Transfer Station Vote Preview

By Dylan Marsh
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT-The Claremont City Council will be voting on whether or not to privatize the city’s transfer station. The conversation among city council members to privatize the transfer station has come up in previous years, but will be finally put to a vote at Wednesday’s meeting. The privatization of the location does not intend to include a sale but rather a lease to the local waste removal company DeCamp Trucking.

After submitting a Request For Proposal in an attempt to make the transfer station more efficient, the city received the proposals back from both Casella Waste Systems and DeCamp Trucking. The return from Casella did not include paying taxes on the property which was a requirement in the request. Casella also proposed closing the Claremont transfer station, taking the waste at their station, and paying the city of Claremont a monthly stipend. DeCamp, however, met the requirements of the proposal, including paying taxes and keeping prices of waste removal roughly the same as the rates the city charges.

DeCamp Trucking is based out of Claremont. In their proposal they have said they will keep the price of solid waste the same that the city charges. They will also look to increase the number of days the station would be open from two to three. DeCamp also claimed that they intend to remove costs for items that the city charges for, while lowering the cost of others. Some items, like televisions, will increase.

The issue of recycling costs has become a contentious point in regards to privatizing recently, as recycling costs do appear to be rising to the same prices as solid waste removal. As the prices of recyclable material goes down, other companies, such as Casella, have also had to combat losses with fees for recycling.

“Not one person on the council wants to make this more difficult, or more expensive, for anyone in the community. Recycling is very important to all of us and we need to make sure we’re doing it for the environment. Unfortunately, the recycling industry has changed a lot over the years. You used to be able to sell your cans and bottles and basically break even, that isn’t the case anymore,” Mayor Dale Girard said about the potential increase in recycling costs.

Another issue the city has been facing in regards to the transfer station is the staffing. The Department of Public Works has had difficulty finding employees to accomplish everything they hope to get done. If the vote were to pass for privatization, the responsibility of trash removal would fall on DeCamp. This includes winter months, which in previous years has been a difficult time for the city due to staff shortage.

Claremont resident Michael Tetu, who in the past had been on a transfer station research committee for the city, proposed another option. He had suggested that the city charge per pound rather than a bag of solid waste. The going rate for private companies he says is roughly $.30 per pound. Tetu proposed that Claremont could lift itself from its deficit by charging as low as $.15 per pound. It was, however, pointed out that if the town were to look into that option, it would require the purchase of equipment like scales and more staff, which has been an issue for the DPW.

The meeting on Wednesday will also be the first for Claremont’s new interim City Manager John Bohenko, who will be taking over for previous interim City Manager John MacClean. Should the agenda item pass, Bohenko will then go over all of the information presented by DeCamp along with Public Works Director Alex Gleeson before finalizing a decision.