Riga board votes on Gough Road maintenance

A long-time practice by the Town of Riga to maintain and plow Gough Road will continue. The resolution was voted on by board members at a November 6 board meeting and the approval came following a close to two-hour discussion, according to Supervisor Pam Moore.

"A resolution was introduced to have the town provide snow and ice removal and perform minimal maintenance and repairs," Moore said. "The resolution was amended twice before it was adopted unanimously."

The resolution, passed by a three to two margin, called for the highway superintendent to develop a policy, conduct training and require that a second employee be present and act as a watch person on the unguarded railroad crossing any time work or plowing was done. "We passed the resolution this way in order to provide for the safety of highway department employees and to reduce liability to the town."

According to residents on Gough Road, when they spoke in August, road maintenance had been performed since 1946 by the town highway department. Gough is a dead end road that is three-quarters of a mile long, has three homes and seven property owners.

In August, residents discovered that the town wasn't going to maintain the road after calls were placed to the town requesting minor road repairs. Residents said they had never received any word that maintenance wasn't going to be performed and the situation had been up in the air until the November 6 meeting.

At that time, Moore explained that although the town had been in the practice of providing the courtesy of road maintenance, that would put the town at risk for liability. No maintenance by the town was performed in 2005 and none had been performed in 2006.

Neal Totten, who runs a Christmas tree farm on Gough Road, said, "I'm grateful the board decided to maintain the road. I'm not celebrating because the maintenance shouldn't have been discontinued in the first place."

Totten said he appreciated the community stepping forward and offering its support. "This was a frustrating process and was unnecessary and wasteful of time and money. I'm glad its over and that maintenance will continue."

While neither a town nor the NYS DOT can maintain a private road, it is common in this geographic area and it happens around many of the Finger Lakes. Maintenance of private roads is sometimes done by the owner or sometimes a neighborhood association is formed and those who use the road join together and arrange for summer maintenance and snow plowing. What is done varies.

A private road, such as Gough Road, can become a public one if the owners ask that the road be dedicated. In other circumstances, the municipality can assume this responsibility, but, this requires a period of continuous maintenance.

November 12, 2006