Transfer Station Committee Meeting Minutes 2/8/24

Transfer Station Committee

Minutes of 2/8/24

Members present: Susan Cooper, Jim Hunt (DO) and Melissa Noe (TA).  Members present remotely: Ilene Marcus.  Susan Cooper acting as Secretary.

Meeting was opened at 10:31 am.

Ilene and Susan approved the minutes of 8/11/23 as amended.

The members discussed the Transfer Station (TS) Sticker price for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. 

Susan presented the committee with a partial summary of sticker prices and bulky item prices and exclusions in nine southern Berkshire towns, as well as calculations regarding suggested sticker fees.  Based on projected FY 2025 costs to run the transfer station using estimates of tonnages from calendar year 2024, Susan calculated total fixed costs for staff, operations and rentals at $72, 011.  With 571 stickers sold in FY 2024, meeting fixed costs would mean a price of $126.11/sticker.  Susan suggested $125/sticker as a starting point for discussion.

Ilene noted that costs have risen and are likely to continue to rise over the coming years.  In addition, this is still a very good deal compared to home pick-up.  Casella charges between $360 and $480/year for residential service (weekly versus every other week).

Ilene further noted that rising prices may give the town further incentive to consider Pay as You Throw, both to encourage better disposal and purchasing habits and to reduce TS costs.

Melissa raised the difficulty of making change for residents who wish to pay in cash if the fee is set for $125, and suggested either $120 or $140.  She noted that since the Town keeps no petty cash, and the closest bank is in Great Barrington or Lee, having correct change is a practical difficulty.  Ilene noted that at 571 stickers, the $5 difference in fee would be approximately $3000 difference in revenue for the town.  She volunteered to research petty cash options for the town, along with best practices regarding taking cash.  She also asked for data on the number and proportion of residents who pay in cash.

In order to give Ilene time to research this, the committee will reconvene to finalize the recommended sticker price on 2/27/23 at 10 am.

Discussion then turned to other bulky items.

Jim explained the recent change in mattress haulers.  Our previous hauler is no longer servicing this area.  He got the list of approved recyclers and haulers from the state and called down the list.  Costs have significantly increased.  This load of 83 mattresses cost $33.26 per mattress. 

Susan said that she had spoken to Kyle Danforth of Green Dream Recycling in Adams who has a new business.  Because the business is new, Kyle is still uncertain of pricing, but she noted that he offered the price of $35/mattress given the quantity we have.  After further discussion he said that if staffing was an issue for us, and if we were willing to be the location, he might be able to arrange to have his truck and staff there for a monthly pick-up day open to residents of other towns.  He is also able to take both tires and refrigerant containing items.  Jim agreed that it is worth speaking further to him to see if we might be able to craft an agreement, especially since we are not currently taking tires and are not happy with our disposal options for items containing refrigerant.

The committee unanimously agreed on $35/mattress to cover current costs.

Susan mentioned that the Select Board had discussed the possibility of not allowing large loads of construction waste at the TS and asking people to take those loads to the Casella drop in Lenox Dale.  Jim explained that with the state mandated changes in acceptable rigid plastics, considerably more material is ending up in the bulky waste/construction bin.  Jim believes that Casella is charging $53/cubic yard.  Monterey is current using a tiered fee system $10/$50/$75 based on size of the load.  Jim proposed raising the levels to $20/$75/$100. 

If people have a proposed swap shop item that seems questionable, they may be asked to pay the disposal fee.

Other proposed fee changes:

Furniture up to $35

Appliances up to $20, $30 for Freon containing items

Jim feels $20 for electronics is currently covering costs. 

There is however an ongoing issue with folks, quite rightly, wanting to put small appliances they believe are still working in the swap shop.  Unfortunately, it is very difficult to determine if the items are actually functional.

Susan explained the idea of freecycle sites and volunteered to research local freecycle options.  This would allow people to safely offer their items to others without bringing them to the swap shop, which might be particularly useful for both large items and small appliances.

Jim updated the committee on staffing at the TS, which is currently going very well.

The compost bin is ready, and as of March 1 we will discontinue using Berkshire Compost and the town will take the compost to Meadow Farm in Tyringham.  We project this will bring composting costs down from $500/month to $100/month.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:31 am.