LIVERMORE — Selectpersons voted Wednesday to table action on closing several roads or portions of roads to winter maintenance until August 2010 due to the short time of notice to homeowners after listening to their concerns.

The board also discussed the idea to hire a private contractor with a smaller truck to plow these roads because of the difficulty the larger trucks are having. They will consider that idea at another board meeting.

Selectpersons agreed that more information should be gathered before August so that they can make a more informed decision and also give people more time to be prepared if a decision to discontinue winter maintenance is made.

“I think a couple of these roads the town should not be plowing but others are open to discussion,” Selectperson John Wakefield said.

Discussion centered around unnamed roads serving 7 Butterhill Road, 88 Federal Road, 298 Sanders Road and 453 Canton Road; a portion of Old Leavitt Road extending beyond 52 Old Leavitt Road, Nelson Road, and the presumed discontinued portion of Center Road serving 191 Maple Avenue.

Residents told the board that their roads have been plowed for years. Some even said they would never have bought the homes in the rural areas of town if they were not told by previous owners or had it on their deeds that they are town maintained.

Some said they couldn’t afford to buy the equipment to maintain their own roads, especially given such short notice. Others said they just wouldn’t be able to do it because of the steepness, work or other reasons.

Residents also voiced concerns about getting emergency vehicles to their homes and said they would do whatever they could to work with the road crew to keep their roads maintained.

Under state law, town officials can vote to close a road to winter maintenance between May 1 and October 1 of each year, Schaub said during the public hearing. Wednesday would have been the last day the action could have occurred for the coming winter.

Some of the unnamed roads are driveways that serve a single residence that have been maintained for years for one reason or another, board Administrative Assistant Kurt Schaub said. Others are town-owned and only a portion of the road discontinued. Some were proposed due to turn-around changes requested by residents.

The roads are unnamed, he said, because under the state’s emergency 911 system only roads that have two or more residences on them require a name.

Schaub said highway foreman Don St. Laurent requested the changes but they have been discussed for years.

These roads are difficult, time-consuming and costly to maintain, especially when the town’s big trucks get stuck and have to be towed out, he said.

[email protected]