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Henniker select board advances solid‑waste ordinance and proposes per‑pound fee; public hearing set Sept. 17
Summary
The board moved amendments to Chapter 101 (solid waste) to a third reading and scheduled a public hearing for Sept. 17, 2024, after staff outlined a weight‑to‑volume methodology and a proposed fee of $0.09 per pound for bulky and construction materials. The plan leaves open the option of adding scales later.
The Henniker Select Board on Sept. 3 advanced revisions to Chapter 101 of the town’s solid‑waste ordinance and set a public hearing for Sept. 17, 2024, after staff outlined a proposed fee schedule and operational approach for the transfer station.
Jody Walton, who presented the solid‑waste committee’s proposal, said the town proposes to use weight‑to‑volume conversions to estimate the weight of bulky and construction materials and apply a flat fee of $0.09 per pound. "We used weight‑to‑volume conversion because the biggest issue is always how much waste we're talking — C&D and bulky material — and how to fairly charge everyone across the board," Walton said.
Transfer‑station staff described two implementation options. Joe Nelson and Mark (transfer station staff) said a diagram showing typical truck‑bed fill levels for saturated wood, dry wood and drywall would give staff a consistent way to estimate weights without installing an expensive drive‑on scale. Mark noted that small floor scales are already in use at the transfer station and that portable floor scales run roughly $1,200–$4,000; by contrast, a full drive‑on scale would be far costlier and likely require regional cooperation.
Board members raised operational concerns about fairness and throughput. One member warned that staff could face arguments over whether a load was "wet" or "dry" and that weighing every small item could lead to lineups, while another said the volume tables appear to be a defensible compromise compared with eyeballing loads.
Town Administrator Diane Kendall clarified the procedural steps: the board is voting on ordinance language (second reading completed) and must separately adopt any fee schedule after a duly noticed public hearing. "Fees are one thing and the ordinance another," Kendall said. Following that clarification, a motion to move the amendments to a third reading and to hold a public hearing on the amendments and the proposed fee schedule on Sept. 17, 2024, passed 5–0.
What happens next: staff will prepare the public‑hearing notice and materials that show the proposed per‑pound rates, the example volume diagrams, and a list of materials with their assumed average weights. The hearing will be the town’s formal opportunity to take public comment on both the ordinance language and the proposed fee schedule.
