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RiverCOG authorizes executive director to sign $627,000 DEEP grant for regional waste authority study
Summary
RiverCOG approved a resolution authorizing Executive Director Samuel S. Gold to execute a $627,000 grant agreement with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to study options for a regional waste authority, assess the former MIRA facility in Essex, and analyze legal and operational options for member towns.
At its July 24 meeting, the Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments voted to authorize Executive Director Samuel S. Gold to execute a grant agreement with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) worth $627,000 to study a regional waste authority and related options.
The study’s scope, as presented by Sam Gold, includes an inventory and assessment of what a regional authority could offer member towns based on current solid-waste and recycling flows; legal work to draft resolutions, bylaws and contracts if a new authority is pursued; and an engineering and operational assessment of the former MIRA facility in Essex that currently accepts waste from about 10 towns.
Gold described the project as designed to give towns impartial expert guidance on whether to create a new regional authority, join an existing authority (for example, ECRA or Middletown-area partnerships), or pursue alternate arrangements such as town-led collection contracts. Gold said RiverCOG expects to advertise a consultant RFP as soon as the contract is signed and to begin consultant selection in the fall.
The council read and approved a resolution that, as certified by Robert McGarry, calls for RiverCOG to “execute and deliver to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection an agreement in the amount of $627,000 for regional waste authority grant” and to authorize Samuel S. Gold to sign and carry out the agreement. The resolution passed on a voice vote (motion carries).
Why it matters: MIRA’s dissolution and uncertainty about the Essex facility create a potential service disruption for towns that currently route waste there. The study and engineering assessment aim to clarify financial, operational and legal implications before towns choose whether to form or join another regional authority.
Next steps: RiverCOG staff said they will finalize the DEEP scope of work, issue an RFP for consultants, and coordinate with towns that currently use the Essex facility; separate, town-level negotiations about the MIRA facility will continue in parallel.
