ELDRED, NY — Come summer, riding ATVs on Town of Highland roads might permitted. That possibility is in the works and was announced by supervisor Jeff Haas at the March 8 monthly town board meeting.

Haas said that the town is looking into a law that would allow ATVs to be ridden on Highland’s town roads and on the shoulder of county roads. Haas referenced a similar law in the Town of  Bethel that will be used as a model. The Bethel law makes reference to Article 48B of the NY Vehicle and Traffic Law, which requires, among other things, for all ATVs to be registered and prohibits anyone under 16 to ride on public roads.

“We’re going to modify it for our purposes here and what I have given to the board members is the draft of Bethel’s law. Haas said that the board will discuss it further at the next board meeting on April 12 and “schedule a public hearing where interested members of the public can speak against it or for it.” The board expects to vote on the law at its May meeting.

In other business, the board heard from councilmember Kaitlin Haas about discussions with Camp Koinonia to collaborate on summer programming for Town of Highland youth, discussed plans to resurface the cul-de-sac in preparation for a mural-painting as part of the town’s Silver Feather Award projects, gave approval for the Bridge Back to Life Center, in association with the county’s opioid task force, to bring a mobile drug unit to the town one day every three or four weeks, approved enhancement for the town’s website, engaged consultants, the LeBerge Group, to assist in filing paperwork documenting the town’s expenditure of ARPA funds, and recessed their meeting until March 15 at 8 a.m. to approve and put out to bid specs for a new truck for the highway department. Delivery of that truck is expected to take two years.