12/20/2006: "FH Wants County To Honor Dump Agreement"

At the recent County Council public hearing on solid waste fees, Town Administrator King Fitch appeared before the Council to remind them that the Town has been allowing the County to use some of the Town land at the current dump site, for what amounts to free-of-charge. The Town and the County have a lease that allows a portion of the Town property to be used by SJC Public Works.

In return for a ten dollar a year lease payment, and use of a recent second portion of the land for a monthly charge of $300.00, the Town use to receive a preferential rate for the dumping of town garbage. The Town in turn charges it's property owners a monthly fee for garbage pick-up.

Unfortunately for the Town, the County has not been honoring the past "gentleman's agreement". Apparently because there is nothing in writing that allows enforcement, and a hesitancy on the part of the Town to take an action that would be, well, less that "gentlemanly" toward their big neighbor, the problem has not been resolved. Now that the Charter has put a town resident (Councilman Rosenfeld) on the County Council, the matter has been coming up whenever there is discussion about solid waste

The Council was in agreement that the County should honor commitments made by their predecessors, but they also wanted to get on with the passing of a rate hike on garbage, so in the end they decided to go ahead with proposed rate increase -including the full charge to the Town- and then come back at a later date -not determined- and review the request from the Town to at least give the Town the same consideration given to commercial haulers, which Fitch explained as being the same level of use as the commercial haulers. The only real difference may be that the commercial haulers have a written contract, and the Town does not.