HALIFAX — The Select Board on Oct. 13 approved a $10 increase to the town’s curbside trash and recycling fee. The annual charge rises to $450, and the optional second bin goes to $280.
The board also scheduled a special town meeting for Jan. 12. After a lengthy debate, it voted 3-0 to let Democratic Town Committee leaders host a one-hour, nonpartisan get-out-the-vote booth on town property, with conditions.
Chair Thomas Pratt presented the new rates. The $450 fee covers weekly trash pickup, recycling every other week and access to the recycling center. It is billed in two $225 installments, in October and April. The second bin rises from $270 to $280 and is billed $140 per installment.
Pratt said the 14% interest on late bills and the $15 demand fee will not change. The demand fee was raised from $10 last year.
Pratt said the town’s rates remain much lower than private haulers. Jonathan Selig urged residents to compare prices themselves. He said the cart-based program turned around a bag program that had been losing money, and he called the $10 increase modest.
The longest discussion of the night involved two co-chairs of the Democratic Town Committee, Sam Cox and Ellen Snoeyenbos. They asked to set up a pop-up tent from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17. That was the first day of early voting and part of a national get-out-the-vote day.
They planned to bring: a sign encouraging people to vote early, a list of early-voting hours in area towns, and a laptop with a hotspot so residents could check their registration.
They said four or five people would attend. There would be no campaign signs, shirts or buttons. They also said they would stay more than 150 feet from Town Hall, the early-voting site.
Pratt said he would be more comfortable if both parties were represented.
“The tricky part here is that it’s a town-owned property that’s being asked to be incorporated into the display,” Pratt said.
Selig praised the organizers’ work in the community. He also said they are publicly identified with one party, and he proposed requiring formal notice to the Republican Town Committee. The organizers said they had not contacted Republicans because they were waiting for the board’s permission. They said anyone was welcome to join. Snoeyenbos said that, as residents, they should not be denied the chance to speak.
Pratt said four days’ notice did not change his view. He asked whether the event could move to Oct. 24. The organizers said it was tied to the national date.
The board approved the event on town property near the library. The approval required the Select Board’s office to send the Republican Town Committee notice and contact information.
The special town meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12. Pratt said moving it from the fall into the new year avoids conflicts with the holiday season and allows time to certify free cash.
The warrant opened Oct. 13 and closes Thursday, Nov. 5. The agenda had listed Nov. 3, which is Election Day.
Pratt read aloud a complaint filed by Patrick Higgins about the board’s Sept. 22 meeting. The complaint raised two issues: The agenda did not identify the pending lawsuit the board would discuss in executive session and the revised agenda did not note when the original had been posted.
Pratt said the first omission was his error as chair. He said he has since taken a 90-minute refresher course on the open meeting law.
“This was obviously not with malice in the heart or intentional form, but it did happen. So we have to be better on that,” Pratt said.
Interim Town Administrator Darleen Sullivan said the second issue caused no harm because both agendas remained posted online. The board voted unanimously to have legal counsel send the complainant a letter.
The Oct. 13 agenda named the lawsuit for that night’s executive session: Attorney General v. Town of Dracut et al., in Suffolk Superior Court. Pratt read the case name aloud before the board went into closed session.
The board appointed Nicholas Clark, a Silver Lake graduate, as a patrol officer. Deputy Chief Ted Benner said Clark was the top candidate among eight people interviewed from about 20 applicants. The department plans to send him to the full-time police academy in January.