Delhi Town Board votes against agreement with NYC for Fire Tower Project

On Monday, February, 13^th, after three members of the Friends of the Fire Tower Board (accompanied by dozens of supporters) had presented strong supporting statements, the Delhi Town Council voted 3-2 against signing the required agreement with NYC/DEP to return the Fire Tower to Bramley Mountain.

The only explanation we have received for this vote against the tower is this short quote about the DEP agreement from Supervisor Tuthill which appeared in The Mountain Eagle article about the council’s decision: “There were so many unknowns about cost, control, and what the town would be responsible for.”  

What the Supervisor is saying about the costs is completely unfounded since the Friends of Bramley Mountain Fire Tower are covering 100% of the costs of the tower’s restoration, construction, ongoing maintenance and the expense of taking the tower down in the unlikely event that it should ever need to be.  A Memorandum of Agreement between the Friends and the Town would have spelled out all of the conditions and responsibilities of the Friends and cleared up any potential “unknowns.” The Town Supervisor had received the offer letter from the DEP back in August 2022, and, in all of that time, no effort was made to discuss any concerns with either the DEP or the Friends of the Fire Tower.

Supervisor Tuthill stated that the town would support putting the tower somewhere else in town, not on city owned property, but that option is not acceptable to the Friends or to the tower owners, the Clark Family.  The Bramley Mountain Fire Tower belongs on Bramley Mountain. We remain fully committed to this project, and we will explore every avenue for restoring the tower to its rightful home.

If you are as upset about this decision as we are, please, let Town Supervisor Mark Tuthill and Council Members Peg Baldwin and Bill Cairns know how you feel.  And, don’t forget to thank Council Members Matt Kzryston and Christina Viafore for their ongoing support of the fire tower. E-mail addresses for Council Members can be found on the Delhi Town website.