Town OK’s 5-year contract for trash/recycling provider

By Mike Berger

In a major vote at Tuesday night’s meeting, the Canton Select Board, with newly elected member Trish Boyden in attendance, voted 3-2 to keep Republic Services as the town’s trash and recycling service provider for the next five years. The contract will take effect July 1.

Waste Management, the nation’s largest trash and recycling company, came in with a lower bid than Republic Services — nearly $500,000 less over five years. But Select Board members John Connolly (acting chair), JR McCourt and Chris Albert voted in support of retaining Republic Services, citing the company’s 20-plus-year track record of outstanding service and the desire to maintain continuity. The other two board members, Mike Loughran and Boyden, voted against keeping Republic Services due to cost considerations.

Resident Rita Lombardi, who ran for a board seat in last week’s town election, voiced her support for the new contract, praising Republic’s service record. She also urged the board to work with Republic to get residents to recycle more in an effort to drive down costs.

In other news from Tuesday night’s meeting, Loughran, as Select Board clerk, opened the meeting by reading a statement acknowledging the traffic accident involving Police Chief Helena Rafferty and a pedestrian in Wrentham that was reported by news outlets last week. “The Canton Select Board acknowledges the significant level of public scrutiny on the Canton Police Department and on municipal government,” the statement read. “When [Chief Rafferty] was involved in a motor vehicle crash involving a pedestrian and her department-issued vehicle, while off-duty, she followed procedure and reported the incident to the town. She remained at the scene, cooperated fully with the Wrentham Police Department, and has expressed remorse over the accident. It’s been the past practice of the town that we do not publicly announce accidents incurred by town employees. Nevertheless, we understand and appreciate the need to be forthcoming and transparent as it pertains to public safety matters. We pledge, as a board, to be proactive in communicating matters of importance regarding public safety officials and department heads in the future. Most importantly, we wish the person who was struck a speedy and full recovery.”

In other news meeting:

* The Select Board took under advisement a new financing plan that would facilitate the construction of the Paul Revere Museum of Discovery and Innovation, which will be located inside the yellow barn at the Revere Heritage Site. When the project was first approved in 2015, a District Improvement Financing (DIF) plan was established that enabled the town to purchase the property through the capture of new tax revenues generated by the development of the site. The original plan had called for the bond to be paid off in 2029, at which point all tax revenues would revert to the general fund. The new proposal calls for a reworking of the DIF that would open up funding for both the municipal and school departments as well as fund the completion of the museum project. The proposal has the backing of the Finance Committee and will be put to the voters at the Annual Town Meeting in May …

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