Observer photo by Gregory Bacon A fire hydrant on North Main Street (Rt. 60) in Cassadaga. The Village is requesting that residents help to keep the hydrants clear this winter.

CASSADAGA — The Cassadaga Village board spent a good percentage of its meeting time Wednesday night discussing the challenges of clearing the area’s sidewalks and fire hydrants from the massive amount of snow dumped on the Village during the month of December.

Discussing the consequences of the last storm, trustee Bill Astry said he personally measured “14 inches one day and 18 the next day, and then we got six on top of that. The snow settles. We had three feet of snow and now it’s only 18 inches, but it’s pretty compacted.”Astry said the county, responsible for maintaining both roads along the lake, plows Maple Avenue regularly, which, while it helps with clearing the roadway, the sidewalks get even more covered.

“The county plows that snow back right on the sidewalk, so the possibility of plowing that is virtually impossible with our equipment,” Astry explained. “That’s why the sidewalks aren’t plowed.”

There are sidewalks representing roughly 25 percent of the population of Cassadaga, and most all of them remain buried in layers of snow.

As the village has no means to clear the sidewalks, there are currently no plans to do so.

The snow around the fire hydrants is another story.

Volunteer fireman Chris Wichlacz told the board that he and 16 other volunteers organized four teams to clean around the hydrants this past Tuesday.

It was an all-day project and left Wichlacz wondering, “who is responsible for cleaning out the fire hydrants?” The village? The residents? The fire department? The prisoners?

“In my opinion, it should be up to the residents to clean their own hydrants,” Wichlacz told the board, adding that the fire department and the board should get together and come up with a plan before the next snow covers the hydrants again.

“It got to the point where if we had to get water between the Friday before Christmas and the beginning of last night, we’d have to spend 15 minutes getting water while the house was burning.”

Village Clerk Roxanne Astry said that in years past the fire department regularly maintained the fire hydrants when there weren’t as many. Today there are approximately 40 hydrants in the village.

“Year ago the firemen used to clean it and then they decided it wasn’t their job,” Clerk Astry said. “We’ve had the prisoners do it. Our guys do it when they get a chance.”

Trustee Astry said that the hydrants were supposed to be cleared sooner by the prisoners.

“They couldn’t come because of the weather,” said the trustee. “It’s a possibility for the future.”

While Wichlacz acknowledged the work prisoners have done around the village he said “the reliability factor isn’t always there. It’s hit and miss.”

Wichlacz again emphasized the responsibility of residents.

“If one hydrant is covering ten houses, not everybody in those ten houses is so elderly they can’t get out there and participate.”

The board agreed to request that village residents help maintain the hydrants and keep them clear of snow. The request will be made public on the village website, Facebook and the OBSERVER.

The third snow-related topic the board discussed related to snowmobilers.

Trustee Kalfas raised concerns that those driving the motorized sleds should remember to obey local laws and to stay on the trails designated for them.

Drivers should also keep a look out for vehicles backing out of their driveways.

Mayor Mary Jo Bauer echoed Kalfas’ concerns.

“If snowmobiles keep running on those sidewalks and packing the snow down it makes it harder for our blower to go through and blow the snow out, so it is a problem,” said the mayor.

“We have a law on our books that says it’s against the law to ride on the streets and the sidewalks in Cassadaga other than what is designated. We made it possible through the trails that there’s very little road driving to get from the trails. We made it possible for them to get to all the local businesses.”

Kalfas said she appreciates “that we have recreational enthusiasts in our village hitting all of our businesses,” however “This local law was enacted not only for their safety, but ours as well. We want to continue to have a good relationship.”