BETHEL: Transfer Station expansion sparks controversy

The final meeting of the board of selectmen in Bethel was amassed in controversy surrounding First Selectman Bob Burke's effort to expand the town's transfer station.

First Selectman Robert Burke has a mission he wants to complete in the few weeks he has left in office, but he'll face obstacles if critics persist.

Burke said he'll do what it takes to pass a proposal so the town's transfer station can accept 450 tons of construction and demolition debris and change its deficit operation into an income producer.

"I fully intend to move forward with this. I have three weeks of service left," Burke said during a Board of Selectmen's meeting last Tuesday night. "It's very important that we consider this and send it to the people who have the ultimate authority.''

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The plan would be for a company to lease the station, expand it and collect construction debris. Even if it collected 200 of the 450 tons permitted under the proposed agreement, the town could make about $104,000 a year.

Critics said Burke held the plans too close to the vest all summer and there wouldn't be enough time to make such a big decision, especially without knowing facts about issues like increased truck traffic.

Critics of First Selectman Burke are upset over the timing of his proposal and let their feelings known to the media.

Selectmen Kevin Cleary and Paul Szatkowski had received no information on the plan.

"It's the responsibility for all of us to understand what it is," Cleary said last Tuesday night. "There is a lot here to rush it in three weeks."

Burke said he would call a special meeting and have the town attorney explain the proposals if needed.

Szatkowski said he thinks it is essential the town reverse its deficit at the transfer station, but he was upset Burke did not share the proposals with selectmen before sending them to attorney Lee Hoffman of the law firm Pullman and Comley for review.

Szatkowski has a lot of questions and wouldn't rush a decision so close to a change in the administration.

"The concept is right, but disregarding the future administration is wrong,'' he said. "I'm not opposed to it, but you can't accomplish something like this in three weeks."

Incoming First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker said he was concerned that the proposals were received in May, the attorney sent back a review of them in June, but it's only now, after the election, that Burke is unveiling a plan.

"It was done behind closed doors, without the other selectmen,'' Knickerbocker said. "We need to slow this down until the new administration takes office and look at all the options. There could be other alternatives. We owe it to the voters to explore them before we privatize the place."

With Burke's tenure as First Selectman coming to an end in a couple of weeks, and facing opposition, it remains to be seen if he has the time to make transfer station proposal to become a reality.

Last night's edition of Bethel Watch centered on the Selectmen meeting where the topic of the transfer station came up. You can watch the meeting below: