To the Editor:

The Enterprise published my letter, “Mr. Bashwinger has neglected the condition of Berne’s infrastructure,” in the May 1, 2025, edition. I posed the question back then: “Is the Berne superintendent of highways painting Sawmill Road black?” I then explained: “This is the euphemism used in civil engineering circles to describe throwing a quick asphalt overlay on deficient, neglected infrastructure on election years to buy votes.”

Well, that is exactly what he did on Sawmill Road in East Berne! Even though I provided a Notice of Highway Defect to the superintendent on May 1, 2025, advising that the culvert at Ricketts’ Pond on Sawmill Road was obstructed and has been for years. This obstruction is clearly associated with the repeated overtopping of the highway that is washing the highway embankment away. This is well documented in that May submission that he ignored (attached). 

As I expected he would, Mr. [Randy] Bashwinger, the shingle salesman, ignored the issue and ignored the undermining of the existing pavement. That water that washed away the embankment would be in the culvert had Mr. Bashwinger bothered to open the obstructed culvert and clear the ditch. Incredibly he paved over the existing undermined pavement! There is a 20-inch drop at the edge of the new pavement and a nice little cave under it (photos attached).

He placed a brand-new asphalt overlay on top of this deteriorated mess with your tax dollars! Go to Sawmill Road at Ricketts’ Pond. There’s a pullover there. Check out the badly deteriorated and plugged culvert yourself. Notice the undermined pavement. It’s all visible on the downstream side. 

This guy is ridiculous. He has been painting roads black for over a decade now and hasn’t learned even the most elementary concepts of safety or placing asphalt overlays and replacing culverts.  

Why do you suppose Mr. Bashwinger’s new overlays ride so terribly? That’s easy. He doesn’t know when and where to use a truing and leveling step in the process. That’s an elementary necessity in bituminous highway overlays. But it would reduce the amount of highway he can paint black to do it right. 

Truing and leveling is essential to eliminate the more pronounced irregularities in an existing surface before overlaying it with a ribbon of asphalt. This is especially true with the crackpot oversight of Mr. Bashwinger’s organization.

His goal is to paint as much highway black every year as possible to impress everyone.  It’s all done in one lift (or course) with no consideration for how the underlying, defective surface areas will reflect up to the new surface. You get one crack at it in a single lift highway overlay so you need to address any defects before you put it down. 

I suggest you take a ride on the new overlay and notice that, once again, after 10 years of experience, Mr. Bashwinger’s new culverts curiously ride as terrible as they did before he overlaid them (with no truing and leveling operation). It’s pathetic.

Check out all the bumps at the Long Road intersection where that culvert is failing. They have curiously reflected up through the new overlay there too. That failing culvert is the subject of another Notice of Highway Defect he is ignoring (attached).

Mr. Bashwinger typically leaves extreme drop-offs at the edge of new pavement for months and sometimes over winter. These drop-offs are at the edge of the travel lane as the shoulders are not included in the pavement like they are on state and county highways. The shoulders are typically placed separately on local, rural roads. 

If you stray just a little out of the unmarked travel lane on a rainy night, you can find yourself dropping off a six-inch step that can destabilize your vehicle and pull you into any roadside hazard like the very dangerous guide rail systems Mr. Bashwinger ignores. The guide rail there is the subject of another notice of highway defect he is ignoring (attached).

The responsible thing to do is to provide warning signs and make plans to immediately eliminate this hazard at the time of the project. Coordinate the materials and resources to place those shoulders as soon as possible. But Mr. Bashwinger doesn’t provide any warning signs and has repeatedly left this hazard over the winter months when there is no telling where this drop-off is in the snow. 

Mr. Bashwinger has failed to learn even the basic fundamental aspects of highway construction and maintenance as the preceding information proves. And let’s talk about safety; he continues year after year to fail to actually close highways at the work site when replacing culverts as required by New York Vehicle and Traffic Law §1680. 

Years ago this negligence resulted in an emergency rescue from a deep, unprotected excavation on Bridge Road and a totaled vehicle. There were no barricades or “Road Closed” signs at the actual excavation as required. He often places “Road Closed” signs at the nearest intersection thinking he has the authority to close the entire road. He can actually only close the road where he is working at any point in time. He cannot seem to grasp this fundamental concept.

He actually visited the culvert replacement job on Sawmill Road with his shingle sales van last summer. Attached is a slide capturing this rare occasion. There were no barricades or closure signs used at the excavation site as this 2025 photo documents. He just never learns.

It’s very clear and very well documented that Mr. Bashwinger is incompetent in serving the best interests of the town while providing safety for the residents, visitors, and employees in Berne. He had a fatality in his shop. It was not an accident; it was a preventable incident as the state investigators concluded.

It is absolutely unbelievable that anyone in their right mind would support the election of this dishonest guy. Anyone who votes for Mr. Bashwinger is carefully and deliberately avoiding the facts.

Joel Willsey

East Berne

Editor’s note: Documents and photos referred to in this letter are posted online with the letter. Randy Bashwinger did not immediately respond to the assertions in this letter.