LIVERMORE FALLS – People not planning to use private waste haulers after July 1 might be in for a stinky week or two after an offer from neighboring Livermore to take trash for a per-bag fee was rejected by selectmen here.
They asked Livermore officials to rescind the offer, said Kurt Schaub, the administrative assistant to Livermore selectmen.
“I got a phone call from Julie Deschesne … stating that their board would prefer we rescind the offer,” Schaub said Wednesday. Deschesne is chairman of the Livermore Falls board.
Livermore will comply with Livermore Falls’ request, Schaub said.
The offer that Livermore officials put together would have allowed Livermore Falls residents to use the Livermore transfer station for a $3-per-trash-bag fee until Livermore Falls town services were up and running again.
The Livermore Falls transfer station is closing at week’s end due to budget concerns. It won’t reopen until at least after a July 10 special town meeting, and only then if voters approve a budget.
Livermore made the offer “to accommodate the immediate needs of the residents of Livermore Falls, who find themselves in an unpleasant situation,” Schaub said.
Hoping to close the transfer station and dispatch service to save the town money earlier this year, Livermore Falls selectmen drew up the town’s budget without the two departments. Then, in a series of warrant articles at the June 13 town meeting, voters were asked to approve the changes without being given the choice to keep the departments and still approve the budget.
Angry at selectmen for not being given a choice, voters denied funding for the transfer station, dispatch service, library, town office, administration and police department.
The move essentially shut the town down. Selectmen say without funds to operate administration, even departments with funding cannot operate.
Only the police, fire and dispatch services will remain open on an as-needed basis.
For the past week, Livermore Falls residents have been trying to figure out how to jury-rig services they normally get from the town, from trash disposal to summer child care.
Residents were told at Monday’s selectmen’s meeting their only chance of trash removal from the time the town shuts down on July 1, until the special town meeting is to use private haulers.
Then came Livermore’s offer on Tuesday.
But Wednesday, Deschesne said she spoke with other members of the board and decided to notify Livermore that Livermore Falls cannot accept the offer.
Deschesne said the board rejected the offer because “there had been no discussion with the board in regard to potential” legal problems that could come with acceptance.
In her letter to Schaub, she also cited cost factors: “Our Board authorized commercial tipping fees for people to hire individual curbside haulers but no other costs. Because we have not authorized any other expenditures, and being unable to predict potential realized costs to Livermore for providing this service, we cannot authorize the agreement,” with Livermore.
Mike Starn of the Maine Municipal Association said if Livermore’s offer was still open, Livermore Falls might not be able to stop its residents from using the dump.
Livermore Falls could prevent residents from using the Livermore dump if the town was going to pay for it. “But if the individual were paying to dispose of their trash,” he said, it would probably be a different story.
For Fred Nadeau, who runs the Livermore Falls transfer station, the selectmen’s decision seems unfair.
“I completely don’t understand why they’re doing that,” he said. “I see it only as an attempt to force the people of Livermore Falls to have to hire commercial haulers.”
“I don’t know what they’re thinking,” he said. “I’ve tried to do everything I can for the citizens and the selectmen seem to want to block any attempt to help the taxpayers.”
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