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Greenfield Recycling Committee (GRECOM)
March 8, 2012
In Attendance: GRECOM members John Matthias, Carol Burgess, Neal Brown.
Selectboard Members Karen Day, Aaron Kullgren, Rob Wimpory
Town Administrator Aaron Patt
The meeting began at 7:30 PM in the BOS meeting room. The original GRECOM meeting agenda was abandoned and the entire meeting was spent with the Board of Selectmen discussing how to present the two warrant articles concerning Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) at Town Meeting on March 17.
It was decided that the Board acknowledge the Budget Committee as the source of the PAYT proposal. That said, the Board agreed will take “ownership” of the proposal, and, accordingly, present the Board’s rationale – fiscal and otherwise - for adopting it. To that end, the GRECOM has provided the BOS with:
(1) the projected cost of purchasing an annual supply of bags and
(2) a detailed basis for projecting the net income of PAYT in its first year of implementation.
It was decided that the role of GRECOM at Town Meeting would be to answer
“general” questions about recycling and any specific questions like those which have been raised in the Question-and-Answer brochure provided to townspeople during the last few weeks.
RECYCLING REVENUES: The following question was raised: Will recycling revenue, like the bag revenue, flow through the revolving fund set up for the PAYT program?
A majority of the Selectboard took the position that only the monies from bag sales would go into the revolving fund , and recycling income would continue to be applied to the general fund. ~
The GRECOM membership and Carol countered with their support for inclusion of recycling income in the revolving account. GRECOM’s support was based in part on informal discussions with townspeople, who voiced concerns about splitting the PAYT and Recycling revenue streams – particularly when the apparent long-range goal of the Board is to reduce the flow of tax monies into the Recycling Center.
It was pointed out by Town Administrator, Aaron Patt, that the Board, given the specific language of the relevant warrant article, probably could not legally re-assign the recycling revenues to the Revolving Account at this time. However, Aaron suggested that if a suitable interpretation of the “intent” of the article could be made, inclusion of recycling income may be legal, and, thus, achievable at Town Meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM
Respectfully submitted,
Neal Brown
Chair, GRECOM
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