China select board OKs revised solid waste agreement with Palermo

by Mary Grow

The four China select board members at the Sept. 9 meeting quickly and unanimously approved two business items on their agenda, a revised solid waste agreement with Palermo and a fire truck purchase by the Weeks Mills volunteer fire department.

The solid waste agreement changes were worked out primarily by China Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood and Palermo select board member Bob Kurek, one of his town’s two representatives on the China transfer station committee.

The main purpose is to update the original agreement, which was signed in June 2016.

A major change increases the “town fee” that Palermo pays China annually. It was set at $18,000 in 2016, with no provision for adjustment. The new agreement raises the fee to $43,000, still payable in quarterly installments. It provides for an annual adjustment “plus or minus to the nearest $500” based on annual changes in the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers for the Northeast.

The revised agreement also updates the section on access permits to reflect current policy. It adds a provision for dispute resolution that makes mediation the first recourse if the two towns’ officials disagree over the “meaning, performance, or enforcement” of the agreement.

At the Transfer Station Committee meeting the morning of Sept. 10, Kurek said the Palermo select board is satisfied with the revised agreement, but because of the increased town fee, it needs approval by voters at a special town meeting. He hopes the meeting will be scheduled in October.

Weeks Mills Fire Chief William Van Wickler previously approached China select board members at their Aug. 26 meeting about his department’s need for a new tanker truck (see the Aug. 29, 2024, issue of The Town Line, p. 2). Board chairman Wayne Chadwick offered to join him in inspecting a 1996 truck owned by Chelsea that Van Wickler had in mind.

Chadwick found no problems with the truck; he noted that its underparts are “pretty rust-free.” The truck is currently being inspected at Reliance Equipment in Vassalboro, Van Wickler said.

The fire chief said he had negotiated the price down from Chelsea’s initial $25,000 to $20,000. The department can provide half that; he asked select board members’ approval to use $10,000 from the fire department reserve fund.

That fund has about $152,000 in it, Hapgood said.

Select board members authorized the $10,000 withdrawal, unless Reliance’s inspection reveals unexpected problems. Van Wickler said he will let them know the inspection results.

One remaining question is whether the Chelsea truck will fit in the Weeks Mills fire house. Van Wickler said if he measured right, it will. If he measured wrong, he has arranged to swap it temporarily for a smaller one from the South China fire department, while he removes shelves in his building to make more space.

The next regular China select board meeting, on Monday, Sept. 23, will begin with a 6 p.m. apple crisp social and public hearing on the Nov. 5 local ballot questions