LEWISTON – City officials knew Casella planned to bring out-of-town recyclables to Lewiston, City Administrator Jim Bennett said Wednesday.

Bennett told members of the city’s Solid Waste Task Force that he learned Tuesday morning about an April 8 discussion between Solid Waste Superintendent Rob Stalford and Casella officials concerning using Lewiston’s landfill as a way station for unsorted recyclables.

“It’s my opinion that staff was acting to the benefit of the community by trying to increase recycling,” Bennett said. “How they went about it was wrong, however. I never knew about this; the council didn’t know, and the public was not told. That’s not the way we do things.”

Word last month that Waterford, a town about 8 miles west of Norway, planned to ship its recyclables to Lewiston caught some city officials by surprise. There is no Casella plant in Lewiston, and Bennett said the company could not bring out-of-town recyclables to Lewiston’s landfill or to the Casella-owned KTI Biofuels facility on Plourde Parkway.

Bennett later canceled the trial recycling program at the landfill.

He said company officials provided him Tuesday with an April 16 e-mail sent by Stalford to solid waste officials from Casella, the city of Auburn, the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments and Public Works Director Paul Boudreau. The e-mail recounts an April 8 meeting between Stalford and officials from FCR Goodman, a Casella subsidiary.

FCR Goodman had agreed to provide a trailer to the city for six months to collect unsorted recyclables. It was meant as a trial program to see if city recycling would increase.

Stalford wrote in his e-mail: “FCR Goodman has asked if they could drop single-stream material in the Shredder Bldg. for Lewiston to load onto the trailer.” Stalford asked for estimates on the volume of recyclables Lewiston should expect and said he understood the company was ready to begin the program.

FCR Recycling’s Beth Young responded later that day with an e-mail saying the company planned to bring in no more than 60 tons – about four trailer loads – of recyclable waste per month.

Bennett said Casella assumed permission from the city based on that exchange.

“That was the source of the confusion, not so much a smoking gun as a leaking water pistol,” Bennett said. “I agree with what (Stalford) was trying to do, but he did it the wrong way. He did it with some insensitivity to the political situation this city faces: Anything the city does with Casella, any agreement has to be done publicly and talked about. We need to be sure people know just what’s going on.”

Bennett would not discuss whether Stalford faced discipline over the matter.

“That’s a personnel matter, and we don’t discuss those publicly,” Bennett said. But Stalford has been asked not to attend the Solid Waste Committee’s meetings in the future.

“That’s a shame, because he’s the city’s expert on this, but there is a credibility issue that has to be considered,” Bennett said.