The Village of Sandy Creek wants New York State to help pay for a piece of equipment most residents never see: the telemetry system that tells water operators in Sandy Creek and Lacona whether tanks, pumps and lines are working correctly across their shared water supply.

At the Sandy Creek Village Board’s regular meeting July 8, Mayor Lynn Miller opened a public hearing on a Community Development Block Grant application for $571,600 to fund what the board calls the Joint Waterworks Telemetry System Improvement Project. The money would upgrade and modernize remote monitoring equipment for the water system the two villages operate together, according to minutes of the meeting posted by the Village of Sandy Creek.

The meeting took place at 7 p.m. in the Village Offices Building at 11 Park Street in Lacona, the address that houses Sandy Creek’s village government despite carrying its neighboring village’s mailing address, a detail that reflects how closely the two Oswego County villages already share administrative ground before any grant is awarded. Present were Mayor Miller and Trustees Lori LaRue and Sharon Turo, along with Clerk/Treasurer Megan Sprague, Code Enforcement Officer Jimmy Sprague and Fire Chief Lance Collins.

The board opened the meeting by approving minutes from two earlier sessions, the regular meeting held May 4 and a year-end meeting held May 26, and noted there had been no meeting in June. That makes July 8 the board’s first regular session in roughly six weeks, and the backlog of financial business on the agenda, two bill abstracts, a tractor purchase and a drainage transfer among them, reflects that gap. The minutes themselves carry a small clerical error: the opening line dates the meeting to “the eighth day of June in the year 2026,” even though the document is titled “July 8, 2026” and every other calendar reference in the text, including the note that there was no June meeting, places the session in July. This article follows the document’s title and internal dating rather than the one misdated line.

Under Resolution No. 7 of 2026, the board voted unanimously to designate the Village of Sandy Creek as the lead applicant for the joint CDBG submission on behalf of both villages. The resolution states the Joint Waterworks system “requires modernization of its telemetry and remote monitoring capabilities to ensure continued safe, efficient, and reliable operation.” Mayor Miller was authorized to sign the application materials, and the resolution is contingent on the villages finalizing an Intermunicipal Cooperation Agreement.

Because CDBG funding carries federal fair housing requirements, the board also passed Resolution No. 6 of 2026, designating Mayor Miller as the village’s Fair Housing Officer. The resolution states the village “has not been the subject of any fair housing proceeding” before any federal, state or local body, and requires the village to publicize the mayor’s role as the point of contact for fair housing complaints and to maintain related records going forward.

If the $571,600 grant is awarded, it would work out to roughly $439 for every resident of the two villages combined, based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 count of 646 residents in the Village of Sandy Creek and 657 in the Village of Lacona, a total of 1,303 people. That per-resident figure is a CNY Signal calculation, not one published by the villages or the state.

The board also worked through routine but substantial financial business. It approved two bill abstracts by a 2-0 vote: Abstract 01 totaling $150,130.57, split between $98,356.82 from the general fund and $51,773.75 from the water fund, and Abstract 02 totaling $107,317.46, with $106,986.84 from the general fund and $330.62 from the water fund.

Separately, Resolution No. 5 of 2026 approved $75,251.56 from the general fund’s unallocated balance to pay for a Tool Cat tractor, a compact utility machine villages commonly use for mowing, snow removal and small excavation jobs. The vote was unanimous.

As of June 30, 2026, the village reported a general fund balance of $726,473.98. Other reserve accounts stood at $23,859.87 for fire apparatus, $20,584.85 for drainage (before a later vote that night added to it), $38,716.58 in the water fund, $22,056.22 in the water capital reserve, and $0 in trust and agency. Those figures come directly from the treasurer’s report in the meeting minutes.

Code Enforcement Officer Jimmy Sprague’s report to the board centered on a property at 2070 Harwood Avenue owned by Becky Rudd. According to the minutes, Sprague told the board the building’s overall stability is in question, “as to not endanger the surrounding buildings.” Rudd did not attend the meeting but told Sprague she had an appointment the next day to address the property.

The board voted unanimously to give Rudd until Aug. 15, 2026, to put corrective action in place. If that deadline passes without action, the village will begin demolition proceedings. The board also authorized Sprague to hire structural engineer Mike Lasell after that date to formally declare the property unsafe if needed. CNY Signal has not independently inspected the property; the description of its condition comes from the code enforcement officer’s report as recorded in the minutes.

Fire Chief Lance Collins told the board the Sandy Creek Fire Department has been busier than usual. “There have been more fires than normal for this time of year,” the minutes record him saying. The minutes do not break the increase down by call type or give a comparison count against prior years, so CNY Signal cannot say how much busier the department has been, only that the chief characterized it as more than normal directly to the board. Collins also asked the board about repaving the firehall’s parking lot and said he is waiting on contractor quotes before bringing a project back to the board, meaning that repair, unlike the sidewalk work down the street, has not yet reached the bidding stage.

Two other appointed roles reported in, or didn’t. Village Historian Peggy Rice filed her report with the Village Clerk’s office, available to the public on request. Oswego County Legislator Michael Yerdon, who represents the district and typically updates the board on county business, was absent from the July meeting. The Sandy Creek Regional Planning Board did not meet in July, so it had no report either.

Under other business, the board granted a billing correction for Richard Turo, owner of the property at 6061-63 South Main Street. Sprague inspected the site and confirmed it holds only a storage shed with no water service and, in his assessment, no likely future water use. Villages typically charge every developed parcel an equivalent dwelling unit, or EDU, fee to cover fixed water system costs, whether or not the property is actually connected, so removing the charge required the board’s sign-off rather than a routine clerk adjustment. The board voted to remove the EDU charge from Account #2282, applying the change retroactively to erase the charge on the May 2026 water bill.

Clerk Sprague also brought the board a quote for email billing that would let water customers pay online. Rather than approve it, the board tabled the discussion and asked Sprague to research additional options that would let residents pay by credit or debit card, suggesting the village wants to compare more than one vendor before committing.

The mayor opened three sealed bids for sidewalk repair work on East 1st Street and part of South Main Street: Northwoods at $12,900, TKB at $11,900, and Independent Commercial Contractors at $18,000. The board awarded the contract to TKB, the low bidder, in a unanimous vote.

The Oswego County Fairground’s request for a fireworks permit for July 1, 2026, came in after the board’s prior meeting, so Clerk Sprague issued it with the mayor’s sign-off rather than waiting for a board vote. Members said they wanted the approval on the record but told the fairground it will need to apply earlier next year.

The longest discussion of the night centered on drainage work for South Main and East 1st streets, the same stretch getting new sidewalks. The board reviewed updated Consolidated Highway Improvement Program, or CHIPS, totals from the state Department of Transportation, landing around $19,000. Combined with roughly $32,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds that must be spent by December 2026 and the village’s drainage reserve account, board members concluded they might finally have enough to start the project. Minutes record the mayor saying he would reach out to the state DOT to see if the agency could offer additional help.

That same night, the board strengthened its own hand on the drainage question. Resolution No. 8 of 2026 moved $10,000 from the unallocated general fund balance into the drainage reserve account, a unanimous vote that the minutes say brings the drainage reserve to “around $30,500.” Using the board’s own numbers, that reserve, the $32,000 in ARPA funds and the roughly $19,000 in CHIPS money add up to a potential funding pool of about $81,500 for the South Main and East 1st Street drainage project, a total CNY Signal calculated from the figures in the minutes and not one stated by the board itself.

The meeting adjourned around 8:10 p.m. Minutes were respectfully submitted by Clerk/Treasurer Megan K. Sprague and posted to the Village of Sandy Creek’s website.

Sources and verification

• Sandy Creek Village Board meeting minutes, July 8, 2026, Village of Sandy Creek, accessed via villageofsandycreek.com
• U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census population figures for Sandy Creek village and Lacona village, Oswego County, New York