SOUTHWICK – The Select Board and DPW Director Randy Brown discussed policies involving town roads this week.
A Snow and Ice Policy, which is not mandatory by the state, is strongly recommended by municipalities and allows them to have a set of guidelines for plowing snow on roads throughout town. The policy includes snow maintenance which features types of treatment on each road, on-street parking rules, and a mailbox replacement policy.
Despite the Snow and Ice Policy, the Select Board and Brown went more in depth with a recent policy that was approved as a town bylaw at the annual town meeting this past May.
Southwick DPW Director Randy Brown. (Photo courtesy of Greg Fitzpatrick)
The maintenance of private roads is required by Massachusetts General Law and the maintenance policy is in conjunction with the snow and ice policy as it identifies standards private roads need to meet in order to be plowed by the DPW.
“Our goal through this whole process is to make sure we are in compliance with mass general law,” said Brown.
The maintenance policy will include the DPW doing temporary repairs only on private roads in Southwick that are open to the public and used by the public. Any permanent or major repairs on those private roads would be the responsibility of the people who live on those roads. The temporary repairs for the maintenance policy include tasks like patching holes and road-side mowing.
According to Brown, there are anywhere from 40 to 50 private roads in Southwick that are used by the public.
Acknowledging that it’s a large number of private roads, Brown is focusing on being transparent with the residents who reside in those neighborhoods.
“Were going to have to work with them and inform them of these policies moving forward,” said Brown.
The Select Board is hopeful this mandated policy will be a benefit for the taxpayers in town.
“We’re going to hopefully make it something that is not only good for the town but for those people that are on private roads,” said Select Board Vice-Chairman Russ Fox.
Although the maintenance of the private roads policy was approved in May, the bylaw is still in the process of going through the Attorney General’s office and has to wait until the office approves the bylaw.
The Select Board, Brown, and other town officials are planning on having more meetings about the policy in the near future.
