia’s own applications. Two of those applications carry hard deadlines inside the story’s window. A Water Infrastructure Improvement Act grant application is due July 27, 2026, and the project is eligible for up to 25 percent of net project costs, capped at $25 million, with an additional subsidy of up to $2 million available to eligible communities. A separate Department of Environmental Conservation Water Quality Improvement Program grant application is due July 31, 2026, with that program capped at $10 million for the project. Add those maximums to the $1.75 million federal STAG grant the town has already secured, and by CNY Signal’s calculation the town is pursuing access to as much as $37 million in state and federal grant capacity through the two late July deadlines alone, on top of the $12 million in state SOCRIS funding that is a prerequisite for its own award.

The report also noted the town has already spent about $300,000 that appears eligible for reimbursement under the STAG grant, and that the town is still waiting on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to approve spending the rest of that award. A procurement flexibility request tied to that approval went into EPA review on February 12, 2026. Meanwhile, sanitary survey testing of septic systems is ongoing to support the separate DEC water quality application, with the report noting the town is “coordinating with residents” on inspections.

Wastewater was not the only big dollar item on the June 16 agenda. Greg Baird, chairman of the Constantia Fire District Commission, appeared with fellow commissioners Charles Gibbs and Richard Rathbun to brief the board on a new fire engine. According to the minutes, the new engine will cost $1.2 million. The district’s special reserve account holds $1 million toward that purchase, and commissioners decided to put $800,000 down at time of purchase. By CNY Signal’s calculation, that would leave the district financing roughly $400,000 of the total cost while retaining about $200,000 in its reserve account. Fire District No. 1 residents were told they could vote on the purchase from 6 to 8 p.m. on July 14, 2026.

The board also acted on the town’s own building plans. Councilman Daniel Poné introduced a budget modification adding $950,000 in bond anticipation note proceeds to the general fund, tied to converting a building at 1667 State Route 49 into the town’s new town hall. The modification raised the capital improvement line for buildings and equipment to a new balance of $1,850,000. The resolution passed on a roll call vote with Chapman, Monroe, Moran and Poné voting yes and Donegan absent. Chapman told residents during public comment that he was hopeful contractors would begin work on July 6, 2026, with completion targeted by the end of December 2026.

Highway Superintendent E. John Whitney reported that with the state budget now passed, the town’s reimbursement under the state Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program, known as CHIPS, would rise from $182,492 to $563,662.51. The board adopted a matching budget modification the same night, introduced by Councilman Moran and seconded by Poné, passing on a roll call vote with all four present members voting yes.

Whitney also told the board he expected oil and stone road work to begin around June 24, 2026, with paving to follow and wrap up by the end of July if conditions allow. Separately, the board approved a $20,898.60 purchase of an outdoor wood boiler from a vendor identified in the minutes as Handy Charlie, after Whitney worked with the town’s bookkeeper to identify which budget accounts could cover the cost.

The meeting also closed out one era of town government. After 20 years of service to Constantia, first as town justice and later as town attorney, Warren Bader submitted his resignation. Chapman told residents an attorney would still be reachable by phone even without one present at every meeting, and the board accepted Bader’s resignation with thanks. Separately, planning and zoning board member Mr. Mura resigned, and the board appointed Brien Connelly, who already serves on the zoning committee, as second alternate on the planning board.

James Peck, who chairs both the planning and zoning boards, updated the board on the town’s comprehensive rezoning effort. He outlined a seven step process running from a final draft agreed to by the zoning commission, through a preview session with the town board, an initial public hearing, mandatory review by Oswego County Planning under state General Municipal Law 12-B, a second round of changes, and a final public hearing before adoption. Peck told the board he expects the process to wrap up by the end of the year.

Town Historian Mrs. Kieffer’s report tied the meeting to the community’s civic calendar for the weeks ahead. The Oswego County Fair was set to run July 1 through July 5, with Kieffer planning to staff the heritage building for at least two days. She was also finalizing Constantia’s own History Hop event, celebrating the town’s past and present with participation from local businesses and fire departments, set for July 18 and promoted jointly by Oswego County Tourism, the Oswego County Historians and the Oneida Lake Chamber of Commerce. Kieffer also reported she was invited to give a presentation on Frenchman’s Island at a “History on Tap” event in Oswego on July 7, and that she had ridden the historic vessel Seneca Chief from Sylvan Beach to Brewerton.

Park and Recreation Commission Chair Erin Zehr reported the town’s summer recreation program, again run jointly with the Town of West Monroe, would run June 30 through August 13, open to children from Constantia, Bernhards Bay, Cleveland and West Monroe, with no out of town children admitted. Zehr said the town beach was open on a limited, mostly weekend schedule depending on weather and staffing. The annual Military Band and Fireworks event, traditionally a signature summer date, was moved to August 8 to accommodate the band’s schedule, and a family night featuring live music from Ron Hurne was set for August 2.

Taken together, the June 16 minutes describe a town simultaneously writing new rules for noise and dogs, financing a new town hall and a new fire engine, and racing two state grant deadlines in the same month it is also running its summer recreation program and celebrating its history at a festival named for the very thing local officials are trying to modernize. The public hearings on both new local laws, and the outcomes of the two grant applications, were not yet reflected in minutes published by the town clerk’s office as of this writing.

Sources and verification

This story is based on the verbatim minutes of the Constantia Town Board meeting of June 16, 2026, filed by Town Clerk Clare Haynes and posted at constantiany.gov, the town’s official sewer project summary page at constantiany.org, and the town’s posted July 21, 2026 town board meeting agenda. Dollar figures, vote counts and dates are quoted or drawn directly from those documents. Two figures, the combined $37 million grant capacity and the approximate $400,000 fire engine financing amount, are explicitly labeled in the text as calculations performed by CNY Signal from figures published in the minutes.