Efforts to remove fallen trees from Eighteenmile Creek will continue soon in the town of Boston.
Prisoners from the Erie County Correctional Facility in Alden will be brought to the town to remove logs from the creek again this year, Councilman Richard Hawkins announced during the Town Board meeting Wednesday night, May 20.
The water has dropped to a level where the logs can be removed more easily, he added afterward.
“It’s better to come in when the creek is down right now,” he said.
The inmates will pull logs from the creek behind the town park and an area adjacent to town property near Colonial Drive.
Hawkins also expects logs to be removed near the Hillcroft Drive bridge and the Moran property on Back Creek Road. He said the Erie County Soil and Water District and a county contractor will handle that project.
After the logs have been extracted, those areas will be “rip rapped,” a procedure in which the bank is covered with rocks to prevent further erosion.
Afterward, Supervisor William Eagan praised Hawkins’ involvement in the log removal.
“Richie’s done a superb job and has been quite aggressive,” he said.
The board also authorized Eagan to sign a contract with Miracle Recreation Equipment Co. to install new playground equipment at North Boston Park.
A $25,000 state grant will fund most of the $27,697 expense. The rest will come from a town recreation fund, Eagan said.
He emphasized that all the playgrounds have been refurbished in recent years.
“Every playground in the town has either received new equipment or has been upgraded in some fashion,” he said.
Board members also tabled a request from the Boston Girls’ Softball League to improve the fields.
In a letter to Eagan, Angela McCaffrey, the league’s secretary, wrote that the fields, especially diamonds 4 and 5, are in “poor condition.”
She also wrote that the league is willing to buy clay for the fields if the town will provide the equipment to clear the fields and set the clay.
Eagan plans to meet with the Recreation Committee to discuss shifting the softball games to North Boston Park for most of the summer while the fields are repaired.
Board members may discuss the matter again at their next meeting at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 3.
The board also tabled a request from Richard Laing, an Eden resident, to install an antenna on the town’s radio tower at Patchin Fire Station 2 at 8123 Cole Road.
Laing wrote that the antenna would allow more coverage for the Interlink System, a group of amateur radio repeaters owned by licensed operators. He also wrote that it will not interfere with emergency communications.
Board members desired more time to review the request.
“We want to proceed with caution because we want to make sure we notify the county that there is a signal,” Eagan said.
The board also appointed Arthur Hann to a fire police position in the Boston Fire Company.
In a separate matter, Highway Superintendent Robert Telaak said afterward that the Highway Department will continue to pick up brush but does not have the personnel to remove leaves in the spring.