To the Editor:

Randy Bashwinger, Berne’s “superintendent of highways,” appears to have chauffeured transportation provided to him at taxpayer expense!

One would have to wonder why the truck that taxpayers provide him with would be at a parking lot near Capital District Tint and Graphics at 1991 Central Ave. in Albany with what appears to be a Berne employee behind the wheel.

That distinctively equipped red truck is in the background of one of the photos Mr. Bashwinger posted of that location on Central Avenue to show off the recently completed graphics on his new Allen Roofing truck.

He is also proudly posting advertisements and apparently engaging again in the illegal erection of signs on state right-of-way in violation of Highway Law Section 52. His focus is now Allen Roofing LLC instead of town concerns. But you, the taxpayers, are still paying him for the responsibilities he continues to ignore. 

In the past, Mr. Bashwinger has been too distracted with politics to pay much attention to the safety of his highway operations or the associated safety laws he is required to observe in his shop. He was working at a GOP political job in Albany when two very serious, preventable incidents occurred under his “watch.”

But after someone ended up in the bottom of one of his excavations in a totaled car, we got no cooperation in hiring an independent, objective professional engineer to evaluate and consult on the safety of Bashwinger’s operations. Then later, an employee died in his shop where numerous mandated safety procedures were ignored. Connect the dots!

First, as evidenced by numerous GPS located and dated photos, Mr. Bashwinger has routinely failed, and continues to fail, to comply with New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law 1680 that very logically requires him to actually close highways at the work sites where his operations make a road impassable.

A woman ended up in a deep excavation where he had provided no barricades or signs at that actual work site (as the law requires). After a long period of dangling from her safety belts, she was rescued by local emergency services (at taxpayer expense).

Mr. Bashwinger blamed the woman in town emails and is quoted in The Enterprise saying it was her fault, and said she admitted it. She publicly denied this in The Enterprise. I don’t wonder who was lying.

Then, Mr. Bashwinger’s well-documented history of negligence has also been officially tied to a fatality in his shop operation by professional investigators at the New York State Department of Labor.  Numerous safety procedures he is mandated to observe by the Public Employees Safety and Health Act were simply ignored. He, of course, is quoted in The Enterprise publicly contradicting the testimony of his employees and the findings of professional investigators!

Think about how much of Mr. Bashwinger’s attention is devoted to self-enrichment; defensive schemes; sham investigations of political rivals at taxpayer expense; cut-throat politics; and blathering sophomoric, ignorant attacks on social media. He needs to step down before someone else gets killed.

Joel Willsey

East Berne

Editor’s note: Berne Highway Superintendent Randy Bashwinger, who does sales work for Allen Roofing, told The Enterprise that a town employee had taken a town truck to Dejana Truck and Utility Equipment, located nearby the tint and graphic company where Bashwinger said he was with the Allen Roofing truck. 

“It was my parks and recs guy, and he was down there getting parts. I was already there,” Bashwinger said, calling the allegation “unbelievable.” 

With regard to Allen Roofing lawn signs along state roads, Bashwinger acknowledged putting the signs up but said, “They can go on the side of the roads, it’s not illegal to do that.” 

New York State Highway Law Section 52 states that a permit is required for all signs along state roads, and any non-permitted sign is liable to be ordered by the commissioner of transportation to be removed by the owner within 30 days of the order.