FARMINGTON – The Board of Selectmen discussed a possible water department waiver, approved an expenditure for an internship and received an update from Archie’s Inc. at the regularly-scheduled meeting Tuesday night.
A request to waive a fire hydrant fee was denied unanimously by the board, following the recommendation of the Farmington Fire Department and Town Manager Richard Davis. The request was made by owner of Sunrise Village Mobile Home Park on the Town Farm Road, who reportedly disagreed with the Water Department fee as the hydrants are hardly used. There are two hydrants on the Town Farm Road, but it would be a stretch for fire rescue vehicles to use them if a fire occurred in the park, Davis said.
“If the fee is waived for him, we’ll have a ton of requests from others,” Davis noted.
An expenditure of $2,500 was approved by board members for the stipend of a University of Maine at Farmington intern at the Farmington Compost Cooperative. The internship will take place over a six-week period, with supervision by UMF staff. The Farmington Compost Cooperative currently has a total of $9,500 in reserve funds, which are self-sustaining with the multi-year compost sale hosted by the cooperative. The internship requires no obligation from the town.
“I support the compost facility effort and I think this is a wise investment,” Selectman Stephan Bunker said.
The student will earn two credits for the internship.
In other business, Davis presented the board with a letter from Archie’s Inc. stating that they will no longer be able to offer the town a free recycling service. The letter stated that the recycling market is for the most part non-existent and has zero value for the company. Archie’s will continue to offer the service to the town for a total fee of $41,915 per year. The option to recycle is cheaper than sending the products to the landfill which amounts to $52,730 according to Davis.
The board took no action on the matter but will return to it at a later date.
What about the trucks and loader to haul horse manure down there and a loader to plow the snow out and turn the compost all year
Just wondering: If the market for recycling is at zero, what is Archie’s going to do with the recycling materials they collect? Serious question, not being a smart___. Maybe a representative from the company could explain the process and how this works when we don’t have companies paying for the material.
Why does the TOWN have to pay the intern? I object to that. If the College paid taxes, we could pay the person, but since UMF gets by scott-free, I don’t see why the tax payers have to pay – again!. He’s earning credits toward his degree.
So Archie’s isn’t going to take the recycling. Not surprised it’s because of the market. So what should people do now that we’re all trained to recycle? I’ve got containers that need to be emptied now. What about donating all our paper to UMF to put into their “burner” over there? Otherwise, all the stuff we’ve been recycling goes right into the trash truck, and off to Norridgewock. Rather defeats the purpose of recycling.
@ Nancy Porter
It would seem there still is recycling, but the town must pay for it now. Although I, too, wonder what happens when there is no demand for recycled materials.
Cheers,
Shamus