LEWISTON – The City Council has put off any decision regarding a Casella referendum and will instead offer a public forum to allow people to question Casella representatives, city officials and others involved in the landfill proposal.

The council had been scheduled to meet Tuesday and decide whether to let voters weigh in this November on Casella Solid Waste’s proposal to manage the city’s landfill. That council decision has now been postponed a week, to Sept. 11.

Instead, the city will hold a public forum at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Lewiston Multi-Purpose Center to give Casella, city officials and others the chance to talk about the proposal and to give the public the chance to ask questions.

At issue is a proposed management deal for the city’s landfill. Lewiston would get Casella, a private company, to manage the city landfill and pay for future expansions. Casella would get room to expand its New England operation and a station for debris on its way elsewhere.

Casella would pay the city up to $2.5 million the first year, plus a minimum of $800,000 per year in monitoring and host fees. Casella would also take over the KTI Biofuels incineration facility off Plourde Parkway and convert it to a sorting facility for construction and demolition debris within four years.

Based on a city Solid Waste Task Force’s calculations the deal would give Lewiston about $47 million over 30 years. That would be enough to take about $100 off of the average tax bill.

But it would mean a drastically shorter life for the city landfill. Rather lasting 620 years, the landfill would be full at the end of 30.

The task force is still considering its recommendation and will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in city hall to continue its work. The meeting will be open to the public, but public comment will not be accepted, Deputy City Administrator Phil Nadeau said.

The City Council will also meet as scheduled Tuesday, but it will not consider putting the Casella proposal on the ballot this November. That vote has been postponed until Sept. 11 at 7 p.m.

If the task force does come up with a recommendation, chairman Robert Reed said, it will present that recommendation then.