JAY — Selectpersons voted 4-1 Monday to have the town manager, two selectpersons and the director of Public Works Department develop a pricing schedule to accept trash from three haulers that serve Fayette.
Select Board Chairman Justin Merrill opposed the vote while selectpersons Tom Goding, Terry Bergeron and Vice Chairman Tim DeMillo were in favor.
Selectpersons voted in January to stop taking trash at the Jay facility from Fayette and Carthage, and recyclables from Fayette, effective July 1.
At the time, John Johnson, director of the Public Works Department, which includes supervision of the Transfer Station and Recycling Facility, estimated that the town made a net profit of $2,690 for handling the municipal solid waste for both towns.
He also estimated a net loss of $4,335 to handle single-sort recyclables.
It would be an expense to the town if equipment needed to be repaired, Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere previously said.
The town has been approached by Fayette Town Manager Mark Robinson to see if the board would consider accepting solid waste from the three haulers that service that town, LaFreniere said Monday.
LaFreniere, along with Goding, DeMillo and Johnson, had met with Robinson to discuss it.
If the board is interested, they could direct the four of them to develop a pricing schedule, she said.
“We need to worry about the town of Jay and what is going on in Jay,” Merrill said.
The board agreed to stop accepting trash and recyclables from other towns to reduce the cost, he said.
If the board is going to do this, it needs to be worthwhile, he said, because it will be the town that will have to pay for repairs of equipment and trucks.
“If you want to put together a price, it is up to you guys,” Merrill said. “I, personally, am not interested.”
He knows what it costs to repair or buy new trucks and equipment, because he writes the checks for those expenses in his family’s logging business, he said.
It is not worth it if the town does not make a lot of money, he said. “We need to make sure it is profitable.”
“Justin is right,” DeMillo said.
“When you find the number that actually makes sense,” it may not make sense to Fayette, he said.
DeMillo said the town just said no to Carthage as well. If a proposal is made, they should include Carthage in it, he said.
LaFreniere said Robinson is putting together proposals for that town’s board to consider.
dperry@sunmediagroup.net
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