MARION — A Town Meeting will take place on Nov. 9 at 6:45 p.m. in the Old Rochester High School auditorium to bring a vote before residents to exit the Carver Marion Wareham Regional Refuse Disposal District and address other articles that need resident approvals.

Withdrawing from the refuse district is the “best course of action for the Town of Marion,” Town Administrator Jay McGrail said at a Sept. 22 Selectmen’s meeting.

Marion has been looking to exit the district since 2019. The town currently operates its own transfer station.

The district’s contract with Covanta will expire on Dec. 31, 2020, so the committee needs to decide the future of the waste district and do so in time for it to be approved by voters at town meetings.

The three towns have crafted a potential agreement that residents will be asked to vote on at their town meetings. That agreement would reduce the district to a skeleton by ceasing all operations beyond the ongoing payment of liabilities like post-retirement benefits for employees and the insurance on the Carver landfill property.

Wareham and Carver will have their residents vote on the skeleton model. Representatives of Marion are concerned that the agreement may not pass at the Wareham or Carver Town Meetings, and instead are asking voters to leave the district.

Under one of the town’s bylaws, Town Meetings can be held anywhere in the Tri-Town. McGrail said the decision was made to hold it at OR because of capacity needs in accordance with having a quorum and keeping residents socially distanced. 

The open warrant will also include articles from the Marion Open Space Acquisition Committee.

Selectmen plan to close the warrant on Sept. 29 and a meeting in which they will also meet with the Marine Resources Commission  regarding the Harbormaster Facility Feasibility Study. The Sept. 22 meeting between the commission and the board was postponed to accommodate for the heightened interest and the need for a larger meeting room.

Selectmen will also hold their first Water and Sewer Commissioners meeting on Thursday, Sept. 24 at 4 p.m.