LINCOLNVILLE —Contrary to what happened in Camden and Rockport earlier this week at their respective town meetings, voters in Lincolnville June 16 overwhelmingly approved entering into a 20-year contract with EcoMaine, a Portland nonprofit owned by 20 municipalities, for the disposal of municipal solid waste. That Lincolnville vote is significant, because four towns — Camden, Hope, Lincolnville and Rockport — have been operating as a corporation for decades in getting rid of their trash.

With one town going one way, and another town going another way, it will be showtime for the individual select boards, as well as the board of directors of Mid-Coast Solid Waste (representatives from the select boards sit on the MCSW board of directors), to decide the next steps. And, Hope has yet to vote. That town’s annual meeting is Monday evening.

“This means we have to work with our partners at MCSW to find options that will work for all of us,” said Lincolnville Town Administrator David Kinney, June 17. “It might mean the end of Mid-Coast Solid Waste.”

But he wants all voters to fully understand the issue, and said that all of those involved in the discussion and decisions to put forth their recommendations failed at communicating the scope and details of the matter.

“I want voters to have what information they need to make an informed decision,” he said. “There has been confusion and miscommunication.”

The 73 citizens who turned out for annual town meeting in Lincolnville, however, were clear in their approval of their selectmen recommendation to sign on with EcoMaine, come 2018, according to Kinney. That is when the current contract with Penobscot Energy Recovery Corp., the trash incinerator in Orrington, ends.

“It was a true town meeting,” he said. “It was all laid out on the table. There were questions and answers, and opinions.”

The warrant article at hand asked voters if they wanted to go with EcoMaine,” for the fixed price of $70.50 per ton plus annual increases in the Consumer Price Index and on such other terms and conditions as the Board of Directors deem appropriate with ecomaine....”

After Hope decides Monday evening, all four select boards will need to address the outcome of their respective solid waste votes, “and think about what their voters said and why they said it.”

The Mid-Coast Solid Waste Board of Directors meets Wednesday, June 22, at 7 p.m., at the Rockport Town Office, and their agenda includes a discussion called, “Post 2018 options.” Their executive board, comprising the town managers of each of the four towns, meets Monday, June 20.

Last year, the Mid-Coast Solid Waste board, consisting of two representatives from each of the four towns, commissioned a study of the options for the disposal of solid waste in the state.  The study, conducted by Sevee and Mahar Engineering is available by clicking here. Following the study, the MCSWC board issued a request for proposals and ultimately reviewed proposals from MRC, PERC/Casella, ecoMaine, Waste Management, City of Bath and the City of Augusta.

After reviewing the proposals received, the MCSWC Board of Directors interviewed four of the respondents in public sessions held at the Rockport Opera House.  A video of each interview is available at: http://www.midcoastsolidwaste.org/live-broadcasts-2/

On March 21, a public hearing was conducted by the MCSWC Board of Directors to solicit comment and questions from the residents of Camden, Hope, Lincolnville, and Rockport. After the public hearing, the MCSWC Board deliberated over two evening sessions to create a recommendation of the preferred vendor to assume business for the four towns on April 1, 2018.

The MCSWC Board presented its recommendation to the select boards of the four towns at an Apri 4 meeting.  After the MCSWC Board made its recommendation each of the select boards decided though their own local process whether or not to put forward the MCSWC recommendation to their Town Meetings.  Each of the four towns have decided to continue working together to dispose of solid waste and all have asked their Town Meeting voters to confirm this decision.

At the Rockport and Camden town meetings, held June 15 in their respective towns, voters rejected the EcoMaine proposal. This did not mean that they chose another proposal.

Town Meeting 2016: Rockport rejects fiber network study and waste disposal proposal

Camden voters approve $7.4 million budget, including church steeple repair funds

Other than the EcoMaine question on the Lincolnville town warrant, which generated a conversation that lasted approximately one hour, citizens breezed through the articles, and ultimately approved a $1.84 million dollar budget.

Also, a reporter/photographer from the Christian Science Monitor was at the Lincolnville Town Meeting, so check that publication for another perspective on local New England government.