Published in the June 28, 2018 edition
By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — The Nahant Street Yard Wast Facility (aka “The Pit”) will see an increase in weekend hours in Fiscal Year 2019, which begins July 1.
Edward Dombroski told his fellow Town Council members at this week’s meeting that he was troubled that the facility wasn’t open enough on weekends during what he called the “prime season” for yard waste disposal. He noted that the facility was open some, but not all Saturdays and Sundays, plus pretty much every Wednesday.
Dombroski said that he has come to realize that many residents were planning their yard work around days that the facility is open, even taking Wednesdays off, knowing that the facility is consistently open on Wednesdays.
He said that his original idea was to have the facility be open every Saturday and Sunday. But after hearing DPW Director Richard Stinson’s concerns about staffing the facility, he proposed having it open every Saturday and the second and fourth Sundays of every month during the fall. He said that the goal was to give people greater access to the facility and also a greater degree of predictability as to when it will be open.
Dombroski said that after trying out that schedule for this year, he would like to see it open every Saturday and Sunday starting next year. The Wednesday hours would remain unchanged.
He said that for this calendar year people would be able to count on the facility being open every Saturday with some additional Sundays added to the mix. He did note that since Sunday, Nov. 11 is Veterans Day, the facility would not be open. And on Thanksgiving weekend, instead of Saturday, Nov. 24, the facility will be open on Sunday, Nov. 25.
In addition, on any Saturdays that are scheduled curbside yard waste pickup days, the facility would not be open to the public.
He said that if the board approved the schedule laid out for this year, he would want to look to expand it even further next year.
Dombroski said that after speaking with Stinson and Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio, the added dates are doable within the current budget. Stinson said that staffing the added 10 days this year would cost about an additional $7,500. Dombroski wondered if a participant in the senior tax work-off program could work at the gate checking passes to mitigate some of the cost.
In addition to the current schedule for the facility the new open dates would be the following Saturdays: July 14, July 28, Aug. 11, Aug. 18, Sept. 8; Sept. 15, Sept. 29 and Oct. 13. Additional Sundays for this calendar year would be Sept. 23 and Oct. 28.
The Town Council voted unanimously for the expanded Yard Waste Facility schedule.
