JAY — Selectpersons on Monday will discuss possible changes at the Transfer Station and to curbside trash and recycling pickup service in an effort to save money.

The meeting is at 6 p.m. Sept. 14 at the Town Office. Selectpersons will meet at 5:15 p.m. in executive session to discuss union negotiations for employees at the Transfer Station.

There are three union employees and one salaried supervisor in the department.

The board has been working with that union on language in the contract that doesn’t allow the town to privatize pickup collection, Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said.

If the board negotiates to get that language out of the contract, selectpersons could look at the option of privatizing the service, which would be a savings for the town, she said.

Even before Verso Corp. announced on Aug. 20 that it would shut down a paper machine, pulp dryer and permanently eliminate about 300 jobs, the board was trying to negotiate the language out of the contract, she said.

The board is looking at all options to reduce the municipal budget, she said.

Another option is the elimination of trash pickup service that could result in an even larger savings to the town, she said.

“My hope is that people will come to the meeting and voice their opinions. There are very strong opinions on either side,” LaFreniere said. 

Voters overwhelmingly rejected eliminating the service in 2010.

“Times are different now than when we voted five or six years ago,” she said.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net

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