While slick winter weather may be the furthest thing from many locals’ minds in the heat of summer, Windham Public Works is taking steps now to ensure private roads in Windham will be ready for snowplowing come winter.

By state law, towns cannot spend public money on private roads, but towns can agree to snowplow some private roads in exchange for public access.

The town of Windham now takes care of 25 miles of these public-easement roads in Windham for winter maintenance and, every winter, town plow trucks are challenged to squeeze down narrow roads, riddled with potholes, while dodging roadside trees and rocks.

Two public forums will be held next week to discuss problems with public-easement roads and how to improve these roads for winter plowing.

The forums will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, July 19, at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church on Route 302 and, at the same time, on Thursday night, July 20, at the Cornerstone Assembly of God on Cottage Road.

The idea behind the forums is to get everyone “on the same page” in terms what needs to be done to keep up these roads for plowing, said Public Works Director Doug Fortier.

Of more than 400 private roads in Windham, only 7 percent of these roads have public easements and are plowed each year by the town.

When plowing, Public Works trucks often encounter poor road conditions that can damage their equipment.

“The maintenance on these roads has been very sparse,” Fortier said.

Communication and education of homeowners on private roads, who pay local “road associations” for maintenance of these public easement roads, has been difficult in the past. Last fall, Public Works sent out letters to all homeowners on these public-easement roads and received only a handful of responses.

The hope is to let these homeowners know what is expected of them if they want their public-easement road to continue to be plowed by the town.

Maintaining private roads is no easy business for road associations that rely on homeowner contributions to pay for grading, drainage, paving and so on.

Windham Town Councilor John MacKinnon, who lives on Haven Road with his wife Kristi, is the road commissioner of his local road association. It is his duty to collect annual contributions for the Haven Road Association and make decisions for the public easement road’s upkeep.

“Haven Road is typical of many private roads in Windham,” MacKinnon said. “Its use was limited to summer camps, so it had very light use. Over the years, it has become more and more built up with houses.”

The gravel road needs re-grading twice a year and MacKinnon, as a stormwater specialist by trade, is always looking for ways to improve drainage and prevent potholes and road washout from rain.

The town has little standard for how well the public-easement roads must be maintained, MacKinnon said, except for rules that there must be an available turnaround for plow vehicles and the road must be clear of obstruction.

The turnaround for Haven Road is MacKinnon’s own driveway and even constant maintenance of the road doesn’t stop cars from getting stuck during mud season.

Regardless, MacKinnon is pleased Public Works is taking on the issue.

“Everybody’s kind of on their own in what they are doing to keep their roads up,” MacKinnon said. “And I think this will help disseminate information on what they can do to meet the town standards.”

Frank Koenig of Sandbar Road is the former president of his road association. The group alleviated many past problems with the old gravel road by paving Sandbar Road several years ago, but steady traffic and increased development continues to put pressures on the road, which has since been repaved.

Tim Warrow of Woodland Road has his hands full as head of a road association with 140 homeowners on the public-easement roads of Anglers Road, Woodland Road and Eagle Drive.

The roads are narrow and can’t be widened because homeowners’ property abuts the roads, Warrow said. Despite the cramped conditions, hundreds of cars use the road a day as a bypass to Mt. Hunger Road that curves around Little Sebago Lake.

With an annual budget of $20,000, the road association does do regular grading, removal of potholes and lining the road with liquid calcium during the winter to prevent slippery conditions. But even this precaution doesn’t prevent ongoing problems during the winter.

“Our road can be extremely potholed before the ground freezes,” Warrow said. “Sometimes the liquid calcium washes off and we’re literally at the mercy of the winter.”

Warrow commends Public Works for finally raising the issue and talking with neighbors on these public-easement roads. Though the letter received little response from homeowners, Warrow said a list provided in the letter, which detailed things homeowners can do to open the way for plowing in the winter, greatly improved conditions on roads in his association.

“There’s a lot of issues out there on private roads and the only way we can solve them is to talk about them,” Warrow said.

Motorists drive down Anglers Road, scattered with little potholes from recent rain, toward the intersection with Route 302. Windham Public Works department will be holding two public forums next week to discuss problems on private ways, such as Anglers Road, that are plowed every winter by the town.