CANAAN — Voters will be asked to approve a $3 million project to upgrade and repair the town’s water system at a special Town Meeting next month.

The infrastructure improvements, which involve replacing pipes, are needed to address levels of lead in the town’s drinking water and modernize distribution lines, Canaan officials said.

Polls will be open on Tuesday, Sept. 24, from 1 to 6 p.m. at the town’s Emergency Operations Center on Route 118.

The warrant article asks voters to OK a bond for $690,000, which is the amount the town is required to pay as a grant match. The bond will be repaid by the system’s approximately 160 users. 

If passed, the bond “will not affect the tax rate,” Town Administrator Chet Hagenbarth said at a public forum last month.

Costs for the bulk of the proposed $3 million project will be covered by state and federal grants.

A state Local Source Water Protection grant will provide $780,000 to remediate the lead contamination.

A $1.5 million Congressional Directed Spending award will help fund the distribution system upgrades.

Both grants require the authorization of Canaan residents no later than Sept. 30, or the funding will expire.

The reason for the redesign is that currently, “the water feeds the distribution system first and then back feeds the (storage) tank,” Hagenbarth said.

This leads to stagnation, because “you end up with water that is not turning over quick enough in the tank,” he added.

The redesign will feed water to the storage tank first, increasing the system’s overall water quality,  town officials said.

“We’re going to have to do this work anyway, no matter what happens,” Hagenbarth said at a public hearing on the project on July 30. “The question is, do we want to take the forgivable money?”

This is a “very badly-needed project,” Economic Development Committee Chairman Thomas Oppel said Thursday.

The water system has the capacity to accommodate more users, and Oppel said that he would like to see more business and residential customers on the existing water system.

“Obviously the more customers you put on the system, the more you spread out the cost,” he said.

It is a priority of the EDC to attract and retain businesses in the village.

The town was informed about both sources of funding by early 2023, but neither grant appeared on the Town Meeting warrant in March.

The reason for holding a special meeting next month, according to the town’s petition to Grafton County Superior Court, is that “there was significant turnover in Town personnel with knowledge of those awards and so no article was placed on the 2024 annual meeting warrant.”

The town argued in the petition, and the court ultimately agreed, that the impending expiration of the funding on Sept. 30 constituted an “unforeseen emergency” that merited permission to hold a special town meeting.

Canaan has endured unsettled administrative leadership in the past year.

Former Town Administrator Ned Connell left his position in May 2023, after less than a year in office.

The town was without a full-time administrator until the end of February 2024, when Hagenbarth, formerly the town manager in Killington, Vt., was hired.

Water system users can expect to see their rates go up in the near future, because the system has seen shortfalls of between $40,000 and $50,000 annually over the past few years.

“There is going to be a water rate increase irregardless of what happens with this vote,” Hagenbarth said.

The good news is that correcting the water rates will help offset the overall project cost.

“Once we get the rate structure in alignment with state requirements, we will then be eligible to receive additional forgiveness,” Hagenbarth said at the public hearing.

A deliberative session is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 24, at 9 a.m. in the Emergency Operation Center.

Christina Dolan can be reached at cdolan@vn ews.com or 603-727-3208.