HARTFORD — Voters are unlikely to be asked whether to restart the town’s curbside recycling program in March, following a split vote at a Wednesday Selectboard meeting.
The Selectboard voted 3-3, with Vice Chairman Mike Hoyt absent, on whether to add a curbside recycling item to the Town Meeting ballot. The tie means that the vote failed.
Board member Erik Krauss said it’s likely some people have moved on since the town ended the program last year and renewing the program will only lead to “tearing the Band-Aid off again” in three years when a new Casella Waste Management contract would end.
He said voters would not have enough information on the costs and benefits of the program and “what serves the community well.” Instead, Krauss advocated for a larger, long-term look at how Hartford manages solid waste.
Board member Ashley Andreas had proposed asking voters to restore curbside recycling for a three-year term after the Selectboard opted not to renew the program this past spring.
The board ended the program after the only bid from an outside contractor exceeded budgeted costs by more than $240,000. The high cost, and numbers that showed that only about half of Hartford residents used the taxpayer-funded program motivated the decision.
Afterward, some residents criticized the move, arguing that it went against residents’ wishes because voters had approved funding for the program as part of the town’s operating budget.
Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, Andreas proposed executing a new contract with Casella to run the program, which she said could be a good interim solution while the town works out long-term solid waste management plans.
If the taxpayer-funded program was renewed it would cost $1.87 million over three years or $2.97 million over five years. Previously, the program cost between $250,000 and $300,000 a year.
Board members Ida Griesemer and Miranda Dupre agreed that adding the item to a ballot would allow direct voter input on the controversial matter.
But, other board members were not convinced.
Board member Tim Fariel said he has “wrestled” with what to do about the program. The original decision to eliminate curbside recycling came before he was appointed to the board this summer, but after looking at the numbers he said it seemed like a sound fiscal decision.
Fariel also argued that people upset about the shift could easily be a vocal minority of residents and many people, like himself, had likely already moved on from using the public curbside recycling program by hiring a hauler or bringing recyclables to the transfer station.
One resident argued against putting the item on the March ballot.
Chuck Wooster, the town’s moderator, applauded the Selectboard’s spring decision to eliminate the program and said it would be “a mistake” to put the item before voters in March because there will be no floor discussion to explain costs and benefits.
Wooster recalled that about 20 years ago the town first considered whether to implement curbside recycling at Town Meeting as a floor vote. At the time, there was no other way to have recycling picked up in town and the cost was a fraction of what it is today, so the program made sense.
But, since 2015, under Vermont’s Universal Recycling Law, Act 148, Vermont trash haulers have been required to offer residential recycling pickup without a separate charge to customers.
Without a floor discussion at this time, he said, a ballot vote on the issue would come across as a vote on whether residents support recycling, which would be misleading.
The board briefly discussed waiting to delay voting on the motion until a Jan. 6 meeting, but said it is possible Hoyt, who was recently appointed to serve as a state representative, will also miss that meeting as it is on the first day of the legislative session.
During board discussions, Andreas said she would consider seeking resident signatures to add the item to the ballot by petition. By statute, such a petition would have to be submitted to the town by the second week in January.