Articles V and VI of Highway Law compiled by the NYS Legislature define the rules, regulations and duties pertaining to the office of County Highway Superintendent.
In addition to maintaining the County Highway System, the Department is also charged with the responsibility of maintaining a portion of the Rails to Trails System, Administering the Recreational Trail System Program, maintenance of the airport facility, mechanical repair/inspection of all county owned vehicles and administration of the county fuel dispensing system.
The Fulton County Department of Highways and Facilities is responsible for maintaining:
• 143 centerline miles of highway
• 38 bridges
• and numerous culvert and drainage structures spread out across a 533 square mile area.
The Department also shares equipment and manpower with all other municipalities in the County.
On the Facilities side, we have custody of thirteen county owned Buildings and responsibility for the structural integrity, physical operations and custodial duties.
Other responsibilities include Mail Courier Service and general services to all departments.
Mailboxes on Highway Rights of Way which are displaced by highway plows in the course of snow removal
There is no statutory or legal authority which grants a property owner or resident along a public highway any right to place a mailbox in a highway right of way. The owner may have an informal license, but this does not endow the owner of the mailbox with any legal rights in the highway when needed for highway purposes.
The Highway Superintendent and the State have a duty to keep the highway available for the public use. Snow removal and snow storage are an incident of that use.
“The highways of the state are made for and devoted to public travel, and the whole public have the right to their use in their entirety and when obstructions to public travel are found within their bounds, the commissioners of highways are clothed with power to remove then without waiting for the slow process of law, even though travel be not absolutely and entirely prevented.”
When the necessity of keeping the highway open conflicts with the individual’s receipt of the mail, the latter must stand aside. The owner might even be compelled to remove the box under Highway Law 319.
The owner has no right to interfere with the speedy and efficient removal of snow by placing the mailbox in such a position as to cause this result, and no liability results on the part of public official charged with the duty of snow removal in such a box is so placed that in may be injured by proper highway maintenance.
Work within county right of way permit
These conditions and regulations apply to Highway Work Permits authorizing work within the County highway right-of-way for water mains, sewer lines and miscellaneous structures. General conditions apply to telephone installations as well as specific conditions on the setting and resetting of poles.