Dear Editor,
I have recently read in the “Reader’s Column” much criticism about the job the Town of Owego Highway Superintendent, Mark Clark is doing. It is very easy for a person to sit at his dinner table and criticize someone’s work.
I live way out in the country in the Town of Owego, and I realize that the Town of Owego highway department has a budget and within that budget they have to provide snow removal in the winter months, and in the summer they have to work to maintain the roads. It is obvious to me that the roads that are way out, and have very little traffic are less likely to be maintained than those major roads like Route 434, Route 17C, Route 96 and Route 38.
So it may be that all that the highway can afford to do to my road is to patch the holes. That is the price I pay when I chose to move way out into the country. As I see it, and what I would do if I were the town of Owego Highway Superintendent, I would put the major roads as a priority for repairs, for snow removal, and for cutting the weeds. The back roads might have to wait another season before I can get to them.
Why? Because I have a budget I have to work within. If I had to spend more money than expected for snow removal during the winter months, paying lots of overtime to keep the roads safe, I might not have the money in the budget to fill all of the potholes, or resurface all the roads that need it, and trimming the grass along the roadways would certainly be of a low priority.
I think Mark Clark has done an excellent job as the Town of Owego Highway Superintendent.
Sincerely,
William L Pletcher
Owego, N.Y.
I wonder what excuse the highway superintendent has for closing one end of teeter road in owego New York. This road has never been closed my whole life, people are still using it even though the road closed signs are up. We will probably have to petition the town board to get it open. In this case they are not doing a good job.