Tusten, towns move to protect roads

Company hired for assessment survey

By FRITZ MAYER

NARROWSBURG, NY — The protection of town roads is one of the few areas where local officials can impose some control over gas drilling activities, and five towns in Sullivan County are working on a plan to do just that.

At a meeting of the Tusten Town Board on May 11, members voted to move forward with hiring a Syracuse-based company called C&S Companies to conduct a survey of town roads. According to Dr. Bill Pammer, commissioner of the Sullivan County Department of Planning and Environmental Preservation, the survey is intended to show what the town roads can handle, and provide an analysis of impacts that numerous heavy gas drilling rigs will have on them. This is intended to help towns work out agreements with gas drilling companies to compensate for heavy road use.

Ben Johnson, Tusten supervisor, said the study might also determine if towns should make other adjustments. Regarding driveway permits, for instance, Tusten offers only one at this time. After the study, that might expand to include separate permits for residential, commercial and industrial driveways.

The cost of the study will be about $22,000, and will cover the river towns of Lumberland, Highland, Tusten and Cochection, as well as the Town of Callicoon. The Town of Bethel might also join in, which would push the cost up to $26,400. The river towns will receive grants of about $2,200 from the Upper Delaware Council to defray the $4,400 cost to each town.

After the study, each town will be required to establish its own local laws regarding gas drilling and road use, designed specifically for the circumstances in the individual municipalities.

Ambulance volunteers needed

Also at the meeting, Mike Cookingham, president of the Tusten Volunteer Ambulance Service Corps, and Craig Burkle, president of the Narrowsburg Fire Department, asked the board for help in spreading the word that volunteers are needed to become drivers for the ambulance corps because a number of volunteers that have served for many years are leaving the corps.

Cookingham said that without new volunteers, the corps might not be able to respond to calls this summer. To qualify as a driver, a volunteer must take a cardiopulmonary resuscitation course, have a clean driver’s license and be 21 years of age. The volunteer must also take an emergency vehicle operator course, but that does not need to happen right away.

Cookingham said he was looking for six volunteers to get the corps to adequate staffing levels. To find out more about becoming a volunteer, call 845/252-3336.