Residents may be able to throw all their recyclables into the same bin by summer, according to Town Manager Tim Pellerin. In addition, the transfer station may start opening for a fourth day this summer, Pellerin told the Town Council at the Jan. 27 meeting.
“We thought single source recycling would be too expensive, but it is not,” he told the council.
These changes will depend on the final contract with ecomaine, the town’s new trash hauler, Pellerin said. If single source recycling and expanded hours of transfer station operations are adopted, they would begin in early July when ecomaine’s contract goes into effect, he indicated.
Rather than sorting recycling into plastics, metal, paper and other bins, single source recycling lets residents place all recyclables into one bag to be dropped off at the town’s transfer station. Before this can be adapted, however, a “change in travel patterns” at the transfer station would be necessary, eliminating the various drop-off locations for plastics and other recyclables, he said.
In addition to single source recycling, new transfer station operating hours are also being considered.
“We may be able to implement another day during the week when the transfer station would be open to residents,” he said. “It would involve the same hours of operation as the other days.”
Town Hall renovations begin in July
In other business during the meeting, the Town Council learned that work will begin in July on the Town Hall renovations and should be done in 18 to 24 months, according to Tyler G. Barter of Oak Point Associates of Biddeford.
The council voted unanimously this week to award the Town Hall renovation contract to Oak Point, which has been working with Lassel Architects of South Berwick in guiding the town through initial plans for renovating the building.
According to the contract signed this week, Oak Point will work with a town-appointed operations manager and construction manager to realize plans for the renovation.
Town auditor gets 3-year contract
Also at the meeting this week, the council voted unanimously to award a new three-year contract for $37,550 to town auditor Peter Hall of South Portland. The town has an ongoing, good working relationship with Hall, Pellerin said.
