Selectman chair finds delays, cost overruns at transfer station ‘dismaying’

GILFORD — The town’s new transfer station, when it's finished, has the potential to produce substantial revenues to offset future taxation, said Richard Grenier, chairman of the Gilford Board of Selectmen.

Getting there has been frustrating, with cost overruns and delays that Grenier called “dismaying, to say the least.”

The number one question on residents’ minds, he said, is, “When will the transfer station be open?”

Grenier, who serves as the selectmen’s representative on the recently re-established solid waste committee, said all of the equipment should be on hand by the end of this week, but completion of the project will depend upon the contractors’ schedules. Some contracts have yet to be awarded.

The original budget for the project was $950,000, but costs came in $400,000 higher and the town had to wait for this year’s town meeting to appropriate the remainder of the money, which will cover electrical work, paving, and some equipment, as well as a restroom facility requiring a well and septic system.

The town could have made do with a smaller building and continued use of a portable toilet, said Grenier, but the solid waste committee wanted to avoid coming back in a few years to ask for a larger facility. It recommended an over-built structure that would serve the town’s long-term needs.

As for the bathroom, Grenier said it was unfair to ask the staff on duty during the winter to use a portable bathroom in below-zero temperatures.

The town ordered the hardware for the transfer station first so everything would be on hand when contractors arrive to do the final work: a compactor, custom-built funnel, a bailer, conveyer belt, and skid steer to pick up bales.

Selectmen last week approved a bid with John Lyman for the septic work, at a cost of $9,800. Also bidding on the project were Belknap Mountain Construction, at $9,000, and Gilford Siteworks, at $11,200.

The septic contract was necessary before Gilford Well, which was awarded the water contract, could put in the new well because the company will have to make sure the well is sited away from the septic system.

Also to come are bids for the electrical work at the transfer station, expected to be awarded at the end of this week.

Problems

Kevin Leandro, who has provided expertise in the recycling field as a member of the solid waste committee (he works for a company that sells compactors), reported on some critical issues that came to light when Primex, the town’s insurer, reviewed work at the transfer station.

Speaking to the Gilford selectmen at their June 12 meeting, Leandro said he was concerned about the building not being properly bolted to the foundation, and the wall not having a finished surface.

Grenier later explained that the loose bolts may have been the result of the site settling, but admitted it was a concern that needs to be addressed.

Other concerns include a drain spout that empties over a spot where people walk, a back drain in a location where it is causing erosion, and a truck ramp that has a steep banking without a guardrail.

Grenier said Town Administrator Scott Dunn sent a letter to Meridian Construction, which was in charge of the project, to have the firm address the deficiencies.

Leandro worried that the town has no leverage over the company after the selectmen signed off on the project, but Grenier said there is a one-year period for the town to discover any problems that crop up.

The selectmen’s signing off on the project brought to light a separate issue Leandro thought needed to be addressed: the approval of the “consent agenda” — a collection of agenda items that are typically approved en masse. The consent agenda taken up last week included a list of invoices from the preceding two weeks. Selectman Dale Channing Eddy said he scans them, but the board relies on the staff to vet the material.

“We’re trusting the people who review those — Scott Dunn and [Finance Director] Glen Waring,” Grenier said in an interview. “Going forward, I’m going to pay more attention, particularly on a project or a capital item like a fire truck. But it’s not a reflection on the quality of our department heads.”

Potential

Grenier said that, despite the cost overruns and the need to add personnel when the new transfer station is operational, it holds the potential to produce substantial revenue.

Currently with one full-time and one part-time person at the station, Grenier said the new facility will require two full-timers and perhaps one or two part-timers to make sure the separated material is not contaminated — a problem that killed the recycle market with China when towns relied upon single-stream recycling. Each bail will have to have “pure material” without other things being mixed in, he said.

Once the town has those pristine bales, it stands to make a lot of money.

Grenier said that, even under the current recycling program, the town produced $5,239 worth of revenue from white metal and $1,661 from wood chips last year. Additionally, the town processed 60 tons of glass which, when mixed with crushed concrete, serves as “aggregate” — a base for road work.

“That’s 60 tons at $135 per ton that we’ve taken out of our solid waste stream that’s going to landfills,” Grenier said.

New Boston, which has fewer people, boasts a significant amount of income from recyclables, and Grenier believes Gilford can do even better with the amount of material residents generate.

“If we can contribute in our own little way, and educate our residents to recycle, we’ll have serious product we can sell to offset taxes in the future,” Grenier said.