ROCHESTER — Selectman Woody Hartley told fellow Selectmen, “Winter is coming,” at an Oct 5. Selectmen’s meeting. Was he invoking the great Jon Snow of the hit HBO series, “Game of Thrones?” Possibly, but the comment was tied into another important topic: snow plowing on private property.

On the draft warrant for the town’s Nov. 16 Special Town Meeting is an article discussing the liability for who will plow the sidewalks on the newly-accepted roads in the Connett Woods. 

Selectmen discussed the feasibility of who would take care of plowing them, and who would have liability if there were damage to a resident’s lawn. 

Selectman Brad Morse argued that having the town take liability of damage such as plowing over a sprinkler system near the edge of the sidewalk would be cost-prohibitive to the town.

“That sounds impossible,” he said.

A majority of the town’s roads don’t have sidewalks on them, and all the roads in Connett Woods have sidewalks. 

Morse talked with the town’s highway surveyor, who said to plow all the sidewalks would be labor-intensive and take up a lot of time.

“We simply don’t have the manpower,” Morse said. 

On top of this, Selectman Woody Hartley added that town workers would also need to know where to start and stop when plowing, which would add more time. 

Hartley suggested a possible solution would be to have residents of the area sign liability waivers.

Though Selectmen discussed the article, the entire warrant is subject to change.