Thursday Town Meeting on Waste Removal Contract Canceled

UPDATED

The town meeting scheduled for Thursday has been canceled. Selectmen decided to do so after information in the proposal changed, First Selectman Steven N. Wawruck Jr. said late Wednesday.

The board canceled the meeting based on a change in acceptance date of new contract from October 1 to November 1, and the recycling rebate being more lucrative than previously stated, Wawruck said in an email. Both proposals will be acted upon by the Connecticut Resource Recovert Authority on Thursday.

At their next meeting, selectmen will hear from CRRA officials about changes to the agreement and the officials will answer questions concerning the new contract, Wawruck said.

Original Story

Windsor Locks selectmen are recommending that residents approve a 15-year solid waste removal agreement proposal from the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority at a town meeting Thursday.

The Tier I program from CRRA, through the Central Connecticut Solid Waste Authority, would cost the town $61.50 per ton of solid waste in the first three years of the contract and an estimated total of $2,854,845 for the first 10 years.

The board of selectmen on September 20 approved the recommendation and set the town meeting for 7:30 p.m. Thursday in .

Two other proposals were considered, one from Covanta Energy, which would remove waste to a location in Massachusetts, and another proposal from CRRA that has a lower cost per ton in the first three years but doesn’t account for inflation.  Newington chose the Covanta proposal, First Selectman Steven N. Wawruck Jr. said, because their waste would go to a facility in Wallingford.

CRRA’s proposed Tier 1 agreement is the same one recommended by the agency’s representatives at a meeting with the board in April. The agency takes trash from its central Connecticut communities to its facility in Hartford where it’s burned to drive steam turbines which produce electricity that is sold to Connecticut Light & Power, officials said

Windsor Locks’ current municipal service agreement with CRRA began in 1993 and will expire in November 2012, officials said. All three proposed agreements would take effect next year, officials said.

With the contract expiring for a number of municipalities in central Connecticut at the same time, the Capitol Region Council of Governments formed the Central Connecticut Solid Waste Authority to solicit proposals from service providers including CRRA to consider.

In 2010, Windsor Locks sent 9,190 tons of municipal waste to CRRA. Of that 5,060 tons were billed to the town at $69 per ton, costing about $350,000. The town sent 1,100 tons in recyclables to the facility, for which Windsor Locks got a $5 per ton rebate, a CRRA official said in April.