Residents to vote on solid waste disposal in June

Selectmen mulling possibilities for police station

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The long-term future of Dover-Foxcroft’s solid waste disposal will be decided on a June 14 referendum article after the selectmen voted to place the item on the ballot during a March 14 meeting. The article will ask if the town will become a joining member of the Municipal Review Committee (MRC) and, starting in 2018, deliver solid waste to the Fiberight facility to be located in Hampden instead of the Penobscot Energy Recovery Company (PERC) in Orrington.

The decision by the selectmen came after a presentation by Karen Fussell, who is one of the nine members of the MRC Board of Directors and also is the finance director for the city of Brewer, on the MRC’s future plans. She explained the organization is made up of 187 communities from Wiscasset to Mars Hill. Fussell said the MRC was formed in 1991 and over the last quarter century it has worked to ensure long-term, affordable and environmentally sound waste disposal for member towns.

“Despite its assertions to the contrary, the MRC believes PERC’s subsidies will not be viable after 2018,” Fussell said, as the Orrington facility’s electricity producing contract expires in 2018. “In the end we selected an option we felt aligned with our members’ needs.”

Fussell said of 15 proposals, the one from Maryland-based Fiberight was selected. The plan is for Fiberight to build a materials recovery and conversion facility in Hampden, with organic waste being used for biomethane, in-house power, heating needs and other high-value products. “We are expecting only 20 percent of the municipal solid waste that ends up at Fiberight to end up in the landfill,” she said, saying this total is about 10 percent less than at PERC.

The tipping fee at Fiberight would be $70 a ton, compared to $84.36 at PERC, Fussell explained with the rate guaranteed in writing.

A question from the audience, which included officials from other area towns including some who send solid waste to the Dover-Foxcroft transfer station, asked about changes at the local level. “All the current recycling stays as it is, the only real difference we’ll see is where the box goes when it’s pulled off,” Town Manager Jack Clukey said.

Fussell said 14 MRC members have formally agreed to join, including Bangor and Brewer, and so far about a third of the needed tonnage has already been accounted for. “We will not spend a penny on this project until we have enough members to make this project viable,” she said. “There are contingencies upon contingencies built into the contract language.”

Per the project timeline, MRC members will vote on signing the contract through the spring with those agreeing to join entitled to revenue-sharing and an avoidance of an increase in tipping fees. The land purchase and road and utility construction will begin in the summer, with site work and facility construction starting in the fall. The facility is scheduled to receive municipal solid waste as of April 1, 2018.

“The initial contract is for five years and there are provisions for four five-year extensions,” Fussell said.

In other business, Clukey said the previous week the protection committee discussed the concept of relocating the police department from East Main Street to the Morton Avenue Municipal Building and pursuing a sale of the station as the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department has expressed interest in the location for patrol office space. Clukey said the protection committee wanted to bring the item before the full board.

“There has been a concept discussion at this point as to whether it would be desirable for the town and the county to have a discussion on the arrangements of where our police station should be,” Clukey said. He said given the fact that the sheriff’s department is seeking a location for patrol offices and there is available space at the town office, the protection committee thought it best to examine the matter at the present time.

“Why wouldn’t we consider that if we had room here?,” Select Vice Chair Cindy Freeman asked.

“One of the biggest reasons is the presence the department has on East Main Street,” Selectman Ernie Thomas said. “They are concerned they can’t be as effective.”

Selectman Steve Grammont said a decision depends on the interest level of the sheriff’s department. He said another factor would be the asking price on the property and what the county would want to pay. “There’s a lot steps that need to be taken before we decide to bring it to the townspeople for a vote,” he said, as the transfer of property would need to be approved via a town meeting vote.

Freeman Cyr asked about cost savings with the police department relocation. Clukey responded by saying, “It’s more about the longer savings going from two buildings to one. It’s longer term, best utilizing the capacity we have.”

Dover-Foxcroft Police Department Lt. Scott Arno said, “I’m just concerned of losing our visibility downtown, I think it’s very important for the crime prevention aspect of our job.” Arno said a number of visitors stop by the East Main Street station on a daily basis and “they might not check us out otherwise.”

“I think the impact of losing that visibility really needs to be discussed before that decision is made,” Arno said about a possible relocation. When asked, he said, “It costs us peanuts to run it down there,” at an estimated net cost of $10,000-$15,000 after all the department revenues.

Police Chief Dennis Dyer said any decision would be up to the voters. He said previous boards of selectmen had told him they wanted the police station to be located downtown.

The selectmen scheduled a pair of public hearings for later in the month. The first will be part of the the regular meeting on Monday, March 28 concerning proposed changes dealing with bicycles and downtown public parking to the ordinance on the operation of vehicles on town ways. Clukey said these possible amendments can be voted on by the selectmen, following an opportunity for the public to weigh in.

The second hearing will be 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 30 at the town office on the proposed 2016-17 municipal and wastewater budgets. The session follows four meetings of the budget advisory committee and is being held in advance of the April 30 annual town meeting to affirm the June warrant articles.

Later this year the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) will be paving Route 6/16 from Free Street east to the Sebec town line. The selectmen gave the MDOT a permit in the event the department needs to use a posted road for the project. The MDOT will require the contractor to take out a bond to cover the cost of any damage caused by using the posted travelway.

In his report, Clukey said the fire department’s grant application for an exhaust system at the fire station was not funded. He said a grant is still possible for the washer/dryer for turnout gear.

The fire department’s 1979 ladder truck has been sold to the Machias Volunteer Fire Department for $15,000.