To the editor:

Do you miss not having the transfer station on River Road open on Saturdays anymore? Our town is dealing with several issues regarding the transfer station and all of us residents need to help resolve them.

While the regular Saturday closures were partially caused by Christmas and New Year’s holidays falling on that day and 30 below zero temperatures making it very dangerous for anyone to have to stand outside receiving customers for eight hours, there are other issues that need to be resolved before it can open again.

Both employees quit primarily due to the verbal abuse they have been subjected to by some of the customers who come there to dispose of their garbage and recyclable items. At the recent town board meeting, we heard about people sneaking garbage into the recycle trailer so they would not have to pay the nominal fee to dispose of it in the required trailer. We also heard about people complaining about that nominal fee being too much and in a couple cases, dumping it on the ground in protest. The commercial hauler is now charging the town for having to separate garbage from recycled material in that trailer.

The station attendant job is not an easy job on a good day, but when you also must be a bookkeeper, police officer and garbage inspector, and take verbal abuse from the public, it is no wonder the attendants quit their job. The fact that our town is fortunate enough to have a transfer station within easy driving distance of most residences is very fortunate. Now that it is closed, we can all drive to Lake Clear or Lake Placid or hire a commercial hauler to come to our houses. After a few times dealing with that, we all should realize what a hell of deal we have by having our own transfer station close to home.

The town board was considering having the board members take alternating weeks to work at the transfer station in the absence of anyone applying for the job, but I suggested that they did not run for the job of town board member to assume working at the transfer station as one of their duties anymore than they should be plowing snow, operating the sewer plant or skating rink and I asked them to close the transfer station until they could hire at least two people to work there on Saturdays and make sure the public abide by the rules and fees or not be allowed to come there. There is presently an ad in the paper looking for new employees and there will be a public hearing on Feb. 2 at 6 p.m., and I urge everyone who cares about the matter to go on the remote site and participate in the discussion. Let us not let a few ruin our ability to have a local transfer station.

Yours truly,

Sandy Hayes

Bloomingdale