Southington Council's Trash Talk Not Smooth

SOUTHINGTON, CT — The Southington Town Council has approved new, three-year deals for trash hauling and recycling services, but the means toward approval wasn't as smooth as the majority vote indicated.

The Republican-led council July 11 voted 6-2 along party lines to hire All Waste from Hartford and AJ Waste from Cheshire to handle recycling and trash hauling.

All six Republicans voted in favor of the deals, which would cost about $65,000, while the council's two Democrats voting on the matter, Jack Perry and Christoper Palmieri, voted "no."

The job, according to the town's request for proposals, is to handle trash and recycling at Southington Town Hall, four sites of the Southington Fire Department, the Southington Police Department, animal control, community services, sewer treatment plant, Calendar House, Barnes Museum, the local library, highway/parks department and four town parks.

Perry, who owns locally-based HG Dumpsters & Recycling, said he didn't bid on the job to avoid a conflict of interest.

He said at the meeting he's frequently been accused of only running for the council as a means to drum up more business.

However, Perry said the trash deal renewal represented an opportunity to, perhaps, save on trash and recycling services.

He claimed, for example, if the town's public works department took on some of the hauling duties, taxpayers could save nearly half of what it would spend on the contracts approved.

Perry claimed taxpayers have been coming to the council to tell members of their financial difficulties, urging fiscal restraint, and the town should listen to them.

"We're supposed to be listening to the public," Perry said.

Southington Department of Public Works Director Annette Turnquist did not say her staff couldn't handle extra duties, but warned staffing issues and a generally busy public works docket made such additional tasks difficult.

Supporters of the contracts said the municipality should not be getting into the trash and recycling business.

They also said the time to vote on new deals wasn't the time to discuss general issues of how the town should handle trash and recycling.

"I don't want our town staff being taken away from other tasks, turning into a garbage and recycling company," Republican Councilman Tom Lombardi said. "If we get bigger as a government, we stay bigger as a government. I think we keep it private and we move forward."

Perry said he was just doing his job as a councilman, questioning how the town is doing trash and recycling and utilizing his professional experience.

"Again, I've done my due diligence and I'm voicing my concerns this evening and you guys are just dismissing them," Perry said. "Everybody that is voting in favor of this is doing a disservice to the town."

For the minutes of the July 11 Southington Town Council meeting, click on this link.

To watch the July 11 Southington Town Council meeting, click on this link.