The Southold Town Board presented the highway department with a plaque this afternoon to officially christen the new state-of-the-art maintenance facility at the Southold Town Highway Department compound in Peconic.
The modern one-story structure, which cost about $2.4 million to construct, includes lifts capable of accommodating all types of highway vehicles, ample storage, office space and EPA approved waste oil heaters. The building was part of a $3.7 million upgrade to the highway department facility which included installation of a fueling facility at the compound.
On hand for the ceremony was Pete Harris, former superintendent of highways for the town. Harris was instrumental in getting the project going, inspecting similar facilities in other towns and helping decide on the design.
“This building pretty much has the footprint of one of Riverhead Town’s buildings,” said Harris. “They were gracious enough to let us have their plans.”
Harris complimented Southold Town engineers Jamie Richter and Michael Collins, L.K. McLean Associates and town mechanics for following his vision.
“Bottom line is that it’s heartwarming to know that dreams do come true,” said Harris. “This was a dream and it’s reality now.”
Councilman Bill Ruland, who oversaw the project on behalf of the town board, said he was proud to have been part of a project that helped present and future workers do their jobs in a safe, clean, well-lit and well-designed building.
“It’s heartwarming to see the final product and to see everyone working together. There was no one person who was responsible for this. Everybody had ideas and those ideas were all discussed,” he said. “Everything about this project was thought through. The building is even laid out and oriented to the sun to take advantage of solar power in the future.”
Also present at the ceremony were Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell, members of the Town Board, retired highway department mechanic George Rohrbach, highway superintendent Vincent Orlando and highway department workers.
