To the Editor:

The Berne superintendent of highways should step down and focus on selling shingles. His ignorance of highway maintenance and safety is dangerous and his refusal to address notices of highway defects are a clear dereliction of his duties.  

I offer another example of his ridiculous performance this week. I first provided notice to him and the town clerk that there is no intersection warning sign, no “Stop Ahead” sign and totally inadequate stopping sight distance at the intersection of Gulf Hill Road and Cass Hill Road back in 2016.

He has failed to address the warning-sign issues and allowed brush to obscure the “Stop” sign every year since.  

I have repeatedly brought these very obvious and very serious deficiencies at this intersection to his attention over the many years since 2016. He has deliberately ignored these notices of highway deficiencies contrary to Town Law 65a. Then, simply discarded the notices. 

The signs are still missing, and the “Stop” sign is obscured by brush every year! That leaves the traveling public subject to unnecessary safety hazards and leaves the town liable should anyone be injured or killed because of his very obviously deliberate ignorance and dereliction of his duty to address highway defects as the law requires. 

I took GPS located and dated photos of this intersection again in June 2025. The signs are still missing and the stop sign was obscured by brush. Finally, in July, he took action, but his understanding of highway sight distance is so woefully inadequate that he couldn’t get the job done! 

I give him credit for attempting to do his job, but he made the stop sign visible for only 100 feet and allowed it to become obscured in the first place. And, after six years, he has again failed to provide an intersection or “Stop Ahead” warning sign.

Attached, along with the historical photos documenting the superintendent’s negligence is stopping sight distance information from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). It’s clear that Mr. Bashwinger has no concept of the importance of sight distance whatsoever  in highway design or maintenance. 

Stopping Sight Distance is calculated based on a number of standardized factors and the AASHTO standard is universally accepted. How far does the vehicle travel in the time it takes one to react in an emergency stopping situation? How far does it take to stop the car once your foot is on the brake? Is the road graded down hill? Is it covered with loose gravel?   

At 35 miles per hour, that stop sign needs to be visible for 257 feet! The attached photos prove that is far from the case. And 45 miles per hour on a straight segment of highway like that is not unusual. At 45 miles per hour on that existing downhill grade, the required stopping sight distance is 400 feet!

Mr. Bashwinger, after leaving the sign obscured with brush until July, cut some brush in a pathetic attempt to make the sign visible, but only managed about 100 feet as the distance in the attached photos with displayed photo properties proves.

With no “Stop Ahead” sign and the “Stop” sign only visible at 100 feet, you would be lucky to get your foot on the brake before finding yourself in the middle of Cass Hill Road.

Attached is an example of how his ridiculous, illegal election signs blocked sight distance at the Senior Center.  He was recently quoted in the Enterprise advising residents that it’s legal to randomly erect any signs you want on a state right-of-way. He is wrong; that is illegal. 

He is wrong about most things related to highway maintenance and safety. He needs to step down and concentrate on being a shingle salesman. He is simply incompetent, derelict in his duties, and dangerous. 

Joel Willsey

East Berne

Editor’s note: The photos and document referenced by Joel Willsey are posted with his letter on the Enterprise website. Highway Superintendent Randy Bashwinger did not respond to the claims in this letter.