China transfer station committee still working out relations with Palermo

by Mary Grow

At their June 18 meeting, China Transfer Station Committee members continued to work on three items: straightening out China’s relations with Palermo, enforcing regulations and promoting recycling.

Under a 2016 inter-town agreement, Palermo residents use China’s transfer station, with a proper pass and special blue bags for which they pay. Palermo also pays China an annual fee – $18,000, with no provision for inflation adjustment.

The transfer station committee includes Palermo representatives Chris Diesch and Robert Kurek.

China Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood has given Palermo the required year’s notice of China’s intent to end the agreement. Since then, she and Kurek have been negotiating about an amended agreement.

At the June 18 meeting, Kurek said they are making progress, to the point where he is drafting language for a revised agreement. Neither he nor Hapgood volunteered details or a timetable.

The main reason to enforce transfer station regulations is to bar unauthorized users, so China taxpayers do not subsidize waste disposal for people who make no contribution to costs. Other goals are to ensure that fees are collected for items that cost money to get rid of – mattresses, propane tanks, electronics, for example – and that no illegal items are left for attendants to deal with.

Committee members have considered inspection at the entrance, maybe a gatehouse. During the June 18 meeting, they and transfer station staff proposed a trial during which staff will stop and inspect each incoming vehicle, tentatively scheduled for the second or third week in July.

Following up on the previous month’s discussion of recycling, Diesch had drafted a recycling poster that brought praise and follow-up ideas. The plan is to emphasize to local taxpayers that recycling saves them money in two ways: no disposal fees are paid on recyclables not sent to a disposal facility, and some recyclables generate small amounts of income.

A related project is encouraging teachers in area schools to bring students to see how waste disposal and recycling work, after a successful visit by Manchester kindergartners (see the May 30 issue of The Town Line, p. 14). Committee chairman Christopher Baumann intends to talk with area principals and superintendents.

In other business June 18:

— Transfer Station Manager Thomas Maraggio said the installation of solar lights in the free for the taking building is almost done – one more light will finish the project. He has not yet been able to get “the cement guy” for the planned new pad under the compost pile.
— Maraggio and Hapgood said transfer station staff will no longer use their loader to load (free) compost for residents, because of potential liability. People coming for compost need to bring shovels.
— Hapgood shared the updated transfer station access policy approved at the June 17 select board meeting. Most changes clarify access passes for temporary residents.
Committee members scheduled their next meeting for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 13, skipping the month of July.