NORWAY – Local officials continue to be concerned about the possibility of hiring a private company to operate the dump at the Brown Street transfer station.
Members of the Norway-Paris Solid Waste Inc. Board of Directors, the Norway Board of Selectmen, Paris Board of Selectmen and the Oxford County Regional Solid Waste Board of Directors met jointly Thursday to discuss a related request for proposals.
“I think that further consideration needs to be done about the big picture and where everything lays,” said Alison McCrady, general manager of Norway-Paris Solid Waste. McCrady joined a handful of transfer station employees at the meeting, all of whom could stand to lose their jobs if the transfer station operations are handed over to a private operator.
In February, the Norway-Paris Solid Waste Board of Directors voted 3-1 in favor of a request for proposals that was made available to companies interested in running the dump. Board Chairman Eric Grondahl said Thursday the process of interviewing companies and accepting proposals was put on hold and will not resume until after another joint meeting, this time with the Oxford County Regional Solid Waste board.
“What do you hope to gain by privatization?” Norway Town Manager David Holt asked.
“To save the town money. Both towns money,” Grondahl said.
The solid waste corporation’s total proposed budget for 2005 is $626,780 and includes costs for the operation of the Frost Hill Landfill on Route 117 in Norway. The landfill is not being considered under the request for proposals.
Norway and Paris each spent $240,000 to run the corporation in 2004. In 2005, they are being asked to appropriate $282,875 each.
Grondahl went on to explain that even as bids come in from private companies, the solid waste board may decide to maintain full control of the dump.
McCrady and others urged the board also to consider measures like increased enforcement of mandatory recycling and ways to make the Frost Hill Landfill self-sufficient in order to cut costs.
Ferg Lea of the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments warned that cities like Portland and Auburn have tried using private companies for curbside pickup, but have gone back to handling their own trash.
Grondahl said other communities have successfully switched to private operators.
Paris Selectman Bruce Hanson asked Grondahl for his assurance that Norway-Paris Solid Waste would again sit down with local officials once bids have been submitted. Grondahl agreed.
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