Residents of Riverside Drive, the pothole-plagued dirt road near the Suncook River where town officials discussed ceasing trash pickup and other municipal services, can temporarily breathe a sigh of relief.

The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Aug. 24 to continue to grade the dirt road until the end of 2009. The same motion also requires selectmen to establish whether Riverside Drive is a public or a private road – a question no town official can answer with certainty.

The board members implied it would take up the snowplowing and trash pickup issue once the town can determine whether Riverside Drive is a public or private road.

The Suncook postmaster, Kathleen Hayes, spoke at the meeting and told residents she would not discontinue mail service on Riverside.

The town’s administrative assistant received a letter from Hayes in late July questioning whether she could continue service due to the road’s poor condition.

At the July 27 selectmen’s meeting, selectmen discussed terminating trash pickup, snowplowing and grading of the dirt road because they considered it a private road that the town is not required to care for.

In a previous interview, resident Paul Bernard, 66, called the idea “a slap in the face” because the town had maintained the services on Riverside Drive for more than 15 years.

It’s also the same road where most of the 38 homes on it were severely damaged in the massive flooding of 2006 and 2007. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is working with the town to purchase many of the damaged homes for demolition, but many residents whose homes were less severely damaged are stuck living in a flood zone because it’s next to impossible to sell their houses.

The meeting had to be moved from its usual Town Hall location to St. John’s Parish Hall on School Street to accommodate a crowd of about 200 people.

Among the several speakers during the public hearing was Hiedi Sevigny, 36, a mother of a 3-year-old son. She became a quadriplegic about the time he was born.

“I have a handicapped van that is low to the ground,” Sevigny said. “If my van can’t get out how can a fire truck, ambulance or police car get down there? … Is it more cost-effective to take care of the road or is it more cost-effective to pay for a new police or fire vehicle that gets damaged?”

Selectman Roger Lefleur said at one point during the July 27 meeting a discussion centered on bids for contractors to grade the dirt road. The quotes were for $2,300, $2,500 and $2,800.

The selectmen decided on Aug. 24 to use a contractor whose bid did not exceed $2,500.

The public hearing portion of the meeting became heated at times, with several members of the audience speaking out of turn.

A central issue of discussion was whether Riverside Drive is a public or private road. Numerous residents obtained public documents before the meeting showing that in 1980, selectmen voted to make Riverside Drive a public way. For reasons unclear, the town treated it as a private way until another vote in 1995, when selectmen again voted in favor of making the road a public way. The current selectmen voted as part of their motion to seek the town counsel’s opinion on the issue before moving forward with trash pickup and snowplowing.

Chairman Tom Gilligan said, “Whether or not the town owns it, I don’t care. I think we should do what we’ve been doing all these years … and maintain the same level of service.”