I thought it important to provide some facts regarding the status of the Town of Wawarsing Transfer Station. There have been very inaccurate rumors circulating which need to be put to rest.

A couple of months ago, Resource Recovery met with this Supervisor and advised that their twenty year contract with the Town of Wawarsing would be expiring in October and that they were only offering a one year extension. Three options were given at that time: 1) Close the transfer station, 2) Extend the contract with Resource Recovery for one year, 3) Bid out the transfer station to a private vendor.

The Town Board discussed this in a Workshop meeting in May, and it was agreed that we needed to further review the last two options. On June 11, the Town Board again reviewed these options at a Workshop meeting. It was decided that we needed to carefully study the costs involved with the transfer station, and the Town Board requested that I get an estimated cost for a Request for Proposals (RFP) to seek vendors to take over the operation of our transfer station.

By the following day the rumors were flying. We were allegedly firing our transfer station employees, we were privatizing the transfer station, closing the transfer station, etc. Other Town Board members and I met with our transfer station employees to dispel the rumors and provide them with the facts related to our discussions.

On June 21 we again reviewed this issue at a Workshop meeting. The Town Board reviewed the financial data, and confirmed that the transfer station has cost the taxpayers approximately $200,000 per year over the last four years. I also advised the board that I had received an estimate from an engineering firm of $7,500 to prepare the RFP. We agreed that this was a cost that might be avoided, and I was directed to get RFPs from other towns to see if we might prepare our own document in order to seek proposals.

I am proud of the actions of our Town Board to date. We are facing the possibility that Resource Recovery may not be an option for the Town of Wawarsing next year. We would be remiss not to be making plans for the future and considering that possibility. We also have an operation that is costing the taxpayers $200,000 per year and that is most certainly worthy of careful review. The public will be kept informed of our progress while we look for the solution that is best for the Town of Wawarsing.