Electric Services
Electric service is provided by Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. and is available to all developed properties in the Town of Inlet with the exception of some properties on the Uncas Road. The transmission facilities are all above ground and are reported to be at or near maximum capacity. Service interruptions are frequent, but generally are of short duration. Rates are considered to be above average.
Phone Services
Phone service is provided by Frontier a Citizens Communications Company and is available to all developed properties in the Town of Inlet with the exception of some properties on the Uncas Road. The transmission facilities are all above ground and service interruptions are rare. Most service is provided on wire pairs at voice rate. There is no high-speed digital service available and no present plan to offer this service. Rates are considered to be about average.
Wireless Phone Services
Wireless Phone service (Cellular Service) is provided by Cellular One in Herkimer County, with two towers in the Old Forge area. Verizon Wireless provides service in Hamilton County, with the closest tower in the Lake Eaton area. The Hamlet of Inlet is in a dead spot between these providers and service is non-existent.
Cable TV Services
Cable TV service is provided by Adelphia and is available to all developed properties in the Town of Inlet with the exception of some properties on the Uncas Road, South Shore Road and Limekiln Road past the Ole Barn. Service reliability is tied to the reliability of electric service. Rates are considered to be about average.
Internet Services
Internet service is provided by Capital Net and is available to all properties in the Town of Inlet with dial-up service. Many subscribers have had service problems over time. Rates are considered to be about average.
Water and Sewage Services
Public Sewage service is non-existent. Sewage is handled by private septic systems. Public Water is provided by Turkey Water Works serving a minimal amount of homes along the South Shore Road and Gilbert Road. Other water is provided by private wells.
Police
The Town of Inlet established a police department around 1969 to provide police protection for the residents and visitors of Inlet. Today, the department consists of three sworn officers. The department provides full time law enforcement coverage to its residents. Generally, one patrol is deployed on the day shift and one patrol is deployed on the afternoon shift. Between shifts, officers work on a call- out basis.
The Police department has two 4-wheel drive patrol vehicles. Additionally, the department maintains two snowmobiles, which are essential in the winter months, particularly for enforcement relating to the widespread recreational use of snowmobiles in the Town.
The department also employs one dispatcher. Inlet police department dispatchers dispatch police, fire, and ambulance calls within the Town, as well as calls for the highway and parks departments. The dispatch function is staffed during the day. During the afternoon and night shifts, dispatching is covered by Herkimer County. Enhanced 911 dispatch services are also provided by Herkimer County.
The State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations provides assistance to the Inlet Police Department for the investigation of serious crime.
The Hamilton County Sheriffs Office patrols the lakes and waterways in the Town.
Much of the land area in Inlet is wilderness. However, there are campsites and trails throughout the town, which require police response to those areas. Many of these areas have to be accessed by foot, small plane, or by boat. This presents a unique problem, not only to law enforcement but to other emergency personnel as well.
Volunteer Fire Department
In June of 1923, twenty-one years after the incorporation of the Town of Inlet, a meeting sparked by W. Lewis Army Armstrong along with other concerned men of the Town was held to talk about starting a fire department. The motivating factor was frustration after watching a home burn to the ground, with no way to prevent such a tragedy in the future. The meeting was held upstairs in Trottier’s Place. All in attendance decided to hold a future meeting to put into place the selection of officers and fire chiefs. This future meeting resulted in the following: W. Lewis Army Armstrong president, Doc Jones Vice President, Fred Trottier Chief, Modest Fredette First Assistant, and Dominick Fredette Second Assistant. At the next meeting there was a conflict of voting in new members, with a few voting negative on the men. The outcome was that the newly organized fire department was in trouble. President Armstrong called a private meeting in his kitchen after talking with some friends, Charlie O’Hara, Len Harwood and Harry Hall, concluding that a few should not stop the process of the developing volunteer fire department. At the meeting a new fire company was started named the Inlet Volunteer Hose Company, which was later incorporated.
The early equipment was an old Ford purchased from C. Ray Harvey in Boonville and a pump was installed on it. The newly organized department needed to look at real fire apparatus, so they turned to a friend, Joe Sullivan for advice. He was connected with American LaFrance in Utica. A salesman came to talk with the department about equipment and produced a figure of over $10,000.00 but the new hose company had only a balance of $100.00 in the bank. It was decided to raise the money through donations. Sears Roebuck donated $25.00, Raquette Lake Supply gave $500.00, and many others pledged various amounts toward the new apparatus. The down payment was to be $3,500.00. A meeting was called to vote on the motion whether to order the apparatus. The voting procedure was to have the secretary call each member to cast his vote, yes or no. O. Clarence Lee and Evi Vanarmun voted no. President Armstrong asked Clarence whether he would have voted yes if the department had the cash. Although he responded that he would, he ultimately voted against the purchase after the funds were raised. The truck was ordered due to a promise from Archie Delmarsh that he would help out if funds were insufficient.
The new truck came to Eagle Bay in a boxcar on a Friday afternoon with Pop Mosher there to unload it. There were many proud men to ride home in the new truck to Inlet, and everyone showed up on Saturday to drive and learn all there was in working various apparatus. About 10:00 AM Sunday morning, Walt Rosa came running across the road to the garage telling that Mingo Lodge was on fire. When the department got there, they discovered there was no road to the lake and concluded that no man in his right mind would drive a truck down that hill. In their excitement, they drove the truck over the hill, over the cesspool, and to where they could get water. The whole roof was on fire and the big line was able to knock the fire down fast. After the fire was out, there came the job of getting the truck back up the hill. It took fifty men, ropes, and bridging of the cesspool.
They had the truck about two weeks when it was put to a big test. The pavilion theater caught on fire and Fred Trottier ran across the street yelling, “Fire!” That night, the town could have been lost without the fire truck. The truck was placed in back of Parkeys. Ben Sperry manned one line in front of the building that he put on Berkowtes once, and then on the Gaiety Theater. On the roof of the Gaiety were Floyd Puffer and Harold Young. When their nozzles blew off, they would squeeze the end of the hose to get water to the fire. They eventually put the fire out and thus saved two buildings. Within a few days, Chief Joe Sullivan came up from Utica and looked the job over. He concluded that his men in Utica could not have saved the building, which gave the local men a vote of confidence. In 1926, Armstrong was elected chief. He was not satisfied with the LaFrance since it was difficult to get into places, so settled on a small Chevrolet truck with a front mounted pump. This worked well in dealing with futures fires. Over the years, the Inlet Volunteer Hose Company has evolved into a modern fire-fighting unit, still maintaining its volunteer status. In 1995, the Inlet Volunteer Hose Company formed a corporation with the Inlet Volunteer Ambulance Squad, each having its own independence, but under the umbrella of the Inlet Volunteer Emergency Services. A new firehouse and ambulance barn was erected on the corner of Limekiln Road and Route 28, which remains the site of the Inlet Volunteer Emergency Services. In this building is a 1936 American LaFrance fire truck that is still working and known as “Big Red”.
Inlet Volunteer Ambulance Squad
In the past year, we have had a difficult time retaining volunteers. This problem is not unique to us and is probably due to a number of reasons. The time commitment that people must give as a volunteer is very extensive. Our average call lasts about four hours; last year we had 179 calls. To become qualified to be an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) requires 150 hours of classroom training. To go on a higher level involves many more hours. This does not include travel, drills and meetings. Also, most calls are not predictable, therefore members may experience loss of time from work and family. Another deterrent is the pressure of the calls. We have many Advanced Life Support (ALS) calls that are truly life and death. We are over an hour from any hospital. This places tremendous stress on our volunteers. In the last year, we have seen our volunteer base slowly eroding away. To combat this problem, we have begun to look at paying our ALS personnel to cover our EMS calls. By summer we plan to have a program in place. We feel this is the only way that our EMS service will continue in the future. It is our hope that by providing ALS to our Basic EMS personnel they will gain confidence and increase participation so that we can continue to maintain a volunteer ambulance service.
Transportation, Highways, Parking
The Town of Inlet Highway Department maintains and plows seven miles of Town roads, seven miles of County roads and eighteen miles of State roads. Within the Inlet highway system are Barkeater Avenue, Butler Boulevard, Campsite Road, Carp Drive, Channel Road, Cliff House Road, Corr Lane, Deerwood Drive, Deerwood Drive South, Deerwood Drive West, Demming’s Main Street, Drake Lane, Evans Road, Gaiety Road, Gilbert Road, Glen Iris Road, Gloo Road, Heroux Hill, Highland Trail, Island Avenue, Jasper Day Trail, Jones Road, Kelley Road, Ledgedale, Limekiln Road, Loomis Road, Murdock Mountain, North Star Road, Neodack Shores, Paownyc, Parkhurst Road, Reis Lane, Rocky Point Circle, Rocky Point Lane, Seventh Lake Road, Shady Lane, Sixth Lake Road, Solvay Lane, South Shore Road, Stock Lane, Tamarack Road, Tiffany Place, Tyler Road, Uncas Road, VanTassel Lane.
The Highway Department is involved in the bike and walking paths between Rocky Point and Clark’s Marina. This is funded through a grant from the New York State Department of Transportation Ice T Program. Route 28 underwent a partial reconstruction from Cedar Creek through the Town of Inlet to Drake’s Inn in 2001.
The Highway Department does more than just maintenance of roads. Some other services provided are working with the Landfill Department as well as Parks and Recreation Department. Other services provided are plowing sidewalks, cleaning snow from the downtown area, as well as sweeping the streets in the spring and summer weekly street sweeping in the downtown area. The department also maintains and replaces sidewalks when necessary.
As the Inlet tourist business is growing, the Highway Department is expanding the parking area at the Fern Park, for the various events that are so well attended. For the winter season, the Department has built a sledding hill for the tourists and residents to enjoy in Fern Park.
Transfer Station
In the fall of 1990 Hamilton County in cooperation with the Town of Inlet opened a recycling center to handle the recyclables from the northern towns of the County.
In 1993 Inlet started to haul its solid waste to Indian Lake.
At that time the County entered into a contract with Development Authority of the North Counrty (DANC) for the disposal of all Hamilton County trash.
The Town of Inlet during the months of July and August generates about 20 tons of trash a week and during this same time Inlet generates 2,600 pounds of corrugated cardboard, 1,000 pounds of milk jug plastic, 1,000 pounds of clear plastic, 500 pounds of #2 colored plastic, 3,000 pounds of newspaper per week and 15 tons of glass for the two months. During the winter months Inlet generates about 5 tons of trash, 500 pounds of corrugated cardboard, 200 pounds of milk jug plastic, 150 pounds of clear plastics, 50 pounds of #2 colored plastic per week, 10 tons of newspaper for the next 10 months and 20 tons of glass for the same period of time.
The Town of Inlet employs one full time person and one part time 20 hours a week during the summer. Hamilton County employs one full time person and during the summer one 40 hours a week person.
Inlet is still able to burn brush and clean lumber but this could be stopped by the State at any time. We can still dispose of tires, metals and stumps.
Hamilton County is looking to expand its recycling market and hopes to be able to recycle a greater variety of products.
Parks, Docks, Boat Launches
Inlet has two parks. Arrowhead Park has public restrooms, a picnic area, lighted ball field, children’s playground, tennis courts, sand beach, pavilion and rental cottages. Fern Park has a ball field, sliding hill, cross country ski trails, indoor and outdoor basketball court, a pavilion with ice-skating and public restrooms. A dock is located in Arrowhead Park along the inlet and extends into Fourth Lake. Inlet has four public boat launches owned and maintained by the State of New York located on Fourth, Seventh and Eighth Lakes.
Public Education
The Inlet Common School was established in 1906 when the smaller of the two existing buildings was built. The larger building was built between 1921 and 1926, and these buildings have served as an elementary school ever since with the capacity to accommodate up to 50 students. The buildings are inspected every year and are maintained according to State mandates. The small school building has been renovated and is used for art, speech and the principal's office. Until 1946, junior high and senior high school students were bussed to Raquette Lake School and since then, they have been bussed to the Town of Webb School. The Town of Inlet pays the Town of Webb tuition for all Inlet children who attend school there and the formula for determining the tuition is set by the State of New York. The capital expenditures made by the Town of Webb School to improve and expand the building are having an effect on future tuition fees. The Town of Inlet Board of Education and the Town of Webb Board of Education have a good working relationship, meet annually and have the best interests of the students' education and welfare as their main objective.
In 2000, some parental concerns were raised about the quality of education and social development of students attending the Inlet School. This led to a referendum put before the Inlet voters that considered either closing the Inlet School and having all students tuitioned to the Town of Webb School, or keeping the Inlet School open. The voters decided to keep the school open. The Board of Education then decided to hire a part time principal to address the parental concerns, and improvements have been made resulting in a more positive atmosphere at the school.
In addition to the normal academic program, the Inlet School offers aerobics, alpine and Nordic skiing, music and art. The Parent Teacher Partners (PTP) purchase season passes for the students at McCauley Mountain Ski Center and have also has been buying computers for the school. There is the possibility of networking the computers and a T1 line has been investigated for high-speed Internet access. The teachers are using the computers with the students more than ever. The Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake brings programs to the school. The fifth and sixth grade classes take a class trip to Albany each year. Special Needs programs, outside the resources of the Inlet School staff, are subcontracted for through the Town of Webb School and/or BOCES and provide special education and pre-school services.
The student population has fluctuated over the years. In the 1960s, enrollment was high, and then enrollment declined through the 1970s and 1980s. Currently 36 elementary students are enrolled in the school and the Town of Inlet pays tuition for about 20 junior high and senior high school students to attend the Town of Webb School. There are a large number of pre-school children in Inlet and this suggests that enrollments in the near future may rise substantially. The school is staffed with four full time teachers, a part time music teacher, a part time art teacher, a teacher's aid and a part time principal. The school also employs a full time custodian. Bus service is provided to transport students to and from the Town of Webb School and for some elementary students attending the Inlet School.