Recently, on the commentary regarding the video tape of the June 25th, 2015 Selectmen's Meeting, one of Lebanon's residents quoted our former Selectman, Paul Philbrick, regarding the use of the Lebanon Transfer Station as a disposal venue for Kevin Hartford, who is the town's only "commercial trash pick up".
This morning I received the following e mail from Mr. Paul Philbrick, asking me to post it publicly on the Lebanon Maine Truth Seekers page, to explain that the resident quoting him did not quite get the comments right.........and his actual position on the use of the Lebanon Transfer Station by the town's only trash pick up............
Former Lebanon Selectman Paul Philbrick (photo from Google Images)
Received July 1, 2015.......Lebanon Maine Truth Seekers......via e mail from Paul Philbrick
It has been brought to my attention that I was “quoted” in a recent Facebook commentary in regards to the June 25th Selectmen’s meeting. I do not have a Facebook account so please accept this response.
The wording in the quote was not exactly the same words that I used. The budget committee meetings were audio taped most evenings and I would suggest that the tape for that evening be reviewed as well as the follow-up meeting. You will learn that other committee members had a different understanding of what I was trying to share with the group, which I will address here with you.
The discussion that night had to do with the transfer station budget. It was brought up by a budget committee member that a commercial hauler was using the facility to dispose of the trash the hauler was collecting. According to the member, this activity was costing the taxpayers extra money and the hauler was not properly registered by the DOT to perform this activity. There are two issues here, taxpayer expense of disposing of trash and proper registration of the hauler. (Both of these issues were referred to in the Facebook commentary as well). I am not knowledgeable of DOT requirements, so I will leave that part of the issue to those who are. I would like to address the taxpayer expense since I was quoted on that issue.
The commercial hauler, to the best of my knowledge, picks up only trash from various residences in the Town of Lebanon. The question I asked at the budget committee meeting was why the trash being dumped by the hauler was more expensive for the town’s taxpayer than having each household take their own trash to the transfer station. Whether I, as a resident of the town, haul a 10 pound bag of trash to the transfer station, or have my neighbor take the bag, or in this case hire a hauler to do it for me, it is still a 10 pound bag of trash placed in the hopper.
Requiring the commercial hauler to transport the trash collected directly to a disposal site versus the transfer station will incur additional cost to the hauler which will be passed on to the residents using that service. Therefore the residents will end up paying extra to dispose of their trash, once by their tax bill and again when the commercial hauler disposes of it at the disposal site. Many of the residents using the services of the commercial hauler are elderly and it is difficult for them to transport their trash to the transfer station. They depend on family, neighbors, or in this case the hauler. Working families are using the service as well due to their hectic schedules. Using the service permits weekly pick-up where, without the service, it would be easier to “stockpile” the trash for a period of time, until they have time to make the “dump run”. I could not agree with requiring both groups to pay extra over and above the transportation costs to dispose of their trash just because they were using someone to transport their trash for them.
I never did receive an answer to my question, but now I see the same concern is being brought up again, only this time on Facebook. If Truth-seekers decide to investigate this issue further, please look at all of the facts. One fact does remain that I have not addressed here is whether or not all of the trash the commercial hauler is delivering to the transfer station is residents trash. That is another issue that needs to be looked at, for if the trash is coming from outside of town then the service needs to be stopped regardless of the benefits some of the residents of the town are receiving from it.
