MACHIAS — The Town Office will begin selling $2 windshield stickers for the Machias Bay Area Transfer and Recycling Center on Oct. 1, Town Manager Sarah Craighead Dedmon said.
The stickers will be available to Machias residents, property owners or taxpayers.
Beginning in January, the transfer station will enforce the windshield sticker requirement to control access, and residents will need to renew the stickers each year.
Select Board Chair Jake Patryn said the policy will make it easier for transfer station employees to verify who is eligible to use the facility.
“I like that it’s making your life a little bit easier,” Patryn told Transfer Station Director Nicole Albee during the board’s regular meeting in early September.
The stickers will allow access to town trash bags, which increased in August to $3 for 20‑gallon bags and $4 for 30‑gallon bags. They also qualify Machias residents for the demolition debris rate of 10 cents per pound. Nonresidents, or anyone without a sticker, will pay 15 cents per pound.
Also this month, the Select Board approved bids for No. 2 heating oil and K1 fuel for general assistance, propane and winter sand.
The board awarded the heating oil and propane bids to Machias‑based R.H. Foster Energy, the town’s current provider.
The guaranteed heating oil price is $4.549 per gallon, compared with Dead River Co. of Rangeley’s lower bid of $4.479.
Some board members said the town has rejected Dead River’s bids in recent years because of customer service issues, even though the company offered the lower price.
“I just think it’s beneficial to go with the hometown guy,” Select Board member Michael Hinerman II said.
The bid estimates the town will use about 50,000 gallons of heating oil across all municipal buildings.
Select Board Vice Chair Ben Edwards noted that the price represents a steep increase from last year — jumping roughly $1.86 from the previous rate of $2.699 per gallon.
“This is a substantial change,” he said, recommending a budget review to ensure the town has enough funding to cover fuel costs.
R.H. Foster Energy was also awarded the propane bid at a guaranteed price of $1.269 per gallon for an anticipated 18,000 gallons.
The bid for winter sand was awarded to The Buy “US” Co. of Jonesboro, which submitted the lowest of three bids at $14.85 per cubic yard. The town expects to use about 2,220 cubic yards of sand.
The Select Board is scheduled to hold a public hearing on proposed changes to the town’s general assistance ordinance at 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21, at the Town Office, followed by the board’s regular meeting.
