The Haines Borough Solid Waste Working Group decided Feb. 16 not to weigh in on a borough manager proposal to ship municipal waste to Washington.

Members could not reach agreement on a recommendation to the borough assembly, some saying the plan conflicted with the working group’s goals.

“This is a really difficult decision for us to make, because of course we want the borough to continue to find ways to save money…but if we go through with this, this has the potential to undermine a community-wide solution that we may or may not come up with at this table. So I’m not sure if it’s a good idea for us to make that decision,” said group member Jeremy Stephens.

Interim Borough Manager Brad Ryan presented a plan to the assembly on Feb. 14 to purchase two shipping containers and two chassis to ship municipal waste to a Washington-state utility. The borough currently self-hauls most of its waste, with some collection by Community Waste Solutions.

The assembly referred the issue to the solid waste working group for input.

Assemblyman Ron Jackson, who voiced uncertainty about the proposal at the assembly meeting, changed his mind at the working group meeting. “The more I think about what Brad’s proposing, it seems to make so much sense with that method just because of the price difference,” Jackson said, referring to a $20,000 savings. “That’s got to have payback throughout the community…Why should the borough protect or subsidize a business in town?”

Working group member Melissa Aronson of Haines Friends of Recycling said if Ryan’s proposal is adopted, the borough could gain some experience and a “leg up” on how to haul and ship trash in the event that CWS stops operating in the future.

Others were concerned that if the borough took its business elsewhere, CWS rates to others would jump. Group member Phil Reeves said taking the borough’s business out of CWS and transferring to the Lower 48 would have the same effect as if the borough were to choose another local competitor.

Resident Burl Sheldon, who launched HFR and worked for CWS, offered the working group a two-part document with advice and suggestions on a solid waste plan, agreed that rates would increase borough-wide. He said he was against “fracturing” the system.

When asked what percentage of CWS’s business borough waste represents, company representative Sally Garton could only say that it was “substantial in the route collection.”

Although the plan only includes disposal of borough waste, Debra Schnabel said borough trash cans around town and a dumpster at the harbor are used by some residents to dump personal trash.

Group member Diana Lapham questioned how the group could even make a recommendation when there’s barely any certainty of what it is tasked to do.

“I have a confusion, because I don’t know what the mission of this committee is,” Lapham said. “Right now, I see a lot of gray area out there and now we’re being asked to make a recommendation that I feel we have no business making, because we haven’t really decided what we’re doing.”

Stephens suggested the group recommend the borough contact CWS and ask for a temporary rate reduction until the group could come up with a solid waste management plan, instead of shipping out of the borough.

“Maybe there is an avenue for our local provider to reduce their rates to save us some up-front costs and buy us a couple years to implement a community-wide solution,” Stephens said. “It might be difficult for the borough to participate in a community-wide solution if they’re tied up with (a Lower 48 handler).”

Stephens and Reeves both said they lacked information on the impact the manager’s plan would have on the public, especially financially.

“My answer is almost always going to be that I don’t have enough financial or economic information to say that I’ve done due diligence,” Reeves said.

Schnabel questioned why CWS and parent company Haines Sanitation owner Tom Hall weren’t more involved in the discussions.

“I, as a citizen, cannot understand why Community Waste Solutions isn’t fighting for its life,” Schnabel said. “The need for information is begging. I don’t understand why the information isn’t available so this group can move forward with something it can stick its teeth into.”

Garton said she worked for weeks to provide the group with information about CWS’s rates, but Ryan’s proposal “threw a kink in all of it.”

“It seems like trying to make a recommendation to the assembly at this point is premature. There’s still too much that needs to happen in the development of our ideas, and it also seems to me that we don’t have consensus within the group,” Aronson said.

The group voted 5-1 to “decline to make a recommendation at this time,” with Stephens opposed.

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