GREENE — Following months of simmering tensions between some residents and town officials, a petition seeks to force the town manager to have the transfer station open Sundays and create a path for citizens to remove town officials from office.
The petition comes eight months after the transfer station was closed on Sundays due to a shortage of workers, according to town officials. The change in hours has remained a hot-button issue among residents, with one person attending the selectmen meeting as recently as a month ago to criticize the town’s continued Sunday closure.
The conduct of the town manager, too, is a common discussion point on the community Facebook page, Citizens of Greene Maine.
Jason Rowe, left, and Robert Rowe are collecting signatures in an effort to have Greene’s transfer station open on Sundays. Screenshot from Facebook video photo
Robert Rowe and his father, Jason Rowe, first started considering a petition to amend the town manager plan June 2021, when the transfer station first started closing on Sundays. The firing of a transfer station employee two weeks ago in January rekindled the effort, Robert Rowe said.
The amendment would make the town manager responsible for opening the transfer station for at least four hours on Sunday, incentivizing her to find the workers necessary or be forced to open the transfer station herself, he explained.
Sunday was always the most popular day for residents to dispose of their trash, Robert Rowe said, adding that the current hours are difficult for people who work during the week or have kids on sports teams with Saturday games.
The transfer station is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
“It is my opinion that the town manager has decided herself, amongst the select board as well, that they are no longer going to be opening the dump, the transfer station on Sundays,” Robert Rowe said, additionally criticizing the town’s job advertisements, which he said do not list Sunday as a desired work day.
If the amendment is passed, residents will also be able to seek the removal of the town manager or any of the selectmen from office by a petition. That’s not to say they will pursue the removal of any town official, Robert Rowe said, only that residents will have the ability to do so if they choose.
According to the town ordinance, residents must collect 10% or more of the number of voters who participated in the last state governor’s election.
Robert Rowe said his father was told by town officials they would need to collect at least 267 signatures, but they’re aiming higher in case some of the signatures are not valid.
Since they began collecting signatures on Jan. 29, Robert Rowe said he and several circulators had gathered just over 160 as of Monday evening. They’re aiming to collect 350 before submitting it to the Town Office for verification.
Town Manager Darlene Beaulieu and Board of Selectmen Chairman Anthony Reny declined to comment beyond voicing their support for residents’ right to petition.
Everybody has the right to petition, Reny said. “That’s what makes this a wonderful country to live in.”
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