Multitown agreement awaited on proposed recycling center

BAILEYVILLE — A multitown agreement for use of a yet-to-be-built recycling center here could be inked sometime next week, according to Town Manager Jack Clukey.

Clukey said Thursday that Baileyville, on behalf of St. Croix Recycling, recently was awarded a state recycling grant totaling nearly $211,000. St. Croix Recycling will include Baileyville, Topsfield, Grand Lake Stream and, eventually, Calais, Clukey said.

“We’re still waiting to hear from Calais,” said Clukey. “It looks like they might not have the money to join this year, but we’ll keep that option open for them to join when they’re able to. But the other towns will certainly be signing the agreement.”

The facility, which will be built near the town garage, is still little more than a set of preliminary drawings, Clukey said. More discussion is needed in the weeks and months ahead to fine-tune the plan. At this point, no decision has been made on whether the town will build and operate the facility, or contract out for the service.

“We have to look at that and some other things,” Clukey said. “We had been leaning toward contracting it out, but that’s something we might change. It is one of many things we’ll be reviewing.”

Meanwhile, work is progressing on schedule in the town’s effort to cover the former municipal landfill. The landfill last was used about a year ago when a newly built municipal waste transfer station was completed. “We’re still hopeful that closure costs will come in under $220,000,” Clukey said.