Alert “06880” reader Douglass Davidoff sent this along. It’s from Fred McKeen’s Connecticut Law Blog (“The Nutmeg State’s Widely Read Obscure Legal Journal”).
General Statute § 13a-107 says:
Whenever any highway becomes blocked with snow to an extent that renders the same impassable for public travel, the selectmen of the town in which such highway is located shall cause such highway to be opened for public travel at the expense of such town within a reasonable time thereafter, if they find the same to be required for public convenience and necessity. Any selectman who fails to open any highway so blocked, when requested in writing so to do by six taxpayers residing on or near such highway, shall be fined ten dollars.
Because Westport is chock full o’ lawyers (plus those who play them in disputes with government, the schools, neighbors and anyone else who crosses them), that sound you hear is folks scrambling to determine the legal definitions of “impassable,” “highway” and “a reasonable time thereafter.”
Followed by the sound of them finding 5 other taxpayers on or near such highway.
Which leads to the most important legal question: Who gets the 10 bucks?
Evergreen Avenue, after the Blizzard of 2013, but before snow removal. Happily, our selectmen will not be fined for this road. (Photo by Jill McGroarty)
