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2-26-2025 12:30am
Select Board's Long Deliberation to Add Costly Pickup to Waste Management Schedule in Westwood
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Whether one more, costly yard waste collection should be added in the month of July to the yard waste pickup schedule for residents of the Town of Westwood was a topic prompting a lengthy deliberation by Westwood Select Board at its remotely held meeting of February 24th. By a vote of 2-1, the board finally voted to approve the additional pick-up, with Select Board Chair Joe Previtera and Select Board Clerk Marianne LeBlanc Cummings voting in favor, and Select Board Member Rob Gotti voting against.
Mr. Previtera was the proposal’s strong proponent. Several times during the discussion, he prodded his colleagues to consider supporting the extra pickup, and noted that elderly residents would benefit.
The reservations of Ms. Cummings and Mr. Gotti were due to the significant jump in the yard waste collection rate and cost that the town would be charged by Waste Management (WM), the town's contracted waste disposal company. Westwood's Department of Public Works is currently negotiating an extension of its contract with WM for a period of either 3 or 5 years.
According to Heather Lauro, WM representative, the cost for yard waste disposal in the town’s initial contract with WM was approximately $300 per load delivered to WM’s end site; however, that cost will now be about $900 per load, with multiple loads per WM scheduled pickup. The higher cost was attributed in part to salaries and the lack of available sites to accept the waste.
The incremental cost for the proposed 11th yard waste pickup by WM would be an added $28,000 to $29,000, observed Mr. Gotti. He expressed concern over including the 11th load, given the 3-year or 5-year contract term could mean the cost recurring for several years.
However, both Department of Public Works Director Todd Korchin and WM representative Heather Lauro explained that even under contract, the town would have the flexibility. According to Mr. Korchin, the town could scale back or even eliminate all yard waste collections. Mr. Korchin added that from his point of view, there should be at least a few months notice given to WM.
Mr. Gotti questioned, “Is the additional pickup versus the movement of one [pickup] to July necessary? Because, you know, do we need to spend an extra 30 grand, 28 grand for this if we could accommodate it by moving one [pickup] back to July where it originally was?” Mr. Gotti's question appears to reference a time in the past when Westwood revised its yard waste schedule by moving one pickup from July to the fall.
DPW Director Korchin noted the difficulty in answering Mr. Gotti’s question. “It’s all Mother Nature driven,” he said. He explained that whether a season is wet or dry in a particular year cannot be predicted at this time, but that weather and plant growth can impact the need and number of yard waste pickups.
“The one thing I will say is that we are very flexible,” said Ms. Lauro. So you can proceed with the [] eleven weeks. If we determine you don’t want it, then we could change it. We could do it one year and then wait and see,” she said.
Mr. Korchin noted that the flexibility in number of yard pickups could be done as a “trial” or “embedded” in the contract.
Mr. Gotti asked what pass or fail metric should be used to determine whether to continue the 11th pickup after a trial period. DPW Assistant Director Brendan Ryan suggested comparing driver hours and number of loads per WM pickup.
While Ms. Cummings eventually came around to supporting the 11th yard waste pickup, she added the caveat that she would support it as a trial. She hoped that at year's end, Select Board would review whether the additional cost is worthwhile to continue.
In contrast, Mr. Gotti maintained his resistance. He noted that one of the scheduled 10 pickups could instead be moved to the desired summer timeframe, while avoiding the $28,000 cost of adding an 11th pickup. He also noted his doubts about being able to “undo” the proposed yard waste provision once it is established in a multi-year contract.
In public comments that were read into the meeting record, resident Claire Galkowski asked whether DPW would consider putting the yard waste portion of the contract out to bid for other vendors. Mr. Korchin answered her question in the affirmative. He had also previously noted to Select Board that DPW is looking at alternatives to WM and whether different locations or options might be cheaper.
Resident Michael Gay asked, “If we agree to the 11th yard waste pickup as part of the Public Works operational budget, we are effectively planning on that spend for future years,” he said. Westwood Minute notes Mr. Gay was likely acknowledging the practice of preparing future budgets by reference to past years’ expenditures. Mr. Gay suggested that in future years, the amount budgeted to the 11th pickup be refunded to “free cash or another funding source.”
