Debby Mayer is reporting in The Columbia Paper the Germantown Town Board last month approved an upgrade to the town's 20-year-old wastewater treatment plant. Mary Beth Bianconi, senior project manager with Delaware Engineering, P.C., of Albany, attended the board's public meeting February 21, to review the need for the plant’s renovation, the history of research done for funding, a timeline and costs. Bianconi said the town applied for state financing, but was found to be ineligible. That funding is intended for towns with environmental problems and a lack of funds; Germantown suffers from neither. As for next steps -- public hearing will be scheduled, followed by a state environmental quality review. The town expects the project to go out to bid next winter and ground would be broken in the spring of 2018. The cost of the options presented at the meeting would total anywhere from $1.9 million to $2.43 million. There are no immediate plans to expand the sewer district, so only households that use the service will pay for it. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.