##VIDEO ID:rKg6aMiKfBM## okay um wait a minute say on yeah it just said it just said it on the zoom thing um do your thing and I want russfield to speak against okay that's fine yeah I um like I like I just said I I am in support of the program I think it's an excellent program uh but I am from the beginning of the the change I am very upset about the way the former Board of Selectmen made the happen I think it's just terrible the way they did it um it should have been a slow roll out if it was even a good idea that should have been a a team effort between the forest selectman and the Board of Health and it should have been looked at on what the issues are the financial issues of the town and involving you know with d Sim similar to way they they did a crash course on it but to even educate the Board of Health as well as a selectman on how the process works and how the pagia throw would benefit the town I think that and that's how the recommends that it be done to involve the community and over at least a year or two to get it to get community understanding and to to get it done but that being said they didn't do it that way um I was as I think everybody in town knows that here is an earshot of me I was very opposed to the flat out trash fees that they were trying to push through they wanted to just figure out what we were going to pay and it would have been a couple two2 to $400 a household a year to get trash and they weren't even sure of how to even do it as you know but um in fact I had I I had looked into the D you know I said all right well how do people do this and because all kinds of boards were talking about how to make it work and or what how this is supposed to how how you do this and how communities have done it the regular trash fee thing and when I did my research count your minutes here so we can let other people at the floor oh I know and that the but I had sent an email in to the board and to the Town Administrator at the time hey you need to look at this page of throw this makes much more sense and then it just went and then that they didn't just jump on oh Cindy come with this great idea they psh it down and then they finally looked at it and said well it's better than went they were planning but I like the page of throw because it does it does cause people to reduce their use of trash and it also causes um we're paying it's pay as you throw it's paying what I'm actually throwing away and I think that in that regard it is it is a good plan and it does it will cover the cost of the contract probably not fully until the second year of the program because right now we the contract we're run another subject cas Cy okay I'd like we're not on I thought we were on trash sorry we are on trash but we're not discussing the pav you thr we're discussing the fact that we already have a contract with Shaw right and the taxpayers are already paying for the contract in their taxes okay and this were over and above and the selectman just I disagree well you're wrong because I've been on the board 23 years I know what I'm talking about okay can I ask for Russ to step up and give his opinion okay Russ okay yeah I'm I'm not entirely against paying for the the the bags but there was a town vote at a at a regular uh voting thing it was one of the questions and it was voted overwhelmingly to have the trash pickup covered under our taxes and that's why I'm here tonight to to say something because I don't believe the selectman had the authority to do that without coming to the town for a vote the selectman can't do something that's already been voted they can bring it back to the town again to have it voted again but they can't just override a a vote that was on the ballot box and not only it wasn't even a close vote it was it was overwhelmingly in charge of of not paying for the trash except for through taxes do you remember what year it was on the ballot no I don't time flies with me okay I would say probably within the last 10 years but okay it it it really doesn't matter because it is it is a it was a vote and I think the only way that you can override a boat like that is to go back for another boat okay um that's that's why I think they they need to go back to day one and let us do it there's also some issues I I called the selectman's office and they said as long as you're paying for those bags you can put 20 of them out there if you want yeah they called sh and Sh says Nope 64 or whatever it is for the limit so nobody really knows what's going on and it's nothing to do with the Board of Health I know that correct I know how it was done correct that's that's why I'm here to to say that we didn't follow protocol okay I'm going to take the floor if the board doesn't inject go ahead I've been involved since the first contract which is approximately 15 years ago and the Board of Health has always had the authority to take the bids finalize the bids sign the bids and handle the trash contracts in the previous I'm going to use the approximate number seven years all of a sudden the board of Selectmen have taken over the trash commitment to the Board of Health with no actual legal notice to the Board of Health what is going on now is they're double dipping because the tax pay are always paying already paying the taxes for a trash pickup which is provided by Shaws now to go into this purple bag thing they did this on their own free will and Accord they did not follow proper protocol they never went to a boat of the town to see if this would be accepted by the town and they're actually just shoving this on the taxpayer's throat and I'm 100% in disagreement with that I believe that there was a bunch of money coming in here through Co that came up missing all this stuff is coming up missing and we had money in the bank seven years ago in excess of a million dollars and I've talked to previous select people and they've told me what was going on there and all of a sudden we're in a deficit of $550,000 and they're trying to retrieve this through purple bags which is not a happening thing P of town is in trouble we have to do something to rectify this for our taxpayers and I'm going to ask the board to voice your opinion on what I've stated and what you know about what's going on and we'll have further discussion after first thing you can start so I I agree with the chair I mean uh with the the program started uh I mean without the the the the blessing put that way from the Board of Health um I think that we should uh retake the contract with sha um and and have a further discussion later on on or another moment with with the pay as you throw but I think we should we should been with the contract and as as the people of towns they they pay for their trash on their taxes so why do double dipping double payment on of the backs plus it doesn't make any sense that all you have to say Kristen that all you have to say okay Paul uh this morning I took a ride around town and noticed 90% of the houses had cycling out no dra no trash bags I'm wondering where the trash is going first problem and uh I'm wondering if this is actually working in other words I don't think people are using the bags the town said we had to use 1.5 each person 3,400 needed to use one and a half bags a week for them to cover that $550,000 deficit and I don't think we're hitting anywhere near that maybe 10 to 15% of people are using bags from what I saw this morning I took 20 minute ride around I knew Shaw's rope and I was surprised very surprised they're putting out the recycling where where's the trash going out of curiosity the trash is being mixed in with the recycling that's where it's going you think many Cindy I'm sorry that you don't agree with what's going on here but unfortunately that's the way it is you can have the floor Cindy okay um I just want to give my observations too about this when this first started I I was riding around I was more concerned with did the word get out that's the first couple weeks of the month cuz I'm a Tuesday person so I was one of the first victims victim is a proper word I mean I'm making a joke I mean I don't think of myself as a victim but I was one of the first guinea pigs to um in my neighborhood to see what was going on and and there were initially there was a mixed bag of I could tell that some people just didn't get the word because it was just the the normal my immediate neighbors like oh God they didn't get the word I wish I told them you know I didn't see a lot of purple and then um the second week it start there was more purple and the third week uh we just the fourth week is this week that uh there's a lot more purple I've noticed one for me the first time I put trash out was this week and the reason is because they only have the 32 gallon bags whatever the big bags I'm one of those senior citizens that don't throw a lot of stuff away and I live by myself so I think I represent I think a lot of I hate to call myself elderly I still can't get used to it us elderly people who are you know but that live alone that you know we're not putting up we just don't make that much trash and I'm not going to feel Cindy we're here talking about the town in general and there are a bunch of retirees here I'm sorry for interrupting you but what about all the people with children all the people that are involved I was responding to well what I got to be a little bit of a make this happen stuff because I really don't like where you're going well I'm what I'm trying to say is that I think just because there's no trash bags out doesn't mean that they're putting their trash somewhere else they're just not putting out trash this week but recycling is in the contract that even if we're not if even if we have somewhere else to put our trash the recycling is still in the contract so we can put recycling the loan out and then I'm only my my rate right now for myself is one bag per month but and I know I'm not alone in that and as I drive around the neighborhoods I'm seeing a mixed bag of different things and I've even seen some people are still putting their trash in regular bags and I'm like oh I know and they've got multiple bags so I'm like oh they've privately contracted because they have a whole different like a lot of people have privately contracted with Shaws at the beginning of this people got mad I'm GNA I'm not going to do the town stuff and they they signed up and jaw has contracted with IND idual on their own don't you think that so they're not using purple bags don't you think they're already paying for this in their taxes and they had to go out and buy totor Endor dumpsters from Shaws because they don't want to pay for the purple that's their choice because that's their choice paying a lot more they're already paying for this and they tax can you say that's their choice yes it's their choice to go off the towns thing CU I completely disagree with the double dipping because it's just not that's exactly what you're doing that's not what's happening and hello purple bags are for me it's like it would be $5 a month on average for me to pay through the purple bag if I want to contract privately with Shaws it's $50 a month and I'm just I I can't afford to do that so I mean this purple bag what about all the families that can't afford to do that Cindy I I'm I don't think you're being very rational this evening at all for the first time so I think it's probably you're lookr we could probably have you're focusing on not and all the people in town that have families that have to have the recycling in the trash and they still have the same to bad but why should they have to pay double when they're already paying for taxes they're not well how the hell do you figure that they're not if they're already paying it for the taxes and they got to hire and pay for purple bags they're double dipping they're not okay well you're wrong in 100% in my opinion I think you're wrong but well you you make you think I'm wrong you're not the first and you won't be the last PA I use an average now of five bags a week I can get two trash bags in each one and I put out five so I don't have to buy the overage anymore because I've already got them now but mathematically it's costing me a lot more it would be cheaper for me to go to shop at this point than to do the purple bag but I'm struggling it's it's uh I'm trying to support the town I'm trying to support my family and it it's it's horrible when you pay $9,000 you don't put trash up because as you negotiate the next contract the tonnage The Tipping the Tipping when he at the end of as as you you guys need to start negotiating but the the amount of the estimated amount of trash is going to be less than last year that he's picking up under the town's contract and that's going to be legitimately right because of the fact that he's not taking everybody into consideration because so many people have their own private pickup right now and that's totally against the contract that was signed by the Board of Health all these years so that we were able to maintain shs and keep things paid and by putting these purple bags out at double dipping no matter what you want to say Cindy you are wrong wrong Russy do you any for the comments a little bit I went the other day to buy some more bags because I used my last one and nobody had any I had to go all across town I had to go to selectman's office and they said hitz has them so then I had to turn around and drive to hitz to buy them so it's not just the cost of the bags they're not they're not putting the bags where you can get them they're not oh my goodness okay where where yeah the small bags are not available yeah they're not going to be available at they till January yeah it's it's a mess so it shouldn't been it shouldn't have been put in I had to go to hand there lunenberg to get them yeah there was no public no public opinion the selectman just threw this down on next um mcnabs was out of them in the town hall you couldn't buy them in the town hall yeah they were out of the only one that had them as of Monday I think this week was hitz down in the the the liquor store towns in liquor store carries them now I think the brick is on too and the brick okay brick okay at this time I'd like to shut public comment off and I'd like to ask the board if you have any opinion on whether we should go back to given Shaw's full control or trash again or whether you think we should still be using these purple bags at double dipping I think we should give control to Shaws as it was before I agree you agree yes so both of you agree and I agree also to give full control back for shs yeah yes now I'm going to ask for a motion to make sure that we communicate with Char to give full control back so nobody's going to worry about whether they got a purple bag or a track bag I submit a motion to to the def control to Shaws with with a with a trash okay can I get a second on that I seconded all in favor hi hi okay how you doing ladies and gentlemen we actually just wrapped up this meeting so um there's no more public comment and we just had a vote with the board here here so I'm going to ask for a motion to adjourn I been a motion to adjourn the meeting okay second it all in favor I I okay thank you very much everybody we started at 6 Ladi gent get we thought we come down and see this meeting all right well we just voted on going back to shs fulltime that's what we're going to do you don't need the back and uh I expected more people to come in 10 but they didn't so I'm going to make the phone call tomorrow morning okay and we're going to terminate these purple bags toen is in big trouble right now because of the fact that we are in debt well we're all yeah but how are we going to pay for we can't the state's got to take us over I know some be reporting trut the reporting off please