BETHEL — Roads—specifically, naming and repairs—were the hot topic at the March 9 meeting of the Bethel Town Board.

Following up on previous recorded concerns about the condition of Old Tacey Road, Highway Superintendent Dick Yeomans and freshman board member Bob Bonacci checked out the location. They agreed that something needs to be done.

"We can’t pave [Old Tacey Road] this year," Yeomans told the board. "It has no base put down." Without a solid base, Yeomans said, any paving would be a waste of time and money. Yeomans added Old Tacey to the work-list. Time and weather permitting, most of the road should have at least a partial base put in during this year’s work cycle.

On the heels of the Old Tacey Road situation came another tale. Jonathan Hyman of Starlight Drive in Smallwood brought before the board his experience of almost being flooded out of his house during the recent thaws. "I was out in front of my house on my 40th birthday trying to divert the water so it wouldn’t come into the house," Hyman said, citing poor road design and drainage as chief causes of his dilemma.

With the help of the highway department, temporary measures were taken to prevent further flooding in the short term. According to Yeomans, the road needs to be re-angled and adequate drainage has to be put in place. Work could begin on this project as soon as the coming week and, weather permitting, be completed in about two weeks.

Community concerns regarding roads do not only reflect the condition of a handful of roads. The new enhanced 911 system scheduled to go on line early next month could bring additional problems. During the evaluation and data collection process, many addresses in town were re-assigned, unveiling a number of roads that had names different from those on town or county maps. In changing the road names and the re-numbering of houses, a whole new set of issues have arisen.

Marvin Weiss of the Kauneonga Lake Fire Department brought some of his concerns to the board. Weiss worried that residents would not have their new numbers posted by the time the 911 system comes on line. "Once that happens," he said, "the dispatchers won’t always be using familiar names." Instead of calling locations by their common names, dispatchers will only give out road names and house numbers.

In order to alleviate problems, the board adopted a local law suggested by Sullivan County that sets requirements for how and when houses must be numbered. With a public hearing set for March 23, the board plans to make it very clear to residents what must be done. It was also suggested that the fire company and other service groups look into what groups in other towns are doing to ensure ease of finding residences.

In other business the board: announced that the Smallwood Water Corporation would soon be owned by J&D Water, Inc.; postponed a decision on granting tax breaks to the new senior housing project until the next meeting when a representative from Rural Sullivan County Housing will be present; heard concerns from Bethel First about possibly unnecessary cutting of older trees by the highway department; received notice that the annual removal of dangerous buildings in the town was ready to go forward; received the preliminary suggestions from the Boating Committee for modifications to the boating law and passed them on for legal review; and announced that the Sullivan County Litterpluck is scheduled for May 6.