Medfield Police Chief Addresses Crosswalk Complaints

Medfield Chief of Police Robert E. Meaney Jr. addressed complaints the town has received about the visibility of crosswalks and other traffic lines at the July 5 Board of Selectmen meeting.

With the start of the new fiscal year, Meaney said he is planning to address the issue of painting crosswalks and traffic lines around town over the remainder of the summer.

At the July 5 Board of Selectmen meeting, selectman Ann B. Thompson brought up a complaint she had received about the lack of paint on the crosswalks around town caused by the “wear and tear of cars driving over them all the time.”

Meaney said the decaying is caused by the chemicals used by the town to help with snow removal as well as the consistent traffic in the downtown area.

 “The chemicals we put down to help with snow removal are like sandpaper and it really wears at the paint,” Meaney said.

When Meaney took over as chief in 2006, he said the budget was around $14,000 and now it's quadrupled to $60,000.

“$14,000 was about enough to paint a quarter of the town,” he said.

With last year's budget of $35,000, Meaney said it was the first time that all of the lines in need of painting around town were completed.

 “Last year was the first time we were able to paint Route 27 all the way from Walpole to Sherborn,” Meaney said.

Superintendant of Public Works, Ken Feeney, said he has worked in the department for over 30 years and the police department has always been responsible for painting lines.

“There are some pretty strict traffic regulations they need to enforce to go with the line painting,” Feeney said.

Meaney worked with The Warrant Committee and the Board of Selectmen to increase the budget year by year, with the hope to eventually paint the whole town twice a year.

“I'll have to see just how far that $60,000 will go, we should have a better idea if that is enough to do everything twice like I would like to do,” Meaney said. “This year we're also going to paint the whole town now, and hopefully we'll have money left in the spring to paint the crucial area's again.”

Meaney is hopeful that even if the whole town can't get painted for a second time this year, he will at least be able to cover the downtown area, which has the most pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

Regardless of what painting occurs in the spring, Meaney remains optimistic because he knows he has the backing of the community. “People aren't just saying they want it done, they're supporting it with money.”

Medfield does not own or operate its own line painting machines because of the small size of the town and instead relies on a private contractor to do the painting, which puts Medfield in line with other area towns that don't own their own machinery.

Meaney said this adds a level of planning to the job so that painting does not happen before the roads have been cleaned or repaired.

The money that is used for the painting is also used for replacing regulatory signs such as stop signs and traffic lights, so Meaney plans accordingly in case he runs into a problem down the road.

This year, the department purchased 20 new stop signs to meet federal regulations, which require a specific amount of reflectivity that will go into effect in January, 2012.