By Pattie Pacella, Neighb News Correspondent
The Acushnet Selectboard held off on talking about negotiations with Eversource at its 7/11 meeting to make sure that all three board members would be present. Selectboard chair Garry Rawcliffe was absent. Mr. Rawcliffe had put together a list of items he wanted to negotiate with Eversource in relation to the expansion of the LNG facility on Peckham Road.
Vice chair Kevin Gaspar Jr., who chaired the meeting, told the residents in attendnance that he would rather wait for Mr. Rawcliffe to be at the meeting to discuss the issue.
In another matter, the board heard from Highway Superintendent Dan Menard about the new trash bins that started July 1.
Mr. Menard had said he was in the process of combining the list of residents with the assessor’s list for two-family houses.
“I was on vacation so there’s a little bit of chaos happening, but we are trying to consolidate lists,” he said, adding that he has had calls from people who want a second barrel.
Before they pass those out, the town needs to make sure all households got one barrel.
“The two family issue needs to be addressed,” agreed Mr. Gaspar. “Beginning with permitted two families. We need to make sure that the in-law apartment or the second floor apartment is actually a permitted two-family. Get those out as fast as possible.”
Mr. Gaspar explained the reason the town went with the new trash barrels was to try and save money. After a 30-year contract, the tip fee (price per ton) increased and the town will pay about $285,000 a year to SEMASS (SE Mass. Resource Recovery Facility) for trash disposal.
Mr. Gaspar said he was receiving a lot of complaints from residents that they need an additional barrel or had not received it yet.
The board briefly discussed fees for a second barrel.
“I would hold off on issuing a second barrel for now,” Mr. Gaspar said. “We can have a discussion in a few weeks on what the fee should be, and how we go about issuing the second barrel. But I definitely think there should be a fee if a resident wants a second barrel; as well as a fee yearly for the extra tonnage.”
Board member Mike Cioper agreed that there should be a fee for a second barrel.
Mr. Menard stated they had just ordered 100 smaller barrels.
“Thirty-five gallon barrels,” he said, adding that they would be available if some people, primarily senior citizens who had to wheel out the barrels themselves, wanted the smaller ones.
In other business with Mr. Menard, Mr. Gaspar read off the awarding contract for repaving the streets. For cold plane, PJ Keating was awarded the contract with a bid of $16,016; for hot mix, PJ Keating was awarded at $361,934; and for reclaim, Allstate was awarded with a bid of $27,816.
Mr. Menard told the board the streets that would get fixed were Main Street from the New Bedford line to the four corners; Leonard Street, Ward Street, and Perry Hill Road (from Mendell Street).
Click to download the 7/21/16 issue: 07-21-16 FireHoseDay; click here to download Town Counsel’s letter, CrottyLetter 7-7-16, and here to download the BPW meeting notice, BPW Notice 7-26-16 mtg
