By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — There are not enough bump signs to go around.

The pavement and the dirt roads in Casco have taken such a beating from yet another long snowy winter that there are “not enough bump signs” to alert drivers of all the bumps in town, according to Tom Mulkern.

People may contact the Casco Town Office to make recommendations that bump signs be placed near particularly jarring frost heaves, bumps, dips or pot holes. However, it might take a while to round up spare signs for those problematic sections of roadway.

Additionally, many road signs are missing and need to be replaced, he said.

Replacement of knocked down and missing signs is just one of those rituals of spring, Mulkern said during a Casco Board of Selectmen meeting this month.

Mailboxes that fell victim to this winter are the owner’s responsibility, Mulkern said.

Neither the plow truck drivers nor the Town of Casco are liable for broken mailboxes, which are actually located in the right-of-way to be accessible to the people driving the U.S. Post Office routes.

Selectman Holly Hancock brought up the streetlight issue. Last fall, the board moved forward with the Casco Energy Committee’s recommendation to do away with redundant or unnecessary street lighting.

“The one in front of Pears doesn’t illuminate intersection. It is dark there,” Hancock said.

“We should look at it,” she said.

“Kids wait for school buses, and are in dark for a good percentage of the year,” she said.

Town Manager Dave Morton said the easy decision was to reduce the streetlights by one-third.

“There are instances where we should have left one on,” he said.

Morton told the board he planned to ask Central Maine Power to come out and provide recommendations to the town.

Morton expected more comments on the change to the streetlamp lighting as summertime residents return to their homes.