ROCHESTER — Ahead of Marion Town Meeting’s vote to potentially exit the Carver Marion Wareham Regional Refuse District, plans are already being made for Rochester’s future if the district closes its transfer station on Route 28 in Rochester.

At a Nov. 2 Select Board meeting, Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar said the town is working out a potential agreement to let Rochester residents buy stickers for use of the Benson Brook Transfer Station in Marion. 

“It’s a good backup plan,” Szyndlar said.

The town currently has access to the refuse district’s transfer station on Route 28 in Rochester because the station is in the town. 

The Carver Marion Wareham Regional Refuse Disposal District was formed in the 1970s to allow the three towns to dispose of their waste for free at the Covanta-SEMASS facility in Rochester in exchange for allowing the facility to dispose of ash for free in the Carver landfill.

The district’s contract with Covanta-SEMASS ends on Dec. 31, so the three towns need to find their own solutions to waste management.

Back in 2019, members of the committee that governs the district came up with a plan to reduce the district to a “skeleton” responsible only for ongoing financial responsibilities including insuring the Carver landfill and paying for post-employment benefits for the district’s employees.
In skeleton mode, operations would cease at the Route 28 transfer station.

That skeleton agreement was approved by Marion and Carver Town Meetings. Marion later drafted a proposal to leave the district entirely, which will be up for a vote at a special Town Meeting, scheduled for Nov. 5. Marion officials have said they would leave the district if Wareham did not approve the amended agreement. Marion will operate the Benson Brook Transfer Station for its own residents.

Wareham is looking to operate the transfer station in Rochester through the skeleton district because it doesn’t have the legal right to own and operate a transfer station in a different town.

Because Wareham Town Meeting attendees will not vote on the “skeleton” agreement before the end of the year, that means that Carver is stuck with Wareham under the district’s original contract.

Wareham has proposed a plan in which the town would operate the Rte. 28 station through the district while taking on all of the costs and work for the property. That way, Carver could stay in the district without taking on any additional costs or responsibilities.

It is unclear whether Wareham plans to allow Rochester residents to access the transfer station if the town proceeds with this plan.

Selectmen Woody Hartley asked if the town’s attorney released the town’s opinion on the issue to the district, which is that residents have the right to use the transfer stations as the host community.

Morse said the town is “waiting to see because we’re down to one town,” referring to a potential exit of Carver from the refuse district on top of Marion’s potential exit. Carver has not announced plans to leave the district at any district meetings.

He added that the release of the opinion is being discussed.

Hartley said that he “doesn't want to see us sitting on January 2 and they disagree with our opinion.”