Select Board seeks $24,900 reserve fund transfer for landfill monitoring after DEP complaint

The Select Board voted to request a $24,900 reserve-fund transfer to pay a contract amendment with consultant Par for expanded landfill monitoring and a risk assessment after the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) raised concerns following a low-level detection of 1,4‑dioxane in a monitoring well.

According to the DPW official presenting the item, Par expanded its scope to sample additional monitoring wells and to perform a risk assessment for dwellings immediately adjacent to the landfill that use private wells. "The results that came back showed that there was nothing of concern or no, exceedances of drinking water standards in those 2 wells," the DPW official said, reporting that two private-monitoring wells sampled inside houses did not exceed drinking‑water standards.

The DPW official also warned that DEP may require ongoing PFAS sampling at the landfill and at the two private-well locations, which could create recurring monitoring obligations. Town staff said they are exploring water-service extensions for the two dwellings to reduce the need for perpetual sampling if the DEP requires ongoing monitoring.

Board members approved a motion to ask the advisory committee for the full $24,900 reserve-fund transfer to cover the Par amendment, with a plan to apply $5,000 from the Select Board’s engineering fund and to pursue any additional budget adjustments as the fiscal-year accounts are settled. The DPW representative said the town’s consulting balance was about $30,000 and that the proposed amendment fits within expected costs for a quick-turnaround sampling and analytical work.

Members also discussed a separate snow-and-ice budget overage of about $170,000 and other operating pressures; those items will be handled through the usual reserve-fund and budget processes.