The future of the Carver, Marion, Wareham Regional Refuse Disposal District (CMWRRDD) is uncertain, says Marion Town Administrator Jay McGrail, and the discussion on where to go once the district’s deal of the century with SEMASS expires on December 31, 2020 has been “all over the place,” as he sees it.
The district has for years been under a contract with SEMASS for free solid waste disposal and reimbursement of all employee costs related to the two district-owned transfer stations at Benson Brook Road in Marion and Route 28 in Rochester.
McGrail said that during its most recent meeting on August 21, the CMWRRDD looked at possibly closing down the Marion transfer station, with one board member even motioning to shut it down in June of 2020. But McGrail said that it is clear that closing down Marion’s station would be a detriment to Marion residents, and the motion to close Benson Brook did not receive a second.
Now, the district is moving in the direction of closing down at least one of the sites, should it remain a three-town district in the end, and one way to gauge the feasibility of keeping at least one district transfer station open was to raise the sticker fee to $125 for the 2020 calendar year to “feel out how much people want to pay to utilize the transfer stations,” as McGrail put it.
The district is at least committed to keeping both stations open until the end of 2020, with operation costs covered, hopefully, by an adequate number of stickers sold in all three towns next year.
But Carver and Wareham, McGrail said, are looking at renovating the Rochester transfer station in preparation for the January 2021 SEMASS contract expiration, and intend on voting on the matter either in February or March once the district can assess how much in sticker fees the three towns were able to collect from interested residents. And, depending on the results, district sticker process might still climb into the $200 – $300 range for calendar year 2021 for use of the one open transfer station.
Furthermore, in order to make the plan feasible, the district would need to sell roughly 4,600 stickers within the three towns.
For McGrail, he’s unsure that it would make sense for Marion to continue as a member town of the district. First off, he said, Marion is different from Carver and Wareham. Marion has its own curbside collection, for example, while Carver and Wareham residents must bring their trash to the transfer station.
McGrail thinks Marion should look out for the best deal it can find for itself and move forward to disposal of its own solid waste. In fact, he said, Marion could quite possibly get a contract with SEMASS for the same tipping rate as the district. Furthermore, if the district were to close the Benson Brook transfer station, Marion might be able to keep it open for itself and, hopefully, cover the operating costs through sticker sales.
The bottom line for Marion is that, if Marion is considering leaving the district come January 2021, it should not be forced to invest Marion’s portion of district money into renovating the Rochester transfer station.
The new $125 CMW transfer sticker for 2020 will be separated from the standard $10 Marion privilege sticker, which will still be available for $10.
By Jean Perry