|
Faced with concerns over increased trash fees and questions over what solid waste plan is best for Pembroke, selectmen took the problem out of the hands of the Board of Health on Monday and put it into their own.
“You can’t expect a three-member board that’s got landfill capping and rubbish and regular Board of Health issues, where they only meet twice a month, to actually get a full handle on this,” Selectman Arthur Boyle said. Boyle made a motion to transfer responsibility for the town recycling center, landfill closure and trash rates to the Board of Selectmen. “I felt that we had support throughout this board to do something about recycling, trying to up the numbers, taking a look at single-source recycling or curbside recycling or pay-as-you-throw,” he said. “There’s a number of options that are available, and somebody’s got to get it off the dime.” Last year, selectmen put Town Administrator Ed Thorne in charge of the Board of Health office, giving him oversight to deal with personnel and other issues there. Boyle said the latest move, which the Board of Selectmen could make as the town’s chief executive board, was not a “political power play” but an effort to focus on Pembroke’s future trash and recycling needs. Thorne said trash and recycling duties “naturally evolved” into a Board of Health responsibility after the Mass. Department of Environmental Health ordered the town to close the landfill around 1990. “There was a series of articles at Town Meeting that funded solid waste pickup and the recycling center and capping of the landfill, and that was kind of assigned to the Board of Health,” he said. Thorne said few South Shore communities have the Board of Health in charge of solid waste; in many, selectmen set rates while the Department of Public Works handles recycling operations. “That’s probably going to happen somewhere down the road,” he said of transferring duties to the DPW. “But right now, because we have Mike Valenti as recycling center supervisor … it kind of centralizes that operation.” Among the decisions selectmen will be faced with is whether to extend the town’s contract with SEMASS Resource Recovery Facility, which ends in 2014. At a recent regional selectmen’s meeting, officials suggested it might be a good time to extend contracts to get a drop in SEMASS rates, Boyle said. The board also will need to consider how to cover the costs of trash pickup, recycling center operations and landfill closure. In November, the Board of Health voted to increase the annual municipal user fee — billed to every resident to cover those costs — from $240 to $270. Board of Health chairman Lisa Cullity said she has “long questioned” why her board was responsible for solid waste. “It’s almost a contradiction in terms. When you’re dealing with trash, you shouldn’t be dealing with protecting the health or protecting the environment; the two don’t go hand in hand,” she said. “It’s very obvious the voters and the taxpayers in town want something changed with the trash, so if putting this in the hands of the selectmen — that have a more intimate working relationship and a broader scope of their abilities — is going to help facilitate this in any way to make it better for the taxpayers, I’m all in favor.” Cullity said she and others from the Board of Health would be available to assist selectmen as they move forward. With selectmen’s blessing, Thorne said he would put together a solid waste subcommittee, made up of members from various town boards and others who feel they have something to contribute. The group will develop a plan to bring to the April 27 Town Meeting to change Pembroke’s trash and recycling programs. Part of that plan could be to roll the trash fee onto property taxes, allowing homeowners to get a tax deduction and forcing commercial property owners to share more responsibility for the town’s solid waste costs. In a letter outlining this idea, Selectman Don Anderson said the average property owner (of a property valued at $331,000) would pay about $251 annually if the rate were part of the tax bill. With available tax deductions, that could be reduced to about $212.50. Citizens interested in being part of a solid waste subcommittee may contact the selectmen’s office for information, 781-293-3844. In other Board of Selectmen business Monday: • The Board of Selectmen approved a request from Pembroke Military Support Group chairman Julie Caruso to use the Veterans Hall in Town Hall to host the traveling tribute wall, “Operation Home Ties: Faces of Remembrance,” on Saturday, March 20 — the seven-year anniversary of the official start of the war in Iraq. The exhibition, organized by Woburn artist Gina Johnson, is a collection of pen-and-ink sketches of soldiers who served in Iraq and have since died, either in the line of duty or from a related injury or illness. The exhibit has been at the Statehouse and traveled to towns such as Burlington. “I’d really like to be the first town to bring it to the South Shore,” Caruso said. • Selectmen voted to open the annual Town Meeting warrant. All articles for the April 27 Town Meeting must be submitted to the selectmen’s office by Feb. 12 at noon. • The board voted to support the Neighborhood Housing Services program, which helps out first-time home buyers. • The board voted to send a letter of support for a study of the potential costs and benefits of bringing casinos to Massachusetts. Though selectmen said they did not support one side or the other, they agreed that a study would help clarify the issue. The move was in response to a letter from the group United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts.
 |
