Selectmen opt for new trash pickup contract
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

Northborough - The town will enjoy a saving of $15,000 on curbside trash pickup in fiscal year (FY) 2008 - which began July 1 - after the selectmen voted to renew the contract the town has with Pellegrino Trucking to provide the service.

Town Administrator Barry Brenner told the Board of Selectmen at its July 16 meeting that the town is in the final year of its three-year contract with Pellegrino, which is due a 5 percent increase, about $30,000, this fiscal year based on the language of the current contract.

Knowing the contract was near- ing its end, Brenner, along with Town Engineer Fred Litchfield, approached Pellegrino in the spring about a contract extension.

After a pair of negotiating sessions, the two sides came up with a mutually agreed upon contract that voids the final year of the current contract, FY 2008, and the 5 percent increase.

In its place is a three-year contract - for fiscal years 2008, 2009 and 2010 - in which the annual increase is 2.5 percent. In addition, the contract contains two oneyear extensions, for FY 2011 and 2012, that can only be exercised by the town.

Brenner and Litchfield both urged the selectmen to approve the contract, but the board was initially hesitant based on the fact the contract extension was presented on the same night as the board continued finalizing the plans for its recently created solid waste study group.

Board Chair Bill Pantazis said he didn't want to sign a contract that would lock the town in for three years and then have the study group come up with something more financially feasible that could be implemented within a year.

Pantazis asked Brenner what would happen if the study group came up with a cheaper alternative after the town had signed the extension with Pellegrino.

"You'd have to pay the contract," Brenner said. "Even if you decided not to have them collect the trash in town, you'd still have to pay them."

Pantazis then asked Brenner and Litchfield about not signing the extension, letting the current contract run its course and then revisiting the negotiations with Pellegrino once it's clear the study group is not going to come up with anything cheaper that could be implemented by the time the current contract expires June 30, 2008.

"I don't know if Pellegrino would even negotiate with us then if we turned them down now," Litchfield said, "and if they did, it would be at a minimum increase of 5 percent per year, maybe more. I don't think we can do better than this regardless of who the contract is with. It's my recommendation that you vote to approve this extension."

Selectman Jeff Amberson reasoned that the only thing the study group might come up with that would signifi- cantly reduce trash costs in town long-term is a transfer station. He said the issues associated with trying to bring a transfer station to town - where to put it, buying the land, getting all the necessary permits - will take at least three years.

The board voted, 4-1, to approve the extension, with Pantazis casting the dissenting vote.