Salem makes responsibility for culvert maintenance clear with ordinance change

/Photo by Sickter6 under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

/Photo by Sickter6 under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

The Salem Town Board, through an ordinance change, has made it clearer who is responsible for keeping ditches and culverts clear and free flowing.

If you are the property owner, it’s you.

The board passed the change unanimously Monday.

Mike Murdock, high superintendent has said that town crews have sometimes had to clear blocked culverts in order to restore drainage.

The new section reads:

MAINTENANCE RESPONSIBILITY. The property owner is responsible for maintaining the driveway approaches, culvert and ditch in such a manner as may be necessary to permit free and unobstructed flow of water. The property owner’s obligations under this section include, but are not limited to the removal of leaves, branches and other debris from the culvert and adjacent ditch and the repair or replacement of any fully or partially collapsed culvert. The Town may (but has no duty or obligation to) remove or clear snow or ice or open wind rows of such material on any portion of the driveway within the right of way. The Town shall not be responsible for the repair or replacement of concrete or decorative pavement or decorative end walls or head walls located within the right of way.

People who violate the ordinance can face a penalty.

“This gives us the ability to help them along to keep their culverts clean,” town administrator Patrick Casey said of the new provision.

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