Board of Health: April 27, 2026

Transcript captured from MHTV’s Vimeo auto-captioning. No speaker labels; proper names and dollar figures occasionally misheard. Click any timecode to jump to that moment in the source video.

0:03 Well, it’s 7:00 PM on the 27th of April in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and this is the Board of Health open meeting this evening. The chair has no report. We will move directly in the agenda to the director’s reports. So really what you’re going to be doing is you’re going to open the public hearing for review of the curbside regulations. So you want to do that, and then we’ll start to talk about this document. Okay. Do we need a motion to open? Is that what we’re doing? You can just open it, and then we’ll have- Okay … further discussion and stuff like that. All right. So you’ll just open the public hearing for review of curbside collection regulations.

0:49 Okay. Public hearing for curbside trash and recycling pickup is now open. So yeah, you all have received this large document. Yeah. Spelled my name wrong. Yeah. Oh, really? It’s all good. You know, we know it is. Checking to make sure you know it. Yeah. So obviously, we are going down the path of new curbside collection operations. We will be providing carts to all homes in the community. So that’s what’s kind of dictating this. Now, the funding mechanism are two different pieces. Obviously, we’ll get to the fee later. Mm-hmm. But there’s also going to be the override at town meeting, and if that gets approved at town meeting, that will go to the vote, which will be June 16th.

1:35 Mm-hmm. So the funding mechanism is going to be either the override or this fee. Regardless of how that works, these regulations are going to dictate the placement of carts, the use of carts, all the things that go into curbside collection. So when you go through, you have the purpose, the authority of the Board of Health, the definitions. And again, when we go to create the definitions, we had started with chapter, which was the original Chapter 217, Health and Sanitation Regulations, Article II, Solid Waste. That was the basis of a lot of this, but since this is a slightly new operation, we created standalone regulations for these operations.

2:22 So you have all your definitions. You talk about dwelling units, eligible properties. And again, when we talked about- Excuse me, Phil. People on Zoom, will they have access to this stuff? It’s all been online- Okay … for the last two weeks. Okay. There’s two updates that I’ll talk about when I get to them. Okay. But everything has been posted online. What we had talked originally about fees is posted online. Obviously, we will talk and discuss that further later in the public hearing piece. Dwelling units. So that, this is a big piece, and this has been historic. So we will collect curbside collection of trash and recycling for residents from single family, two-family homes, three-family homes,

3:07 four-family homes, and that can be either a home or a condo, but no more than four units. So if you have a five-unit condo, we will not be collecting from you. There’s only two areas that are really– There’s a couple five unit condos that we discovered when we were going through every property. They will not be eligible under these regulations. They’re technically not eligible under the old regulations. Mm-hmm. But they had just gotten missed. The other piece is that we have two large properties, or several large properties in town that are Marblehead housing units, and those contain also more than four eligible units per property. They generally are in the 40

3:53 range per property, so 40 units on one property, 40 on another. A lot of them are around that 40. So this was the same before, just- Yeah … a couple were missed. Yeah. Okay. All right. So again, since we’re going to this, and we had to review every address that we’ll be delivering carts, there was a very fine-tooth microscope, magnifying glass, looking at every property. It talks about ineligible properties. Properties that do not meet the eligibility criteria established by the board, Bill, shall not be eligible. Appeals and determinations of that, they have the right to appeal some of this. And then we go into Section IV, Town-Issued Receptacle Carts.

4:39 So again, I brought examples of the carts tonight. I don’t think you’re going to be able to see them on Zoom. We’ve seen these before. You have the 95-gallon recycling cart, and then a 65-gallon trash cart. This is the standard cart set. So both will receive a recycling cart and a trash cart for every eligible unit. Mm-hmm. When we were looking at the size of the carts, currently, you’re allowed to use a 65-gallon cart for trash. We call it 65, our 235 gallons will go into one cart, so you’re eligible for one cart and one cart only for trash. For the recycling, when we debated about going every other week, that moves us up to 95. These carts will be owned by the

5:27 town for 10 years, and if we ever did go to every other weeks, we would want to be using the 95. So the 95 made sense just to start right off with that and distribute those to all the residents. It’s going to be really important for people to understand that currently we do not pay for recycling. We will be paying a processing fee for all the recycling.We only want items that are part of the Recycle Smart criteria. That’s going to be printed right on the top, but if you have questions, you go to Recycle Smart. It’s a statewide page. It has a recyclopedia. You can ask the question, “Can I recycle this?” And it will tell you yes or no. Those are the only items that we want in these carts. Recycling can’t be bagged. It all has to be loose.

6:15 Things should be lightly washed, so no food residue. Pizza boxes. Yes, we recycle pizza boxes, but no liner in them, things like that. For the trash, trash has to be bagged and in the cart. So all your trash into a bag, tied up, and then in the cart. Again, with this, nothing can be outside of the cart. Nothing can be on top, no loose cardboard to the side. Everything has to be in the cart with the lid closed. This is a huge piece for keeping our community clean. We get a lot of complaints currently on a windy day. We use, a lot of times, open carts for recycling. People complain, “Hey, my recycling’s blowing down the street. You need to come and pick it up.” We don’t have the manpower to respond to that.

7:00 It’s your responsibility till it gets in there. Again, it talks about– So at the bottom of this- These are pretty wind-resistant, so people don’t have to put stuff on them? Yes, they are very wind-resistant. I own two of the carts currently. I’ve been using them for the last four years. I’ve never had any issues. I’ve never had to put anything on top. Once the trash is in that, that is a solid base. Again, the recycling starts to pile up, and it’s actually a pretty hefty item as well. The 95-gallon barrel actually has the same footprint as that 65-gallon barrel. It does go up, so it has additional volume, hence the 95, but those are the two things. Now, when the carts are handed out, we recognize each cart by the serial

7:49 number that’s on it, on the front. So we will be going along with the company, making sure that we know when they deliver cart A to 149 Jersey Street, that serial number comes over to us, and we know exactly what it is. To make sure everybody– And if there’s multiple units there, we will be placing stickers on the carts to say, “This is 149 Jersey Street, unit A.” And so that way, those carts will get to those assigned units. What I’ve added here is your property number, address, and unit number. So say I live at 54 Smith Street. I want 54 on this cart. If I live in unit A, I want 54A.

8:35 And that way, when we’re driving by, we can easily identify, and people can also easily identify whose cart’s whose, and so they can grab them off the street. If we do have to issue fines, we’ll be using that serial number, not necessarily the sticker. So that is important. Again, we’ll take a look at the serial number, making sure it’s matching up to the sticker, but that’s the only thing I’ve changed in this section. So your property address number and unit number, and this is where it should say, “Shall be placed in the upper right-hand corner on the front of the cart using two to four-inch block lettering, making sure not to cover the serial number.” So again, when you’re looking at the big green 95 gallon, that should be a little to the right. If you’re looking at the 65, it’s going to be kind of in the

9:21 center. We want these carts not numbered, and so that is part of the regulation. It is part of the regulations that you’re looking at currently. So if you open up the regulations that I handed you today, that’s an older set. Look at this question. Yeah, page five. Page five. They have to face a certain direction? Yeah. We’re asking that they’re on the front. So we’re considering where the serial number is the front of the barrel. Okay. So that’s what should face the street. Yep, that is what should face the street. Right. So that’s having your cart out from your house but facing the street. Can we put that in here? So when we deliver the carts, you will receive a packet, for your two carts, you’ll receive a bunch of

10:09 information. In there will be a picture of how you should be placing your carts out, essentially. Okay. Or directions on how to place your carts out there. You’ll also receive a copy of these regulations. So nobody can say, “I didn’t know this was a regulation.” They will all be handed to the 8,000 units that we’ll be delivering the carts to. Collection and handling compliance.

10:35 All solid waste, so at the very bottom here, all solid waste for recycling material must be placed in the cart with the lid securely closed. Any material outside the cart will not be collected. Fines may be issued. So that’s just a little additive there to just remind people. Again, nothing can be outside. We have mandatory recycling in Massachusetts. So that means you essentially have to be putting trash in a recycling cart out every time. What’s going to happen is if we don’t see your recycling cart, we’re going to be really paying attention to what’s in your trash. We do have the authority to open up your barrel, open up your bags, and stuff like that if we really thought there was an issue going on there.

11:21 Again, when the container gets dumped into the truck, there is a camera that they’re looking for items that shouldn’t be in there. If everything’s in trash bags, it’s hard to pick up, obviously, but they are looking, paying attention to some of that stuff. That’s mandatory in Massachusetts? I never knew. Yeah, recycling is mandatory in Massachusetts. Marblehead was the first town to start recycling, as well. Oh. Oh. Yeah, I do remember that. Yeah. And again, it doesn’t always mean that you have to– If you have an item that is so soiled you can’t throw it away, it just means you have to do your due diligence to try to recycle it.Voluntary opt-out. So when we deliver all these carts, we are assuming that you are into the

12:10 program. And so what we’re going to be voting on tonight is the fee-based program. Again, if the override wins, it’s going to be part of your taxes. But for the fee-based program, it’s an opt-in. Sorry, you’re in, so you have to opt out. The very last two pages of the packet is the opt-out paperwork.

12:34 So you have to fill out this form. You have to say your opt-out election. You have to tell us how you’re getting rid of your trash and recycling. So where it says other lawful method, you could say, “I have a transfer station sticker.” That’s acceptable. But we want to make sure that you have a place where you will be taking your trash. And then it just has to be approved by myself or the board, and then you’re allowed to opt out. Before you have opted out, you have to return your two carts. Again, those are the property of the town. They’re not the property of the eligible unit. Mm-hmm. We have to deliver them, you know, for they- So they can call. Yeah. Again, that 95 is really hard. So they can call, and we can work out an arrangement for it to

13:21 come and pick it up.

13:24 Yes. Okay. And the difference we talked about earlier, whatever we previously talked about, if people were opt-out, you were staying opt-out. That’s not the way it read. Yeah. So originally, when we talked about opting out, so again, the fee is going to be done on an annual basis. It’s a fiscal year fee. Mm-hmm. So when we talked about opting out, you would be opting out for the year. We didn’t just specifically say that, but what we don’t want to happen is that people are using this seasonally. Mm-hmm. So you can’t say, “Well, I’m going to be gone for six months. I’m opting out.” It’s like, well, you need to return your cart, you need to everything. And if it’s available, you can opt back in. But we’re not saying it’s available. Again, if we have low numbers or something that we need

14:11 the additional business or the additional clients, we could potentially opt people back in on a relatively easy basis. Now, any new homeowners and stuff like that, if the carts were at the home, we would quickly transfer them over. They would just stay where they are. But if there’s somebody new in town, they move to an eligible property, they didn’t have carts, obviously you can opt in right– That would not be a problem. You don’t have to wait for the following year. You do not have to wait for the following year.

14:46 Businesses or downtown district. We do have the wording to say that we have the potential to allow some businesses to participate in our program. Again, we’re trying to hit the 8,000 eligible units to keep the price at a level basis. As soon as we start to decrease on our numbers from eligible residential, it allows us to do some commercial businesses. We will talk about the commercial fee later on. Commercial businesses cannot be a food establishment. They have certain regulations about how they must handle their waste. So it can be a small business, but again, you have to do both the trash and the recycling. You can’t have one or the other,

15:33 and you cannot have items outside of your cart. And this is only if it goes to the fee-based. Yes. So the businesses- Only if- … would not be eligible. They would not be eligible in the override. Mm-hmm. Override is strictly residential. Okay. Yep.

15:52 Again, we talked about the downtown district and the need potentially for smaller carts. We will have 180 of the 35-gallon trash cans. You get one cart for trash only. You do not get two 35s. But after a period of time, we would allow you to switch. Mm-hmm. So we do have that option, but that’s for the downtown district only. Mm-hmm.

16:22 Fees and charges. You will be billed on a quarterly basis similar to your taxes. You will only receive two bills. In the bills will be two vouchers, your first quarter, your second quarter, then we’ll bill you again for your third quarter and your fourth quarter.

16:42 When we were doing some calculations, we were surprised by the cost of the billing in itself. It’s approximately $25,000. Mm-hmm. Just for the paper, the stamps, and all that stuff. Mm-hmm. When you’re talking about this level. The following year, can we put it online? So that is a huge additional cost, and we can look at that, and we can see what the value is and stuff like that, but we couldn’t do it the first year. So we’re going to actually have to physically mail checks. You can drop off checks and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. We have not set up a credit card system- Right … and stuff like that at this point. No. Yeah. But yes, we can get there. Yeah. And yes, we have a lot of experience with that.

17:30 Again, when you’re dealing with 8,000 accounts, this is going to be a full-time job for somebody- Mm-hmm … essentially. Doing the billing, doing all the management of all the– each address, all the accounts, and stuff like that. Once it gets approved into the tax. Once it get– yeah.

17:47 Low-income adjustment. We do have a low-income number that we’ll go on for the fee. Low-income adjustments are only for people that have been approved by the assessing department. The board will not make that determination. I will not make that determination. I get the paperwork from the assessing department, and that makes them eligible.

18:12 On what basis does the assessing department- It is based on income … income, not the value of the house they live in? No. Yep. They have their own formula. This was the best way to do it. We talked to the attorneys about it. They said, “Nope, this is done on a regular basis.” The assessing department, they’re the ones that assess the taxes. They set a low-income eligible tax rate. Those are the addresses that you would use. It’s not that many. Mm-hmm.

18:46 And they set the number? No, they set the address. They tell us which units are eligible. Okay, and then we can decide- And the fee- … what the rate is going to be. Yeah. You will decide We could effectively be free then, if we really wanted to. If you really wanted to, you could effectively be free.

19:05 We’re trying to be reasonable and stuff like that, but yes. Again, you have a known value with an estimated value. You have a known value for the contracts. For the collection side, you have an estimated value for estimated amount of material that you’re going to get that’s going to be collected, that gives us a number, plus some additional fees, an employee and stuff like that, that wraps into it. And that gives us our total cost, and then it gets divided out for all the eligible units.

19:40 Violations, enforcement, servability, and then the effective date. So obviously, you guys would vote on this. This will become effective. And the implementation, obviously carts will be delivered in the month of June, but the program would actually begin July 1st.

20:01 Questions?

20:09 Yes. Just as I’m reading through this, the cardboard, it’s said to be not bigger than 36 by 36. You’re looking at- That’s the old one … that’s the old one. You need to be looking at… Yep.

20:28 The other piece that we wanted to quickly talk about is bulky items at the transfer station. We do not collect bulky items curbside. We get quite a few bulky items up at the transfer station. Again, we’re just trying to make things a little bit easier for everything. We’re trying to keep things flowing up there. So we are asking that the board view bulky items and make it a fee rather than a weigh and pay. Mm. These items would be a single chair. It tends to be home furniture that we see. People have to get on the scale. We’re trying to make it easy and just, you no longer have to get on the scale to do that. The other thing is that I have to increase my mattress and box spring rates

21:14 as the company that disposes of them is increasing. I need to pass that cost on to everybody. Mm-hmm. Again, you have the new curbside collection regulations. You have the bulky fee. The Chapter 217 Health and Sanitation really doesn’t change as we’re implementing the new curbside collection regulations, but that does stay in place.

21:41 If the board doesn’t have any comments or questions- Where were the fees for the bulky? Am I just missing these? No. Oh, no, they’re right there at the bottom, right? Yeah. Okay.

21:54 The italics. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. No, this is fine. This is a minutia, but it actually has turned out to be relevant in the charter committee. On page two, the board of health, we are duly elected, not duly appointed.

22:16 In the charter committee, there’s a distinction.

22:23 Board should be duly elected. Yep. Okay, got it.

22:32 That is correct.

22:43 Now, technically, we’re not going to prohibit somebody opting in, opting out, opting in. If

22:57 sufficient logic were made, they could come to the board and get approved to do something like that? Right, but they have to return their cart before they can opt out. So again, we’re not looking for people to opt out seasonally. Yeah. And if we feel that we need to state that, we should state that in the documentation and the regulation. I think that’s worth saying. Okay. Say someone in the home had a stroke- Yep … but couldn’t move. They’re not going to be recycling anything for six months. Six months. Could they opt out and then opt back in- Yeah, again- … on the board and get approved? Yep. Those were kind of some of the things that we’re like, “All right. Well, what if this happened? What if that happened?” It’s always on a case-by-case

23:46 basis. Again, it’s not intended for the person that’s leaving town seasonally. It’s intended for the people that have these kind of one-off issues.

24:03 Page six, voluntary Are there questions or comments from the floor or from Zoom eventually? Yes, please. Couple things. When are you going to have the first bill sent out for payment? Presuming the override didn’t pass or something. So technically, then we would be sending the bill out, call it July 1. Okay. Yeah. And due like in 30 days or something. Yeah. So your first quarter payment, similar to your taxes and stuff like that. And it would show like $200, $100 due now and 100 later. That, it’s going to- Or whatever the figure is. Yeah, it’s going to be exactly the same as if you get your tax bill that says like, your coupon for quarter one, your coupon for quarter two.

24:50 Makes sense to do it. Yeah. Okay. It was just when we were crunching some of the numbers, it was a huge cost savings. Didn’t notice any fees set up for fines for non-compliance. Obviously- Did I just miss that? Fines are actually set out- Just a second … in the 217 health and sanitation regulations. In the old stuff. Yeah. But we’re going by the new stuff, so you should maybe incorporate it into- So it’s incorporated in by it says, when it talks about fines and fees, it reverts back to the chapter 217. So will you be redoing that 17 so that the cardboard he mentioned will no longer be in there? Just going to get people confused. Yeah, so the idea is that some of this stuff stays because it’s some of the older regulations, and some of it are still relevant.

25:38 But the curbside is going to be front and center on our town page and making sure that everybody is aware that those are the regulations for curbside. And it’s going to take a while for everybody to get used to it. Yeah. And again, what we said was that when we deliver the carts, we will be delivering a copy of the regulations. Yeah. So any of the changes that we just talked about- Yep … will be the corrected version. And the last thing, you mentioned something about the housing authority. Yes. You know like Powder House Court and Green Street Court, they put out a bazillion little barrels. They are no longer eligible. Okay. Now, would you make them eligible if they paid the fee? So again, the problem is, is that I can service the units on the street, I can’t service the units inside.

26:26 The housing authority guys, they usually wheel the– At least on Green, so I go by there, I’m like, “Well, it’s cool.” Yeah. Powder House. Again, like- And some of the others have dumpsters. Yeah. Right. They should all have dumpsters. Now, on Brooten Road, where you have two-family homes, we will be servicing them. And how about Barnard Hawks Court? Which one’s Barnard Hawks? Down Taft- Down across from Main Street. And how many units are there? There’s probably 25, 30. I do not believe so, no. 30 or 40 something out there. No. It’s like in a square. Tender Square, yep. Is there a dumpster down there? There is a dumpster there, yes. Okay. Yep. I think they’ve only been putting recycling out because the recycling does not cost us anything. Okay. But since we’re, now we’re moving to we have to pay a

27:13 processing fee. You’re going to communicate this with the housing authority, I assume. I already have. All right. Yeah. Pretty on top of this stuff. I don’t want to belabor the cardboard box thing, but three times a year is really a huge thing, like around Christmas time and that- Yeah … where many, many people have cardboard boxes arriving. So then I’m presuming what you’d do is you break them down and put them in the green? What do you do? Yes. You break them down, and you put them in the green. It’s unpleasant. And if you have- It’s good … you have more than just walking, looking down the streets, if you have more than that, you probably just should store them into the next week- Yeah … or take them out. Or go to the transfer station. Yeah, we’re very lucky in this community where we do have a transfer station. We recommend that if you have to deal with bulky items and you get a facility

28:01 permit and- I think this will be something new for people is where I’m thinking. Absolutely. Yeah. So I think I know the answer, but I think just to make certain. Any of the tier overrides as currently anticipated

28:23 will change the fees? No. No. This is separate. Only one. Separate, yeah. There’s only one eligible override for trash that would change the fee. That will be separate from the tiers. Okay. The reason for my question is- No, it’s completely … I understand it. I understand it that at the town meeting, people can bring up motions and do almost anything. Yep. Mm-hmm. They well.

28:54 But so none of that matters. They would have to modify the one override around the trash. Yeah, and even then, so the- It’d be a hell of an effort. Yeah. It would be, yeah. So the dollar amount for the override for the trash is $2,298,575. That amount, when raised by 2.5% every year, will cover the cost of trash for the five-year contract.

29:31 So any diversion from that, I can definitely get up and speak to it, but that would cause some issues for us.

29:39 But again, if that fails, you’re reverting back to the fee structure. Mm-hmm. Again, the whole reason why we went in this direction is that it would be considered a public health threat if we do not provide curbside trash and recycling collection to all homes in Marblehead, all eligible homes in Marblehead. It would be too much of a burden on the transfer station, and there would be concern about widespread sanitation issues, and therefore, we had to think about this. And the idea is to get this done before town meeting so people can make the choice, do I want to pay this through an override, or do I want to pay this through a fee? But regardless, we have to have curbside collection.

30:27 So in tier three, does that include the trash can? No. Okay. Trash is always on its own. Always on its own. Okay. Whole different- Yeah. There’s a separate question on the- No, no, no. I know that. I’m just wondering- Thought very hard for that … yeah, but that’s why I’m just wondering.

30:43 Now, what happens if cars park in front of these boxes? You put the box out, and in certain areas- Parked? Yeah. How’s the guy going to pick it up with one guy- They go up and they go around and do it … on the truck? They’re going to leave the truck in the middle of the road, there’s cars parked on both sides, and- Yep … going to be a- Just like they do now. Okay. Yeah, no, same issue now. Well, there’s two guys on a truck right now. This is going to have one guy on a truck. Yep. Obviously, so in the Downtown district, it is not going to be automated collection. Right. It’s going to be standard collection like we have today. Mm-hmm. They will have towter tippers on the backs of the trucks just like they do today. There will be a guy that’s riding around, but they will be grouping all of downtown, or what they’re choosing- So will downtown be two people? Yeah, downtown- It’s about- … will be two people.

31:29 Okay. At least. Yeah. Yeah. So it’ll be downtown and the small streets- Yeah … that need to be collected by the small truck. That one way. For the homes in downtown that have a spacing issue, do we want to offer them to, when they downsize to a 35, to maybe purchase a second bin? No, they cannot purchase second. Yeah. So, as far as like- It’s the same amount of trash … so you have to purchase them as a unit. You cannot split it out. So if there was somebody, a homeowner, and we didn’t have 8,000 members, or customers, and somebody wanted to purchase a whole new setup, I don’t have a problem with that. But you have to purchase them together. You can’t split them up,

32:14 because it’s mandatory recycling. So this is for the trash? They come together. They are a unit. Mm-hmm. And if you’re like, “I want to move to a 35 gallon-“ Yeah … but you wanted a second 35 gallon- Yeah … then you’re going to be charged for- Then you get two 95s, too … two 95 gallon recyclers. Oh, no. Or two 65s. Yeah. They’re a unit. The same one. Yeah. Oh. That’s why the 65 is the best option currently with- Yeah. Okay. So for the downtown district where people are, “I can’t play this. I want the 35 gallon,” again, you’re only getting one, but you also get the 65 gallon recycling bin. Yeah. It’s- The following year, if they decide the 35 is too small, can they change it following year? Yes. Again, the company that we worked with to establish this said most

33:02 residents will say it’s too small, then be like, “No, this is great.” Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, I agree with that. I’m only concerned about, I just think of a handful of houses, and there’s really– I know there’s nothing we can do about it, you got to do something, but they literally, they’re the in-between houses that are attached to things. They don’t have a backyard. They don’t have any– All they have is out front. Yeah. And so those are the ones where I think they’re just going to be like, “I can’t even take this right now.”

33:28 So those are the ones, hopefully we can… So the- Again, they’re all designed to be left outside. You don’t- Yeah … have to put them in shelter. I left mine outside for years. Yeah, no. Never a problem. Some houses have no land at all now. Yeah, no. I’m aware. I grew up there. Yeah. It’s– But so, we had talked about this before, so I’ll just make sure we can reiterate it. If I bring this down on Hooper Street, and the person is like, “I can’t. There’s nowhere for me to put this. I need the smaller one,” we can take it back right then? Pretty– So I have an order of small carts, of the 65-gallon recycling and a 35-gallon trash, that should be coming when everything

34:15 gets delivered. Yeah. Okay, so they could start with that, for certain– And I know. They have to start- All right … again, it’s a case by case basis. That’s what I mean. Yeah. All right, yeah. So we deliver those, but- If somebody’s telling me, “I can’t take this. Just take it away. I’m an awful-“ Yeah, no. Yeah. Honestly, I’d bring by pictures of those houses and be like, “Your house is not this house.” You know? Like, type- I think probably- … it’s- … they might contact us early and say, “There’s no way this is…” But- Yeah. Yeah … again, the company said most people will say, “I can’t handle this,” by the time they actually have it, they’re like, “Oh, this actually works out better.” Yeah. When you get down to that 35-gallon pail- No, I- … it is pretty small for putting it- Yeah, and I think a lot of people, I agree with you, will say that. I just, having grown up there and walking those streets my whole life, I

35:01 just know this. I could probably point to them on the map and be like- Yeah … “That house ain’t going to take it. That house…” You know? So, it’s- Yeah. No, we bought 100 maybe. Maybe even smaller. Okay. Good. That’s good. Yeah. And the trash ones, it’s not a problem with animals to go in? No, I never- No … so yeah. I’ve never had issues. Again, I compost at my house, so my trash doesn’t smell. Yeah. But no, I’ve never really had an issue with it. So I take the two, if it’s, I have two 65s, and I just put them up against the house- Yeah … in the driveway, and they live there. Yeah. This may be a stupid question, but I just want to make sure. If you don’t have enough stuff, say you have very little recycling, you don’t have to put your barrel out each week, do you? Or do you?

35:49 No, you do. You do not have to, but you’re going to start to raise questions, and we’ll start to come around and look at what you’re doing for operations. So even if you have a tiny bit? It’s mandatory recycling in Massachusetts. I- Yeah … that’s what I’m trying to get at. Yes. Does mandatory mean that you have to put it out even if you have almost nothing in it? No. And the regulation does not say you have to put your empty recycle bin out. Well, that’s what I’m saying, because some weeks it’s like, I put it out oftentimes every other week because there’s not much in it. So- They’ll just start checking your trash to make sure- Yes … you don’t have all your- Trash … recycles in there. Yep. We will start to check your trash. So it’s probably better to- So the recycle barrel doesn’t have a plastic bag in it? No, yeah, the regulations state it should not be bagged.

36:35 Yeah. Okay. This is a silly question. You can put it in paper bags, things in paper bags? Put it in paper bags, yes. You cannot put your trash into a paper bag in the barrel. Oh, yeah. We get that- That’s an issue … that’s an issue. Yes. Yeah.

36:52 It has to be tied up in a plastic bag. Yeah. Yeah. You got the plastic bags, so yeah. What happens, and the reason why a lot of these regulations came about, I know they seem odd at times. So during wind events, snow events, if they have to be collected differently and often by hand, trying to handle some of this stuff by hand is horrible. It’s unsanitary and unsafe. So everything has to be in plastic bags for trash. Again, all recycling is loose. It’s hard to deal with recycling when it’s loose, but those are what the regulations are. Well, isn’t the plastic bags are also for rodent control? The plastic bags for the trash are, yes- Yeah … rodent control as well. Yep. Yep. And again, nothing can be outside of the carts.

37:39 Mm-hmm.

37:45 Are there fines given if people are disposing of needles incorrectly? Yeah, so there is state law for fines for needles. So, needle sticks is a huge issue for trash guys. They get probably the most common for needle sticks. That’s why we operate a needle Z-EEL or a needle kiosk upstairs- Mm-hmm … where there’s no fee for residents. Again, any doctor’s office, vets are supposed to be disposing the needles that they collect. So we’re- And the patients bring in. But the patients, yeah. So we see a very large quantity of needles actually coming in on a regular- And I’ve asked this before, but we can’t get that needle box outside? No, it has to be- In here? No. Yeah. Don’t want people stealing them. No. And just like this. Yeah, there’s a couple things. Yeah, you’re supposed to have eyes on the needle

38:32 box. Ah. Yeah. The way it’s designed is that sharps have to be put in a sharps collection, and then in the box. Again, it’s always about protecting the person that has to take them out and stuff like that. There are safer ways, like to put– You can put it in laundry detergent thing- Yeah, laundry … and then- Yeah, laundry detergent, anything that’s HDPE plastic and that’s rigid. We always understand that sharps containers can be expensive. If you have a couple and you bring them in, I have sharps containers that I’m going to make sure they go in before they go in there. Mm-hmm. But yeah, that sharps box, everybody has to have an eye on it. So when something’s– Again, we’re not asking questions. We just want to make sure that people are being protected.

39:17 A lot of the sharps we’re seeing right now have their own protection containers. So- Yeah, like the pens. Yeah. Yeah. All the pens are all actually- Yeah … in their own safe container. Yeah. Good. So fees. So on the fourth to last page are your fees.

39:47 Page 10 for all the- Yeah, page 10 …

39:51 10 So you have your expenses that go into it.

39:56 It totals $2,186,516.

40:02 So at 100%, that’s 8,000 homes, the cost per home would be $273.31. Again, we talked about making sure we had a whole bunch of breakdowns, so you have if you had 2% opt out, 3% opt out, 4%, 5% and 6%. The board needs– So speaking with other communities, it’s generally around the 3% of households that will opt out. Did those ones have transfer stations? They did not. Yeah. So the board has to choose where they think it’s going to fall and set the fee.

40:43 So if you think 6% are going to opt out, you need to set the fee at $290.76. And can it change, though? You have to have another public hearing to change it. Okay. So again, when you go fee based, the curbside collection contract goes up 5% every year. Right. Every spring, we will be having a public hearing to set the fee for next year’s collection. So say we pick the 290, the 6%- Yep … and there’s a 2%

41:17 opt out. Can we lower the price for next year? No. Oh. No, because it goes into the general fund, it does not roll over. So where would that go? So again, it would just go into the general fund. And so when you’re setting your budget, the town will vote on your budget, and so again, they’re using these numbers for- So what happens if the fee is under? So if the fee is under, then we’re short money and you’re going to end up using your waste revolving account to cover your disposal fees. Mm-hmm.

41:53 Yes? Yeah, just getting back to, Dr. Rizzo, scenario if you collected 290 and the amount were actually under, could that money be put aside to offset people that you’re forgiving for hardship? So the way it’s set up is that all of this is taking into account the hardship number. So the es- like, and this is just a number, we haven’t discussed it, but the estimated reduced rate, I have it as $200. So yeah, that’s including all those, like, so if you took all those estimates in there, that’s covering the cost for that stuff as well, essentially. And that’s for about how many households did you say? 200 or so? It’s about 120. Oh. Many houses, so- And it’s, yeah, it fluctuates.

42:40 So the difference between 3% and 6% is $9. We do have a transfer station. I’d say go for 6% to be safe, and it’s $9. So that’s you know, like… In a similar vein, I like the idea of the reduced being free for those 120 households. Yep. It should only raise everyone’s rate by a few dollars. It’s just 120.

43:15 Again, you’re trying to set a reasonable amount- Yeah … so people pay a reasonable amount of taxes. So to giving them to for free is a little unreasonable. Yeah. Well, just those hardship. I know. Again, with the hardship, they still pay tax dollars. Yeah. I’d say you’d wanna- And again, I understand- Yeah … we’re trying to set a reasonable rate. Yeah. I’d say if you wanna go lower than what it is, I’d probably say go closer to 150, which is what it was last year, more or less. Yeah, probably pretty close to that. Yeah. So it’d be- Maybe it was less last year. So what we’re paying currently, yeah. Okay.

44:04 No- With taxes … as part of your taxes. Uh-huh. But it’s not in the way of my taxes. No, I- Yeah … I know, but it’s just, you know. The money for- Yeah … the fire station or something. Yeah.

44:19 I understand what you’re saying, but

44:24 Al, at several times has talked about people who have lived in Marblehead for 50 or 60 years. They’re in a house that the house may be worth something, but they don’t have any sort of income, with everything going on. I think we ought to work very hard to make those 180 people, whatever it is, vulnerable, as low as the community would see as reasonable. Yep. And if you’re, what you’re saying, what I think I heard you say, is this year in their taxes, they were paying $160. Um, approximately, yeah. Yeah. But some of those people get an abatement on the taxes too- And they still- … from, from the assessors.

45:11 They, they get reduced taxes. No, but which they need. So 150 would be a, a, if, you know, I was suggesting 6% because we have a transfer station. Mm-hmm. 150 would be half that. That’s a pretty good discount. That’s, that’s- 145 would be half. Uh, yeah. Roughly.

45:33 Look, I, I think given the way the world is,

45:37 $5 times 180 is what? $900. And in the overall scheme of things, Marblehead can afford $900, but there are 100 people who can’t. And we should, we should make it clear that this is a community. Yep. Mm-hmm. So $145? Yeah.

46:06 And subject, we will, the board will be reviewing this again next year. Correct. Mm-hmm. Each year we’ll, it, that- So, so only if it stays fee-based. If it goes to override, these numbers go away and it’s just paid- Yeah. Yeah … through taxes. Sure. Yeah. And then if we choose the 6%, and, and, and we do get 6% opt-out, we can fill the rest with businesses. Yes. That, so you, you’re, you’re not gonna be able to fill, um, the 480 with businesses. There’s only 160 businesses- Right … in the downtown district. Mm. Yeah. People will be paying more. It would be something. Again, you have to remember that your trash collection is a s- is a static number for this year.

46:51 Your recycling collection is a static number. Your disposal, your recycling processing are estimates.

47:01 Yeah. Based on- It’s like- That’s a variable, yeah … it’s based on- Those are based on this year’s quantities and stuff like that. If you leave it on the tax rate, it’s gonna be a lot easier and a lot less confusion for everyone. We don’t have that option today. We’re not, that- Yeah … that’s going to town meeting. And for anyone watching on the screen, the difference between 100% and 6% annually is about 17 bucks, just to put it in perspective.

47:32 Are there questions on, on the Zoom?

47:41 This has been very helpful for, be- people who live here. I’m not seeing any questions on Zoom.

47:55 Good evening. Um, I just have a concern operationally as to how Republic will collect. So on my street, I’ve had mixed service in terms of trash and recycling is taken at the same time. The truck backs into my street, it doesn’t travel down my street. I do live on a little bit of a hill. How can we be reassured that recycling and trash will be collected properly? So I, again- And collected, period. I’m not sure if your street will be considered a small street and collected with, you know, with the smaller truck. Will it still be manned? When we move to automation, obviously, again, we always operate with a trash truck-… and a recycling truck, and they look exactly the same. I do understand that probably for your street what happens is, what

48:42 we’re told often is that the guys are trained to be efficient. And so it might be the recycling truck that backs up, grabs the recycling, but grabs the trash and brings it out to the street and puts it on the ground there. Again, we’re trying to work with Republic to make sure things should never be collected together. Which I can assure you- Yep … they have been. Yep. Do you call- Yes … the police department? Yep. And again, so Republic runs their recycling plant. So if there’s trash in the back, they have to pull it out, and it costs them time and money. So it’s not worth their while to really be mixing trash and recycling. It, again, it is- Yeah. I understand, yeah

49:27 … it’s been a repeated- Yep … something that has happened repeatedly. I’m just trying to understand how- Yeah … moving to this system will be different potentially for the- So the- The barrels will be very different. Right now you’re kind of dealing with- Correct … anything can be, you know? Right. This conversation reminds me of a proofreading I was in, in the new version of the bylaws it says, “Trash no earlier than 6:00 PM the night before.” Today, I think it says, “No later than 7:00.” So, you’re talking chapter 217? Yeah. So you’re not allowed to put your trash out earlier than 6:00 PM. Right, right. The trash company’s not allowed to collect earlier than 7:00 AM.

50:15 But they do do that. They, yeah. And in our rules- Yep … it says that. But I know. We’re- Yep … I live right on the Salem border, and so they- Yep. But in the writing today, you no longer have that. It’s still in chapter- Still in the regulations … still in the regulations in the 217. Oh, okay. They’re two things. Okay. But yeah, and so what happens is that when we get notification from a resident that they’ve started early, we call the route manager, and they’re forced to go back and start over essentially. Can I just make one more comment to your point? So when the new trucks come about, depending on if you are automated collection or small truck collection, the recycle truck and the trash truck are going to pick up the barrels that are tagged for them.

51:01 So a trash truck will pick up a trash barrel. It will not be programmed to be able to pick up the recycling barrel. So if it’s automated, that will be it. If it’s person on the back of the truck, that will be something you still need to deal with Republic. Does that make sense? Yes. Thank you. Okay. But there’s a reason why we can’t say to me, the homeowner, that I have to have my trash out at 6:30? So the regulation states it has to be there by 7:00 AM. Um, and that’s just for, what happens is that what people get used to the trash guys coming at a certain time. They always come at 10:00. I don’t put it out there till 9:00. Well, the regulation says that they have the right to change the route at any time they want to on that

51:46 day. They could have multiple trucks, so they can start backwards. They can start in the middle. That means your trash has to be there at 7:00 AM. They can’t start before then, and that way you’re covering that piece of it.

52:10 I was just trying to be nice to the trash people. I mean, you know, we’re all in this together in some ways. Yeah. Um, if Republic doesn’t have to come back to pick up

52:25 for being 15 minutes, they’re always, at my house, always gone by 7:00. They wake me up for sure. Um, and for me to call them, I just don’t want to be that kind of a nuisance. And it seems to me it would be easier just to tell people, at least on my street, that we should have it on 6:30, but it’s, um, I- A lot of people on my street put it out the night before, and they come down there Monday … certainly, but sometimes we don’t, like- Because sometime they come at 1:00, sometime they come at five past 7. You don’t know when they’re gonna, what time of the… And sometime they don’t come till the next day. All right. Point taken. All right, so we’re going through the whole thing, then we’ll come back and vote on- Yep … individuals. Yep. Okay. This is going very well, thank you.

53:13 Yep. Are there other questions?

53:20 All right. So then you’ll need to make a motion to approve, uh, the curbside, the Town of Marblehead Board of Health curbside collection regulations as amended, as discussed. Um- But we didn’t talk about the business- Oh … right? The business fee. No, we did not talk about the business fee. Thank you. Um, so again, just looking at it reasonable, uh, we are offering the services of the business. Um, I was just looking, you know, if you go out there and try to hire a company to do your trash and recycling, their costs are way over this. Um, again, it was $50 for trash, $50 for recycling. You have to do both because it’s mandatory recycling, so we came to the $100 for the monthly fee.

54:03 Again, these are non-residents. Yeah. Non, you know- Well, not all of them non-residents. You know, some of the residents own businesses, you know- Yep … in town.

54:13 That one seems high to me. I’d like to get that one. What do they pay in Salem? 54. A month for just trash? That’s what they pay, no, trash and recycling- Okay … is what I pay. I’m not sure how that’s broken down. It, no, I don’t think they care how many units But because my house- But you’re not business, so you’re commercial- Well, they could- … residential No, it’s considered a business because it’s LLC. Yeah. No, as soon as I LLC’d it, that’s when it got considered a business. Before that it wasn’t. Okay. So- It’s household trash. It’s not business trash. Mm. It’s household trash.

54:59 Right. But I lived in it while it was a residence, and it was incorporated into the tax base, but then when you turn it into a business- Oh … they consider it a business. So, and that’s when it came out to light. And it took a jump, and it’s like 54 bucks a month or something like that. Right around there. But what would the business have to pay now, Bernard? They’d be paying at least $100 for trash alone a month,

55:30 if you were to hire out somebody to do it for you.

55:42 I just think some of the businesses in this town are obviously small businesses. We don’t deal with too many chains or big corporations, so they are price sensitive. So I don’t want to crush them too much. But right now we’re not offering them anything, right? No, they aren’t included. They’re only included because it’s free to recycle it. Exactly. But it’s not technically, they’re not technically eligible. But we have- But it’s recycling only. Recycling only. We’re not collecting garbage. No. Yep. Right. So for this first year, the businesses are getting a bump, even if we make the bump small, because they’re not paying. Right now they’re getting it free. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And we’re the only community that gets it free because of this longstanding contract.

56:29 They’re not really getting it free. The taxpayers are paying for this. They’re getting it free. That’s correct. But I’m subsidizing it, and you’re anyone in Marblehead, and I’m not happy about that.

56:43 Now, one of the things that all the new data has allowed you to do is know what trash from schools and other things. That’s got nothing to do with any of- Nothing to do with that. We’ve separated school trash out from this, school recycling out, municipal trash out from this. So yeah.

57:04 And I don’t think it would be a ton of them that would take advantage of this, so…

57:14 Again, I was just trying to be set up easy. Yeah, no, I understand- Yeah … the mindset of them. But you got to see what way it goes, because if it stays on the tax rate, you’re not going to let them… You don’t want to- No, no. You don’t want to start giving them hope that you’re going to- No, they’re not included in the tax rate. That’s correct. So- Yeah. So, like I say, you don’t want to give them false hope, thinking that they can go and pay $100 when they’re not going to be able to.

57:41 But again, if you had some businesses that were part of the program, if it was fee, next year we would have a better idea who’s participating- Right … and it could change your household rate.

58:01 So I don’t want to- Split the difference at 75. Yeah, I was just thinking that. Because yeah, because then- Why don’t you make it a clean 80 so it’s 40 and 40? Okay. Okay. That I can do that. It’s fine to split.

58:14 And like you said, we can reassess that next year. Yep. So that would be…

58:24 So 960. Yeah, 960. Yeah, so I mean, it’s definitely more than- What? It’s definitely more than free. Potentially opt… Yeah. Well, I was looking at more what the highest potential opt-out would be. So yeah. Okay. 40 and 40, 80. Yeah, so the reduced fee was 145 or- 145. 145.

58:49 So,

58:53 and we haven’t decided on a percentage yet. No, yeah, you guys are going to have to decide what percentage you’re going to want and choose that fee. Well, didn’t we say we were doing six? Six. Six? I thought you were pretty close to, yeah. You were six? Okay, okay. You’re good with six? Yeah. So the mindset being that if normal’s three, we have a transfer station- I think it’s- … let’s double it. Yeah. That’s a good- Yeah, that makes sense. And again, if it stays fee, we’ll be reviewing this on an annual basis. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay.

59:29 So I’ll need a motion to approve the curbside collection regulations as amended, and then we’ll move on to the fees and stuff like that. Motion to approve as amended. Second. Is there any further discussion? Any further questions? What were the amended figures for that? So the amended was not figures. It is the Board of Health, under definitions, the duly elected Board of Health.

59:58 It might be. Your property address, number, and unit shall be placed in the upper right-hand corner on the front of the cart using two to four-inch block lettering, making sure to not cover the serial number. All solid waste or recycled material must be placed in the cart with lid securely closed. Any material outside the cart will not be collected. Fines may be issued. Owners cannot opt out seasonally. So you have discussed, you’re not voting on the numbers? I’m not voting on the numbers, no. So they’re not voting on numbers. Yep. Thank you. We’re good?

1:00:37 All in favor? Yep. The unanimous approval of the motion.

1:00:45 And then as far as the fee,

1:00:52 you’ll want to set the fee schedule for curbside collection, and you’re going to want to do this in several different votes. So if you’re going to go for the 6%, you’re going to do a motion to set the annual rate for eligible units 6%, so you’re estimated 7,520 at $290.76. Somebody will need to make that motion. I’ll make the motion to go for the 6% for the annual fee. Sorry, for further, would it be worth just getting a flat number that’s easy to divide in four for people writing checks, or we have to use the percent? Right. I’m going to have to dive back into the math to make sure it’s all correct. Yeah, you got to make sure we find that number.

1:01:38 Okay. Sometimes it’s better to be… There’s a group of us that like to be exact rather than rounding. Okay.

1:01:48 So I’ll make the motion for the 6% at $290.76.

1:01:57 Is there any other comment or questions or concern? Vote. All in favor are. Mm-hmm. Unanimous consent. All right. You’re going to want to make a motion to set the estimated reduced rate for the curbside collection of eligible units at 145. I’ll make the motion to set the estimated reduced rate at 145. Second. Any comments or questions about the motion? A vote of I. I. Mm-hmm, unanimous approval. And then you’re going to set the monthly rate for business curbside collection for trash and recycling at $80. I’ll make a motion to set the business curbside collection at 80. Second.

1:02:43 Any comments on the motion? All in favor. Unanimous approval. All right. And then the last piece is the transfer station fees for the mattresses and box springs and the bulky items. So the mattresses will be going from 40 to 45 for residents and 80 to 85 for commercial non-stickered vehicles. Box springs, 40 to 45 and the 80 to 85. And then bulky item pricing, single or single chair is $5. Medium, which is usually a dresser or love seat, at 20. A large, which is a couch, sectional, no sleepers, at $40.

1:03:31 The scale fee isn’t changing? The scale fee is not changing. Okay. I’ll make the motion for the adjusted fees at the transfer station. Second. And we’ll be reviewing these on an annual basis as well- Yeah … as well with the sticker. Mm-hmm. I’ve got one question. How come we can’t think and have multi-levels of pricing like we’re doing for the mattresses and the box spring for the scale fee for people that have a sticker or people from out of town? That’s something we can definitely entertain in the future. That’s what I want to entertain when all the construction is done. So that’s once everything’s done, but I know where your head’s at, yeah. Tires and things like that because I know myself, I take a refrigerator, turn it

1:04:18 and get rid of it for free. Yeah. But not everybody has the proper knowledge to do it, so. And the other thing that we’ll probably be looking at in the future too is different rates for C&D material versus- Yes … municipal solid waste or solid waste. That’ll help us generate money for the swap shed. Yep. And the other things we need to do. Correct. Yep. Okay. Thank you. Yep. So the motion then, do you guys have a vote? Vote. In favor. Unanimous approval of the motion. But that is the mission.

1:05:11 Right. The last thing I have for you guys is curbside disposal contracts. So we quickly went over disposal rates with you guys last year, and me explaining that Waste Management does not want to lose the disposal contract. Correct. I have offered the opportunity for Republic to respond. They were unable to beat Waste Management’s number. They actually said we don’t know how they can go that low.

1:05:42 So Waste Management has a new proposal, same proposal that we reviewed last time. So their updated proposal for municipal solid waste, FY ‘27 is $116.50. We’re currently at 127. FY ‘28 is 122.32. This goes up by 5% every year. FY ‘29, 128.44. FY ‘30, 134.86. FY ‘31, 141.60. C&D, they’re down to FY ‘27, 123. FY ‘28, 129.15. FY ‘29, 135.60. FY ‘30, 142.38. FY ‘31,

1:06:29 149.49. The comparison with Republic, Republic was at, if your material came to the transfer station, they were at 123.The second trash truck of the day was going back to Republic and being disposed of at 110. That would no longer occur. You would just take the lower rate from Waste Management, the 116.50. Are we still going to be able to do something with C and D? Yeah. So with the contract comes four trailers. Yeah. Essentially, two trailers will be dedicated to municipal solid waste, two trailers will be dedicated to C and D. Just to go over the savings. The savings

1:07:14 between Republican Waste Management for just curbside in the first year is 32,500. With the C and D, it’s $54,000 a year. And that’s just basic. So I usually look at commercial side being 4,000 tons annually. I’m just splitting it in half, 2,000 solid waste and 2,000 C and D. Mm-hmm. Now, once we have dedicated trailers for C and D, that load limit goes away. So we can now accept larger than five cubic load loads of C and D because we’re going into a dedicated trailer. Mm-hmm. Because we have the four trailers, we should be able to flow currently.

1:08:02 Not a problem. The challenge will be to coordinate with the trash truck to set, do we do– I think, did we say that we were going to do this- This morning? The morning would be C and D. Yeah. Stopping at 11. Yeah. Yeah, something like that. It probably doesn’t even need to be 11:00. It can probably be earlier than that. Okay. Because- But switching over to trash, and then- Yeah … at the end of the day, it would switch back. Now, we do have some guys that come early with trash, but we’ll have a dumpster there next to it, and we feel that we can accommodate that scenario. Mm-hmm. Again, this is going to be slightly different, but we feel that we can still accommodate and run as efficiently and try to bring in the most money as possible.

1:08:48 Yeah. I think if you did even two hours of C and D to start the morning, then the contractors would get used to that, and probably be enough time to- Yeah … satisfy all the limits. So the overall savings that we looked at in a year is potentially $102,000 between Waste Management and Republic. Again, we talked about giving everything to Republic, but again, we’re in a tough financial fiscal strain. I had the obligation to bring it back to you. I tried to get the best numbers possible, and so I think we’re able to do that. Mm-hmm. So I’m looking for the board to award the disposal contract to Waste Management. This contract ends July 1st, so we’ll be quick to get this going.

1:09:34 Yeah. There’s another benefit to it. As soon as I can get the contract in place, we’ll see the new pricing. So I’m going to jump down. I’m going to go from 127 down to the 116 as soon as I can get the contract in place. That’s a good 25– Oh, that’s like a $15,000 savings potentially in the next couple of months. That’s good. Is this also a five-year contract? This is a five-year contract. Yeah. Everything kind of marries each other. Make the motion to award the disposal contract to Waste Management. Second.

1:10:06 Are there any questions or comments from the floor or the Zoom regarding that change? There’s not. I have to say, this is a bonus because for the first time, as I understand it, we are able to negotiate with vendors, and we are able to choose to go to the lowest bidder or not to make the best deal. And I know how Andrew has been working to negotiate the best possible price for this with the three vendors that are out there. So the town is actually acting as a capitalist- Yeah … as a capitalist subset and getting the best possible deal. So with that editorial,

1:10:54 off vote. Aye. Aye. Aye. Approval. Thank you for saving $120,000. Yeah.

1:11:03 Just the rest of the director’s report. Construction of the transfer station’s wrapped up. We’re fully operational. Everything’s paved up there. We have some punch list items, including landscaping and some other little items. But we should definitely set a time for everybody to go up there, take a look at the new scale house, do a tour around, get familiar with the area, and go from there. But it came out really nice. I’m definitely pleased with it. The last of the piece is that there will be some striping, so line painting and all that will be done. Some cones and stuff like that. Can we just get the number, not now, of the estimate versus reality? Yep. The, yeah, just the- Yep … difference. Yeah. So the estimate versus reality is really going to be, I can go back and take a look at the estimate. What you’re really looking at is at what the bid price versus what the

1:11:51 final number is. Mm-hmm. So yeah, we will have that. No, I looked at it this morning. It looks good. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I’ve been pushing for us to have a meeting up there, but since the election is now only two months from now in the town, do you want to just wait till July when we know- No, let’s do it, if we have the time, let’s do it now, and then we can do it again in July. Okay. Yeah. Okay. And again, this should probably be an annual thing where we- Yeah. Yeah … when new members come on in the end of the June, we should take the tour of what the businesses or the departments that the board’s responsible for. Okay. Mm-hmm. All right, then

1:12:31 I think we accept that, and as soon as we find the time, we’ll go up and do our, you know… And Tom- Really … I know you’re up there on a regular basis. I know you work up there. Oh, gosh, I’ll come for just the kicks. But yeah, just let us know what works best for you. Mornings they usually work best for me, so. All right. Well- But then obviously it makes his truly busy schedule too difficult Yeah. But I will figure it out. There. We can do Saturday? I can do Saturday. We’ll be- Yeah, we can figure something out. Okay. Okay. That’s a busy day up there. We can figure something out. It’s less me. Yeah, mm-hmm. Let’s see, follow-up meetings. This weekend. This weekend. All right. That doesn’t need a motion or a second to do that. No, no. It’s on schedules. Okay. Well- That’s everything I have.

1:13:16 Okay. Good. All right, I’ll rattle off the bills real quick. A-1 Exterminators for the rat control at the transfer station, $2,825. AgrSource, which covers the grinding of the compost removal, 24,000. Amazon Services for other disposal, $32.57. AT&T for internet, $65.98. Black Earth Compost for the central food composting, $2,554.88. Bonsai Logic for the license plate reader, $3,780.52. DeLandes supplied the traffic light parts, $704.52. Dynamic Waste Systems, shrink wrap disposal,

1:14:01 $548.63. EMG for a newspaper ad, $205. We did the refund last time for 100 bucks for a sticker. Granger for the electrical control box for the license plate reader, $454.37. Daily Ward for the engineering firm for the transfer station is $540. Marblehead Counseling Center for psychological counseling, $5,914.76. Marblehead Light Department for electricity, $1,484.91. Marblehead News Group for advertising and promotional, $850. Mead Tellerman for legal, $172.

1:14:45 Michael for, uh… Was it for Shay? Uh, yeah. A licensed site professional. Yeah, licensed site professional for the transfer station project, $3,270.20. Quadrant Health for doctors, $110. Republic Services for trash collection, $105,107.65. Stericycle for the sharps collection, $712.75. T-Mobile for telephones, $33.05. Uline for the barrels for the school kitchens, $1,285.55. United Construction for non-highway vehicles repair and maintenance, 1,600. Utech for the mattress recycling company, $6,360.

1:15:32 Walnut Printing Specs for printing forms, $875. Waste Management of Massachusetts for trash disposal, $98,123.06. And WB Mason for just office supplies, $188.28. Oh, and the last thing, we talked about having defibrillators up at the transfer station. One for the scale house area and one for the back. So they’ll cost $1,500 a piece, but we’ll get two of them. So one for the front and for the back. Yeah. We’ll order those in the next couple of days and get those installed right away. Okay, great. Yep.

1:16:06 And looking ahead, our next scheduled meeting would be the second Tuesday of the month, would be May 12th. The following meeting would normally be on the fourth Monday of the month. That’s Memorial Day. We probably don’t meet on Memorial Day. That’s correct. So do we want to schedule an alternate date for the fourth week of May, or wait till May 12th to see how much we have?

1:16:43 Is the May 12th one going to be at 7:30 or 7:00? I think we’re kind of shifting to 7:00. Yeah. That’s fine with me. Yeah. Yeah, 7:00 is good. It’s easier for consistency. Okay.

1:16:55 I’m fine with

1:16:58 if we want to wait or if we want to try to schedule- Maybe just we’ll shift it now to the 26th, and then we can always just cancel if don’t need it. That’d be fine. Book the 26th. Yep. I have a charter, but the charter’s been plus/minus. I don’t know that it’ll meet. I seem to– I’ve never missed a meeting, so it has to. Okay. So we’ll schedule an anticipated meeting on the 12th and then the 26th. So for town meeting, we do have the override article. I’m prepared to get up and speak on that. I can share what I’m going to say.

1:17:44 It’s going to be pretty straightforward. Mm-hmm. This is the cost of it. This covers the cost for the five-year contract, going up by 2.5%. This is for curbside collection of trash and recycling and yards. Yard waste. Are you afraid of what you would like to- No, I cannot. No. Okay. I cannot. Unless you guys– Yeah. No, it’s better not to, I think. Yeah. I think it is, too. I’ll give you my opinion. I think there’ll be plenty of opinion. Yeah. Yeah. We’ll let that play out. That was the plan, to not give any guidance. At least the first year. And then when you have five people on this board, study it a little instead of a week before a town meeting- Yeah … with everything else that’s going on. As long as we don’t sit together during town meeting and deliberate,

1:18:33 or should we post that as a meeting? So this gets debated every year. So as long as there’s no deliberation, you can sit together. But I think a lot of times- I’m sitting with my mom. Yeah. Yeah. So I think you’re all set. Perfect. Yeah. So generally, I will sit close to the front with all the department heads, ready to answer questions and stuff like that. So that’s generally where I am. I had heard from someone who I think is knowledgeable that- Yeah … expects 3,000 people. So that’s what somebody said. Yeah. I think the place. I think that room actually only holds 2,800.

1:19:18 People, when it overrides- Yeah … on the ballot, they show up to vote. Yes. They don’t necessarily show up to town meeting, because you have to do both. So it’s- And I don’t think the 3A’s going to be as big as it was before. Yeah. So. Well, I don’t– I’m learning. Oh, yeah. I just was– That’s what I- I think last year there was- We’ll have to cancel and reschedule it if necessary … 1,500 people, and that was a huge turnout. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think that was a record-setting town wide open. And that’s good. All right. A standing motion to adjourn. We need any more public comment? I mean- No, I don’t have any. One last thing. I want to thank Andrew for the job he’s done on the contract. I appreciate it. You’ve done a tremendous amount of work on that. I appreciate it.

1:20:04 Taking care of it. Good job. Real quick. And I know firsthand.

1:20:11 Okay. Good evening. Thank you very much. Motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. All in favor? Yes. Standing motion, but- It’s 10:00