ROYALSTON – Residents will have the chance to weigh in on the future of the town’s transfer station at a hearing to be held in January.

At the Nov. 7 Select Board meeting, Board of Health Chair Phil Leger provided an update on potential alternatives to using the town’s transfer station, including a draft agreement with the Town of Winchendon to allow Royalston residents to dispose of trash there. No plan is in place to close the station at the moment.

“Brian Croteau, the (Winchendon) DPW superintendent, was reaching out to surrounding towns – Templeton, Ashburnham, us – to allow access to their facility,” Leger explained. “His point of view is that he has an operation that is open Wednesday through Saturday and he’s looking for more revenue. He has a team that runs the facility.”

Leger said he and other BOH members met with Croteau and determined that an agreement between the two communities could not go into effect until the start of the next fiscal year, which begins on July1, 2024. He said Royalston would pay Winchendon $1,250 in the first year of a three-year agreement, then $1,500 and $2,000, respectively, in the final two years.

“That would allow (Royaston) townsfolk to go in and use the facility at Winchendon residents’ prices,” he continued. “The annual sticker is $75 a year, and then you buy bags at $4.25 a bag. The advantage is they are open more than we are, they’re a mile from the town border. They have a scale so folks that are doing demo, instead of getting an eyeball and an estimate, will actually go on a scale.”

Leger added, that Royalston residents living on the west side of town have said that Winchendon would be too far to drive. As a resultLeger reached out to Athol.

“Right now,” said Leger, “as a non-resident, you can go there (Athol) for a $70 a year annual sticker, and then you access their facility and pay what they pay. Their bag fees are groups of five for $17. Winchendon is 10 bags for $42.50. The difference between the two – for five bags – amounts to $4.25.”

Taking advantage of the transfer stations in both neighboring towns, he said, would allow Royalston residents to choose which facility is most convenient or cost-effective. He added that, if the Royalston Transfer Station were to close, Croteau offered to send someone from the Winchendon facility to Royalston’s public works yard to pick up trash left there.

Leger said closing Royalston’s transfer station would save the town money, noting that it operates on a budget of about $35,000 annually and paying the fees of another town would be cheaper. Leger said closing the town’s transfer station would take some getting used to, adding that going out of town for services has become common.

“Go to the supermarket – it’s not in Royalston,” he said. “Go get gas – it’s not in Royalston. To go get anything – it’s not in Royalston. Our reality is, we think nothing of going to Market Basket. We think nothing of going to get gas.”

Select Board Chair Deb D’Amico asked if there was another model for keeping Royalston’s transfer station in operation. Public Works Director Jaret Thiem suggested the Board of Health could continue to handle “the paperwork side” of the facility while DPW takes over day-to-day operations of running the transfer station.

“We already have the dumpsters,” Thiem said. “It would be a matter of potentially hiring – keep the person who’s there there until they don’t want to do it anymore – and then at that point look into hiring someone who would split their time between the transfer station and the DPW.”

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.