Fairfield commission agrees to post revised solid-waste regulations as draft for public comment

The Fairfield Solid Waste & Recycling Commission voted on April 14 to post a revised draft of the town's solid-waste regulations for public comment and to share the draft with local haulers.

The changes update language the commission said was redundant or unclear and add provisions about items such as ashes and lithium batteries. Chair Tim Besler said the next steps are to post the draft online, send it to haulers and the public, and schedule a public hearing before the commission votes again; following that, the revisions would go to the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) for further action.

Commissioners who served on the regulations subcommittee said the changes are mostly clarifications. "There were redundancy[s] and some clarification that needed to take place," Misty (commissioner) said, noting Lisa and others on the subcommittee spent time reviewing wording. Besler said he reviewed the draft and saw nothing inappropriate; he asked for a motion to approve the changes as noted and then directed staff to post the draft for comment.

Under the plan the commission discussed, the draft will be posted on the commission and department websites and sent directly to haulers by email. Commissioners agreed to request public comments by May 5 so that the commission could consider feedback before its May meeting, which Commissioners said falls on May 12. The commission intends to set a public hearing date after that comment period.

Commissioners discussed whether all members had time to review the changes. Some said they had not recently reviewed the document and agreed posting a draft would let haulers and other stakeholders submit comments prior to a final vote. The commission did not record a roll-call vote on the record for the posting motion; discussion culminated in a consensus to publish the draft and solicit comments.

Besler said the RTM review will follow the commission vote and public hearing. The commission asked staff to include a clear deadline for comment when the draft is posted and to use both the commission and department web pages to reach stakeholders.

The commission did not adopt the regulations as final at the April 14 meeting; the action taken was to release the current revised text as a draft and solicit feedback before a formal vote and RTM consideration.