The council rejected the resolution for a second time due to lack of information, they said.

The Gloversville Department of Public Works finally moved into its new public works facility on Aug. 12 at the former Wood and Hyde tannery.

The facility at the corner of West 9th Street and Wood Street, features an updated office space, showers and a brand new building set to house public works equipment.

Mayor Vince DeSantis said the six-acre property will increase the department’s overall efficiency and performance, and that he estimates the city has spent more than $2 million on the project.

In 2018, the common council looked at several options for a new building, settling on the former tannery.

“It’s going to make it much more efficient. It’ll be much more organized,” DeSantis said. “The old facility was very antiquated, there [weren’t] a lot of rooms. When all the trucks were inside, you could walk around them and everything, but it was cramped. In this building now, there’s space, the facilities are new and very usable. The mechanics will be able to work on the equipment much more efficiently.”

The office building, which was built in 1974, was renovated by Plank Construction Services, which is based out of Schenectady.

“It’ll increase morale too, because [employees are] working in a new facility that looks better and feels better,” DeSantis said. “I mean, there are things like showers and that type of thing. People can take a shower before they go home, and it’s just a nice facility.”

DeSantis estimates the new facility is over 20,000 square-feet.

It’s “much bigger,” DeSantis said. “I would imagine the old facilities [were] less than half that.”

The new facility also allows other departments to expand.

Council member Marcia Weiss (D-1st Ward) said that the police department will be moving into DPW Director Deanna Hitchcock’s office in city hall as part of the change.

“Their offices are right down the hall from it, so they can just expand,” she said. “They don’t have enough space for when they arrest people and stuff, there’s really no place to put them where they are [so] that they can talk to people privately. It’s just not a great setup the way it is right now — they’ve outgrown their space, so this is going to be great for the police also.”

Weiss said she’s incredibly excited that the facility is finally completed and has occupants.

“It’s beautiful, it’s really, really nice,” she said. “They’ve been working on it for a long time. I went on a tour of it about two weeks ago, and I was shocked at how nice it was… I’m so happy for them.”

According to the city’s Facebook page, all forms and payments will still be handled within City Hall at the City Clerk’s Office. Phone numbers and email addresses will remain the same for DPW personnel.

Some cold drinks are displayed for sale recently inside Whitey’s in Johnstown.

Soft drinks, water and other beverages are sold by Whitey’s, but the deli is now much less of a convenience store compared to when it operated elsewhere in Johnstown and sold gasoline and cigarettes.

“We probably know a good 80 percent of people who walk through our door,” said Heather Melita, co-owner of the Johnstown deli and catering shop Whitey’s.

Spouses and business partners Heather and Steve “Whitey” Melita have operated the Johnstown deli Whitey’s since 2006.

Erickson

Large orders of barbecued chicken are cooked in this pit, located outside Whitey’s delicatessen.

Salads are some of the top sellers at Whitey’s, according to the owners of the Johnstown deli and catering shop.

A sign for the Johnstown deli and catering shop Whitey’s is posted above the building at 204 N. Perry St.

The smell under the gasoline pump........

© The Leader Herald