SHUTESBURY — For nearly 40 years, the length of Birch Drive, a private road near Lake Wyola, has been plowed and sanded after snowstorms, according to resident Ronald Meck.
On Jan. 5, though, the continuous service Meck contends the road has received since 1987 came to an abrupt end. That was when a private contractor working for the Highway Department was advised to no longer plow or sand beyond Birch Drive’s first knoll, or utility pole, abiding by a policy established by the Selectboard 25 years ago.
Now, in advance of the next winter season, Meck, joined by the Council on Aging and members of the Lake Wyola Association and Lake Wyola Advisory Committee, are appealing to the Selectboard to reverse course. Not doing so, Meck said, will mean having to pay for the snowplow service out of pocket.
Selectboard Chair Melissa Makepeace-O’Neil said during a joint meeting last week that a private contractor likely started maintaining more of Birch Drive without the Highway Department’s knowledge, and the written policy can’t change on behalf of one person.
Makepeace-O’Neil said the contractor went beyond his legal obligation and this should be seen as an error of a company employed by the town.
“That was what we determined has happened,” Makepeace-O’Neil said.
After the decision to curtail plowing was made to follow existing policy, Town Administrator Hayley Bolton said a site assessment was done involving Highway Superintendent David Grenier. That assessment revealed the potential risks to Highway Department equipment.
Meck, however, said the road is in good enough shape and that the knoll represents a mythical end point that has no basis in reality.
The policy was established in 2001 in the face of a potential lawsuit that would have demanded winter road maintenance on other private roads, and updated in 2008. It states that roads must be open to the public (not shared driveways), they must have a historical or sporadic experience with plowing, and they cannot have a deed or covenant requiring private maintenance.
Wednesday’s meeting came after appeals from the Council on Aging, which wrote a letter to the Selectboard: “The Council on Aging, concerned about treatment a senior citizen has received, is writing again to request that the questions Mr. Ronald Meck has asked be answered. At this point, the Council believes that it, as well as Mr. Meck, has not received the respect it deserves, since its letter of support for Mr. Meck also appears to have been completely ignored.”
Grenier said town officials want people to be able to get to medical appointments and make it safely out of their homes during all seasons.
“That’s not the point,” Grenier said. “The point is, what is my responsibility? It is to plow the accepted roads and to follow the policies the town has in place.”
MaryJo Johnson, of the Council on Aging and Lake Wyola Association, said this was taking away a service for no apparent reason.
“Now we’re talking about taking away the funding from everyone from being plowed just because we have to back up the decision made unfairly and without any kind of justification,” Johnson said.
Bruce Hartley of Great Pines Drive said he is greatly saddened for a neighbor.
“I feel what’s disappeared here is goodwill,” Hartley said.
Thomas Siefert of South Laurel Drive said just because a policy is in place doesn’t make it right, and discretion should be used in how it is implemented. He reflected on how the deed for his home was written to exclude persons of color from buying the property.
“We have inconsistencies in our town historically,” Siefert said.
At a meeting in June, former Selectboard member Rita Farrell said it might make sense to revisit the policy, and come up with standards the Selectboard and highway superintendent could agree on.
Bolton said this might mean the Lake Wyola Association needing to do sufficient upkeep.
Bolton also suggested the Council on Aging could help residents, including senior citizens, who may need winter snowplowing help once the town is compliant with its own policy.
Meck said the meeting didn’t get him anywhere.
“This is just more resistance, resistance, resistance, and not solution-focused,” he said.
While no decisions were made during the nearly two-hour meeting, Selectboard member Eric Stocker offered an apology to Meck for stopping the service in the way it happened.
