MACHIAS — The Select Board voted recently to increase resident bag fees at the Machias Bay Area Transfer and Recycling Center at 115 Broadway by $1, raising small 20-gallon bags to $3 and large 30-gallon bags to $4.
At its July 22 meeting, the board decided the price change will take effect Aug. 5. Only Machias residents may purchase the bags.
Transfer Station Director Nicole Albee recommended the $1 increase over a 50-cent hike, calling it a more sustainable option that simplifies transactions.
“This way, you don’t have to (raise the price) two years from now,” Albee said. “This might last five years.”
Select Board Chair Jake Patryn supported the adjustment, saying, “As a user of the bags, I am more than happy to pay another dollar for those bags.”
Albee said the transfer station is also launching a windshield sticker system to identify Machias residents.
“We’ve talked about having stickers to identify Machias residents at the transfer station for a while now,” Town Manager Sarah Craighead Dedmon said.
Demolition debris costs 10 cents a pound for Machias residents and 15 cents for nonresidents. Albee noted the stickers will eliminate the need for employees to constantly question visitors about their residency.
“We have a residency requirement already in place,” Patryn said. “You’re just making it easier for yourself to identify.”
Patryn proposed a policy — to be approved at the board’s next meeting — governing the stickers. The initial batch of 1,100 stickers, which Albee discovered unused at the transfer station, will be free and available at the Machias Town Office.
The policy would also outline how business owners and renters can obtain stickers, establish potential future fees, and detail color changes for subsequent orders.
“Businesses who operate here in town, they’re residing where taxes are paid, and to me it makes sense to extend the same rate to them,” Craighead Dedmon said.
The discussion also included adding provisions to the policy for potential future sticker fees and color changes on subsequent orders.
The initial batch of 1,100 stickers will be free because Albee discovered them unused at the transfer station.
“You don’t throw anything away … at the dump,” Patryn said to laughter.
Albee said the facility is expected to roll out the sticker system over the next two to three months.
At the July 22 meeting, the Select Board also appointed Andrew Mulholland and James Jackson to the Machias Planning Board, leaving no vacancies.
“I am looking for alternates to join the board — there’s a lot of work to do,” Craighead Dedmon said.
The Machias Select Board typically meets on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at 5 p.m. at the Machias Town Office at 17 Stackpole Drive.
The board canceled its first meeting in August, and the next meeting is scheduled for Aug. 26.
