By Judith Dionne
Staff Writer

Petitions will ask for end to station as well as voting on all town spending decisions

In response to a proposal for a transfer station on Brown Road and other changes that happened last year at the existing transfer station, several Candia residents are banding together to form a citizens group to adopt two warrant articles to be placed on this year’s town budget. One ends further planning of the Brown Road transfer station and the other seeks to restructure town government to remove the selectmen’s power to vote on expenditures.

As of Friday, Jan. 14, Brown Road resident Viktor Nafran-owicz, who spearheaded two warrant articles petitioning for the changes, gathered close to 60 signatures to have the articles placed on the March ballot. A minimum of 25 registered voters must sign for acceptance to the ballot.

Another Brown Road resident, Andrew Perry, said an article to put an end to the planning for the Brown Road site for a proposed transfer station was written to prevent this article from being revisited if it should be voted down at Town Meeting.

“In small towns, issues have a way of resurfacing in a different way year after year until citizens pass them,” said Perry. “Our warrant article should prevent that from happening. If we vote it down, we want it to stay there.”

When the solid waste committee was formed last year, members were supposed to find a suitable site for a 500-ton-per-day transfer station, said Perry.

“Candia was looking for a way to make the dump profitable,” Perry said. “This proposal is the bad execution of a good idea.”

At the heart of this debate is the location.

Perry and Nafranowicz said an operation like this doesn’t belong in a residential area.

“I have no idea what the motivation is to do this,” Perry said, referring to the proposed location of the station.

Perry said not only will the stream of trucks into the station be unattractive, it will be dangerous.

“The end of the road is a bus stop for school children,” he said. “In the morning, there will be trucks lined up on the road waiting to get in and kids will be waiting for the bus.”

Children walk that road to go home in the afternoon as well, added Brian Fortin, who is heading the campaign to organize residents opposed to the transfer station.

Besides the location in relation to the bus stop, Fortin said the proposed building site is in direct conflict with the master plan.

“Page 36 of the plan said that residents want to preserve integrity of the rural environment,” said Fortin. “The proposed facility will be 12,500 square feet. No matter what they do, they won’t be able to hide that building.”

Fortin also brought up noise and environmental concerns. He said the committee said noise buffers would be installed at the facility.

“The proposed site is in my back yard. How will they buffer that noise?” said Fortin. “And we also don’t know what will be in that trash. How can they protect us from that?”

“What the town needs to do (if this is voted down) is to refocus its energy into finding solutions for the 35-tons-per-week of trash we have,” said Perry.

“They looked at other sites on Route 27 but they required too much traffic through town,” he added. “This new site (Brown Road) will eliminate traffic but is not a suitable location at all.”

“Candia should not be in the trash business,” added Fortin. “I moved out of Manchester to get away from what is being proposed here.”

Selectmen respond
The solid waste committee and selectmen are trying to find solutions for the solid waste problem affecting Candia.

“This year’s proposed budget for the existing transfer station is about $400,000,” said Selectman Gary York.

“The budget this year is up almost $200,000 from last year,” said Selectman Clark Thyng. “Gary has proposed wage increases and we need a new loader.”

Also, Thyng said, the price of propane has increased operating costs, and transportation and landfill fees have increased as well.

“The Brown Road transfer station is not the only proposal we have to solve our solid waste problem,” said York. “We will also have a curbside pick-up proposal as well.”

Regarding the new transfer station proposal, York wants residents to consider not just the expected profit from the station or savings from not having the town run its own operation, but that this is a long-term solution to the town’s solid waste problem.

“We are proposing a 20-year lease with whoever contracts the facility,” said York. “We’d also like to contract in savings for commercial and residential customers for trash pickup as well.”

“In response to the Brown Road concerns, we’re also looking into putting the station where the current transfer station is now,” said York. “We just need to find a long-term solution to our solid waste problems, and this is a very feasible one.”

Governmental changes
As a result of this proposal, Nafranowicz petitioned a second radical article that will essentially limit the selectmen’s power to vote on most issues at their meetings.

His idea is to have the selectmen have their meetings and discuss business. Then they would post their proposed appropriations and residents would vote on them on Saturdays following the meeting.

“This will allow residents to have full control over town spending and changes made,” he said. “There will be no more two-out-of-three voting on the board. The selectmen will be held accountable for their actions and changes will take place with our full knowledge.”

A recent crackdown on what can be burned and what must be recycled prompted the move.

“I went in one day and they were suddenly enforcing the rules and workers were going through everyone’s trash,” said Nafranowicz.

He said he was appalled by what he saw, with workers going through the trash with no gloves or masks.

“When I asked Clark Thyng, the selectman supervising the operation, about it, he said he was outvoted and had no control over the changes,” said Nafran-owicz.

“I’ve been vocal about what went on at the recycling station last year,” said Thyng. “I feel the changes had to be made but they were handled wrong.”

The major concern Thyng has about Nafranowicz’s proposal is that the state has specific mandates about voting.

“It could become a costly proposition,” said Thyng. “We’d have to have the town clerk, moderator and supervisor of the checklist there.”

Thyng also said they’d have to set up at Moore School, because that is mandated by the state as well.

“I believe Nafranowicz has good intentions and has good ideas for changes for the town,” said Thyng. “I just don’t know how the town could implement them without additional costs.”

“These changes would benefit the town and make the people more aware of what is going on,” said Nafranowicz.