JAY – Rhonda Irish looks upon the bales of discarded cereal boxes, newspapers and cardboard at the Jay waste station and sees money.

She reflected this week on her more than 12 years as the recycling and solid waste coordinator as she prepares to step down in February.

The 44-year-old Jay woman wants to explore options in municipal government and take a graduate course in public financial management at the University of Maine at Orono. Raised on a dairy farm in Lisbon, she has a bachelor’s degree in agriculture and resource economics.

“When I came here things were all set up,” she said. The town has curbside pickup for recyclables and solid waste.

But through the years, Irish said, there have been a lot of changes.

When she first started, Jay and Fayette were the only towns participating in the waste station. Now eight towns participate.

Then she was dealing with about 1,500 tons of solid waste. In 2004, she and the seven employees she supervises dealt with 5,674 tons of waste.

Her main job is administration, but anyone who visits the center knows that it is not unusual for her to be out guiding people, weighing trucks and cleaning up after the trucks have dropped off trash.

Her office window looks through into the solid waste building so she knows when her help is needed.

She also is responsible for buying equipment with help from co-workers, including the trash trucks for the center.

And she works with the towns that Jay contracts with and has written grants totaling about $100,000 that have been used to improve the facility. Those improvements included a storage addition, truck scales, retaining walls, and an education program for composting.

“I’ve really enjoyed working here,” she said. “I’ve enjoyed the solid waste and recycling. I’ve enjoyed working with my co-workers. It’s really a great group here.”

But the idea of getting more education and learning about a lot of different areas of municipal government appeals to her, she said.

She has taken classes and workshops to increase her knowledge along the way.

Irish and her father, Wayne Ricker, 68, of Lisbon, who has a similar job to his daughter’s in that town, are the only such father and daughter team in Maine, she said.

She’ll said she will miss talking business with her father at the workshops they both attend, she said.

Irish said she is not nervous about the new step.

She plans to help her replacement to get acquainted with the job before she leaves, she said.

As town mechanic Larry Melcher was leaving Irish’s office Thursday, he looked down and saw her boots by the door. Those are big boots to fill, he said.

Town Manager Ruth Marden said pretty much the same thing. She’s going to be hard to replace, Marden said.