OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Arkwright Highway Superintendent Lisa Waldron provided the Arkwright Town Board with an update on the state’s efforts to improve safety around the site of a recent fatal accident on Center Road and Route 83.

ARKWRIGHT — After the recent fatal accident in the Town of Arkwright on Center Road and Route 83, New York state is looking into making the area safer in the future.

At the most recent Town Board meeting this month, Highway Superintendent Lisa Waldron shared an update with the board on the efforts from the state to improve the roads in question. The state is surveying the area to evaluate multiple options on how to proceed. Among the possibilities include the implementation of blinking lights near the intersection and added streetlights.

“We’re all together working on this and everybody is coming up with the best way to go about it. … (The state is) pushing to get something more done there,” Waldron said.

According to the New York State Police, a South Dayton woman was a passenger in a 2018 Ford F-150 that was traveling west on Route 83 on Dec. 3 when the truck was hit by a 2020 Chevrolet Trail Blazer. The sport utility vehicle was traveling south on Center Road when, according to the State Police, the driver “failed to stop at the stop sign” when it collided with the pickup. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Randall J. Rolison, the operator of the Chevrolet, and two passengers in his vehicle were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Rolison, though, reportedly remained hospitalized as of late last week. Rolison, a Jamestown resident, was behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer hauling several vehicles when he struck a girl as she crossed West Sixth Street in Jamestown on Dec. 31, 2021. The girl, Alexis Catherine Hughan, was pronounced dead at West Sixth and Washington streets.

Also at the recent meeting, the town’s updated Emergency Plan was approved. Waldron will take on the role of Disaster Coordinator beginning in 2023. The updated Emergency Plan will be available in its entirety on the Town of Arkwright website: arkwrightny.org.

Waldron also shared with the board that she has joined the New York State Department of Transportation Grant Review Board with the intent to help the town with future grant writing.

The Town of Arkwright also approved Joe Calimeri of Wright Calimeri in Jamestown to take over as Town Counsel. Calimeri will take the place of Jeff Passafaro, who is scaling back responsibilities among the municipalities he currently represents.

Notably, Calimeri also serves as Counsel for the Village of Cassadaga, which has been at the forefront of the local municipalities debating the regulation of short-term rental properties. McAvoy said Calimeri will assist the Town of Arkwright in the process of drafting its own short-term rental law.

Also at the recent meeting, McAvoy noted the town is in good shape financially. Still, the town will look for ways to lower its operating costs, such as continuing to improve the roads so the cost to maintain them will be lower. McAvoy noted the town will net approximately $176,000 of revenue in excess of expenditures. “Going forward, we’ve got to come back to the basics to look at where we can make capital investments to reduce our operating expenses in the town. That’s where I really think we can make a difference,” McAvoy said.