ALTAMONT — Villagers looking to liven up the patch of grass in front of their homes might want to think twice.

In the winter, snow banks cover the grass between the road and the sidewalk. Main Street resident Jerry Oliver was under the impression that it was his responsibility to maintain that grass. So, for the past three summers, he planted flowers on the bit of green in front of his Victorian home.

“It was really quite beautiful,” Oliver said. “I always got compliments on them.”

This year, Oliver’s flowers were torn from the ground by the department of public works. He still doesn’t understand why, he said.

In a letter to the Enterprise editor this week, Oliver said that Trustee Kerry Dineen issued an edict, through Timothy McIntyre, Altamont’s superintendent of public works, to tear up his flower beds. Mayor James Gaughan called this “an unfair characterization of the actions of the department of public works.” No trustee issues edicts, he said.

But this is not the first time Gaughan and Oliver have been at odds.

In 2005, Gaughan and Dineen ran for office together and were elected, defeating Oliver in his bid for mayor. One of the defining issues in the election was the rebuilding of village roads, which was handled by the incumbents who were ousted.

“The Department of Transportation told me that they have right of way, but that it’s my responsibility to maintain the grass,” Oliver said.

Peter Van Keuren, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation, told The Enterprise, “This is something that the municipality would be required to take over.”

“I don’t know where he got that from that it’s his responsibility,” McIntyre said of Oliver. He and Oliver have been friends for some years now, according to Oliver.

“Residents are responsible for cleaning the sidewalks,” said McIntyre. “But the 2004 Maintenance Resolution says that maintaining the snow storage areas is our responsibility,” he said of the village.

“It seems so pointless,” Oliver said. “To say ‘Don’t maintain it, don’t make it attractive,’ to me makes no sense. I told them, ‘Don’t bother keeping it up, I’ll take care of it.’ I was willing to put in new grass seed and make it beautiful. Everyone seemed to love it, too.”

But when residents make personal use out of those grass strips, McIntyre said, it “can get in the way of doing the job right,” referring to the mowing and seed planting. “We have a few riding mowers and walk-behind mowers,” said McIntyre. Workers operating the mowers might be forced to make a detour around flowers planted in the strip, making their job more difficult, McIntyre said.

“It’s simply incorrect to say that it’s the homeowner’s responsibility to maintain them,” added Mayor Gaughan. “Tim [McIntyre] even wrote a letter recently saying that they were going to seed them and were going to be mowing them, and asked that people not plant on those strips,” he said, referring to a letter that was published in The Enterprise.

In the meantime, Oliver will continue to plant on the rest of his property. As far as he is concerned, though, this should have been a non-issue. “If someone wants to put the effort and money into making the village prettier, I can’t understand someone not wanting that,” he said. “But I suppose everyone is entitled to their opinion.”