Landfill closure company looking at composting options





Town Administrator Bruce Keiser at Monday’s Town Council meeting that landfill staff met with GZA, Geo Environmental, Inc., of Providence, the firm contracted to handle the closure, to discuss alternative storage/composting options that impact the impervious surface coverage and storm water management capacity requirements. “We have concluded that the detention pond serving the upper storage area can be relocated from Lot 47 to the southeast corner of the landfill parcel. GZA is redrafting closure plans to incorporate the new designs. The draft plans for closure of the Landfill will be presented by GZA at the Oct. 14 meeting,” he said,

In new business, Councilwoman Szepatowski complimented the landfill manager for keeping the site clean and orderly, but she said that everything that is left for possible recycling did not have to be disposed of at the end of every day. “Especially things like children’s toys, which could be picked up over the weekend,” she said. “Disposing of these items costs us money and there is no reason for them to be committed to the landfill on a daily basis when they could be claimed by somebody that doesn’t come to the site during the week, but visits on the weekend.”

Sutton said that people should understand that trying to avoid buying a sticker by hauling trash to the landfill with someone who has a sticker will eventually drive the cost of stickers up.

Councilman Kelly expounded on the matter and said, “People have to know that they are abusing the system when they do that and it will cost everybody in the long run.”

Keiser further explained that the cost of the total tonnage is divided by the number of stickers that were purchased the previous year. If the tonnage goes up and the number of stickers sold does not, the increase will be reflected in the sticker cost. “So it behooves everyone using the landfill to purchase a sticker and share the costs,” he said.

In another matter, Councilman Kelly commented on the $170,000 committed to repairing one mile of road per year. He said that as each year goes by, that money will diminish in worth and one mile of road will not be re-paved. “Unless more money is committed to the road maintenance budget, we’re going to lose the battle with ever having the roads on par with where they should be,” he said. “It’s getting dangerous for people to walk, ride a bicycle, or even drive down some of the residential streets.”

Keiser said that road improvements would be part of the capital improvement presentation that will come out in January.

The Council voted unanimously to award the bid for police station additions to William Burgin, Burgin Lambert Architects, Inc. for an amount not to exceed $29,600.