By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — There will be no middle-of-the-road stance for Casco’s selectmen when it comes to not providing plowing services for public easements that aren’t up to snuff.

They’ll be drawing a line in the snow.

For any public easement to continue to be on the plowing list, the road must adhere to the requirements of the 1972 road standards, must receive a waiver from the selectmen if such standards cannot be met, and must have more than half the road’s occupants agree to allow the road to be a public easement. 

When the snow flies, roads that don’t have the proper public easement agreement on file won’t see a plow truck this winter. 

The deadline is Oct. 31 to have that paperwork on file with the town.

This policy has been in the works for more than two years.

Casco Town Manager Courtney O’Donnell has identified what has confused people living along such roads and she has created paperwork, a form to document the status of the roads on a yearly basis as well as recording the specific waivers.

She updated the board during the July 30 meeting.

One important point is that O’Donnell is trying to get a contact number of a representative for each public easement in town. Some only have mailing addresses.

Additionally, O’Donnell is getting some help with the roads situation. She hired former town manager Dave Morton as a part-time road consultant on an hourly wage.

“I worked out a proposal with Dave Morton. He is working as a consultant for me. Last week, we went out and looked at four or five roads,” she said.

O’Donnell went over the confusion that residents have brought to her attention during this road-standard process.

 “There has been some confusion to the three parts of this thing,” she said.

“In order for plowing to occur, they are to meet ’72 standards. Part of it is the regular maintenance of the road — that is being confusing for some folks. We have said they are complying with standards, and then we say they need to grade, and they say we complied to the standards.”

O’Donnell stressed that continued maintenance of the road during the summer season is a necessity and is something the town does not do. The town plows and sands during the wintertime only.

“The other thing is the public easement must be on file. The plowing will be discontinued if there are not sufficient documents on file,” she said.

“Those exemptions (the public easement documentation) are required because, by law, we cannot use public funds for plowing private roads,” she said.

The third bit of confusion stems from waivers, which are specific to things that cannot be addressed such as stream beds that don’t allow a road to be wide enough or a utility pole that the road association cannot afford to move in one season of dues.

A waiver from the selectmen is not a carte blanch to not comply to road standards.

“A waiver doesn’t exempt the road from complying to other parts of the road standards,” O’Donnell said.

The paperwork she created would state how long the waiver lasts. The paperwork would include that statement that the board of selectmen “has the right to withdraw or regrant the waiver,” she said.

“I am thinking you guys should take these requests in and keep track of them, and closer to the deadline make sure that way it is very clear,” she said.

She provided a sample letter for the road associations.

“This would be sent to the roads, this waiver may grant the utility exemption but the plowing may not happen if there are other issues,” O’Donnell said.

Selectman Grant Plummer spoke on the subject.

“We’ve been working on this for two years,” he said.

“I think it is important that we identify in our documentation. When they don’t meet the standards, it not a permanent waiver. It feels like to me it is a yearly review process to make sure we are ready for the plowing season,” Plummer said.

O’Donnell agreed that roads will be revisited regularly. That was another point of confusion for residents living on public easements: That once the road was approved, it would always be plowed. That is not the case, she said.

“Traditionally, the idea was to get those roads up to standard and still do yearly inspections,” she said.

“My goal is to get a clear understanding for everyone: that they are meeting the standards, that they have gathered a waiver from (residents on road) and that I will continue to inspect the roads,” O’Donnell said.

Plummer clarified, “We are not giving waivers for easements.”

O’Donnell said, “No, we cannot.”

From having a conversation with Town Attorney Natalie Burns, “a majority is sufficient to establish an easement for plowing.”

“If we don’t have the easement by Oct. 31, we are not plowing,” she said.

Plummer said that public easement documents are kept on record both with the town and with the Registry of Deeds.

“I am flabbergasted that we are plowing the roads with 51 percent of residents okaying the easements. That easement is a backbone, that is going to require everyone to meet at the table and work together as a group,” Plummer said. “If they cannot all agree, why are we in there doing it? I am frustrated by the process” if one of the neighbors doesn’t want a town-contracted plow truck on the road where he or she lives.