1975-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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REPORT OF THE HIGHWAY SURVEYOR To the Honorable Board of Selectmen and the Citizens of the Town of Mashpee I hereby submit the annual report of the Highway Surveyor, to the Honorable j Board of Selectmen and Taxpayers. i The Highway Department, as we all know, is a force of seven men which we hire to maintain 90 lane miles of town road. They are also assigned to many other small projects from other departments of the town and through requests from the Board of Selectmen. This year the achievements of the Department have been many; and although not observed by everyone, I shall attempt to point out some of the achievements 7 of the Department. The Highway Department is not a service department, as some departments of the town, but on the other hand a labor force; and we have no excuse for a job assignment or project not being completed, with the excep- tion of a financial barrier which I am sure is a problem with every other depart- ment in this governmental agency. The Department has tried, through policing, to give you some of the cleanest roadsides in the area; which, as we all know, i is a very difficult task because of the repeated neglect and littering from by- passers and citizens without respect for the law. Due to the heavy and unexpected drop of snow this year and the increase in residents in these developments, we found our snow and ice problems much heavier this year than in the past. We now maintain over 350 lane miles of snow and ice streets. I wish to reiterate that we have been forced to focus our attention and town equipment on primary and secondary major interstate routes which I feel that many citizens do not as yet understand. The Department is then obligated to clean town accepted streets and roads. When this is completed, s we then focus our efforts on private streets and sub-developments. We wish to thank the Police Department for informing us promptly of hazardous condi- ii` '! tions while they are on patrol. They have been of great assistance to the EDepartment in such emergencies. i Through the combined effort of the Board of Selectmen and the Massachu- setts Department of Public Works, we were able to complete the resurfacing of Route 151 to the Falmouth Town Line, a section badly in need of repairs and i7 't resurfacing or we may have been faced with reconstruction which would have been approximately four times as much. I The reconstruction project on Great Neck Road south from the Rotary Circle to Red Brook Road had been held up basically because of the funds that were not voted in the last Annual Town Meeting and a land taking that was unforeseen near the Ockway Bay Estates property. We now plan to continue this project as soon as the weather permits and hope to be completed by no later than June, 1976. As far as the Attempted Assassination of a Highway Surveyor was con- cerned, I believe this was a very gutless and ruthless trick which achieved very little. I will admit it did cut my productivity rate down about 25 per cent; however, overall it did not hamper the progress of the Department. I feel that an appointed official must keep himself open to criticism at all times and to take advantage of the constructive criticism and try to pass off the destruc- tive criticism. I realize in this day and age that progress is the goal, but I believe that progress should be achieved with extreme caution to keep in mind a good and healthy future. Ido not believe that the Indians were chased back to a reservation through cruel and abusive treatment but through the refusal to relinquish their culture and their ways and means of living a moderate life, was subdued by the rapid oncoming of progress from the eastern culture and ways and means of making that society work. I believe with time, caution, 84