04/11/2026 TSC Minutes

Minutes of the April 11, 2026

Meeting of the Transfer Station Committee

 

The meeting commenced at 6:01 PM at the Library. Present were Nancy Strand, Barry Zitser, Andrea Bryant, and Julie Seely. Paul Karpawich attended via telephone, and Allegra Wright attended as a member of the public,

 

There were no public comments.

 

Nancy provided an update on the Congressionally Designated Grant of $750,000 to build the new transfer station. The Town’s engineer, Aries, has submitted all documents deemed necessary by the federal authorities and is just waiting for the go-ahead. Once this has been received, Aries will go out to bid for the transfer station construction. Nancy noted that Bruce Caplain has also found that the federal authorities have been a bit slow in giving the go-ahead on another grant he is pursuing.

 

Barry stated that he would contact the organizations that might provide some small equipment grants, to determine the best timeframe for applications. These include The Recycling Partnership, the Mascoma Bank Foundation, and New Hampshire the Beautiful. Barry expressed some reservation about the possibility of a grant from Mascoma since he seemed to recall that the Foundation no longer provides grants to municipal organizations, but he will check in any event.

 

There was a discussion on the new Just Be Greener edition, prepared by Nancy and Barry, which provides information on the reasons for, and progress on, the Town’s future transfer station in a question-and-answer format. There were some changes that were adopted, and then the new edition was unanimously approved. Barry will explore drafting a second edition to address some further questions, and Paul will forward to him some ideas to show the need for, and cost-efficiency of, this facility.

 

Under new business, Nancy reported that she and the Town’s Administrator, Mary Moritz, were invited to a Dalton Select Board meeting, because the Littleton transfer station is no longer taking Dalton’s recyclables. Nancy stated that it was a very positive meeting, where the two towns will keep in touch to see whether Bethlehem’s new transfer station could facilitate the receipt of some or all of Dalton’s recyclables. Barry noted that there are local markets for some recyclables, such as a scrap metal collection and recycling center in Whitefield, which pays for recyclables. Nancy also reported that when she went to the Bethlehem transfer station this Tuesday that there were pamphlets and some free stuff promoting the Casella organization, and that the station manager, Marc Morgan, mentioned that this might become a weekly affair. Marc also mentioned that Bethlehem’s single stream recyclables go either to Rutland, VT or Massachusetts for processing.

 

The minutes of the March meeting were unanimously approved.

 

It was determined that there is no need for the Committee to meet monthly at this time, and the next meeting date was set for June 9^th.

 

The meeting adjourned at 6:51 PM.