Between now and the time that the 2002 municipal budget is finalized, public hearings will more than likely be scheduled on this thorny subject.

Town Manager John Simko and the Board of Selectmen discussed the town's landfill again last week, noting that the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) still isn't 100 percent satisfied with the way the dump is being operated. Still, Simko said, DEP officials concede that things "are better now than they were a few years ago."

But the 15-year life expectancy of the landfill, one of the few municipal dumps still operating in Maine, and the cost of closing the site prompted a discussion on whether it's time to consider mandatory recycling.

"Right now, we're only recycling about 15 percent of our waste, and that's pretty low," said Simko. Even if the town pushed to increase recycling of newsprint, for example, it could be sold for $45 per ton. "That certainly beats the $61.50 we'd pay in tipping fees to a transfer station," said Simko.

Voters would have the ultimate say in whether to enact a mandatory recycling ordinance, selectmen emphasized, and only after public hearings were held. While the board didn't exactly embrace the idea, some selectmen felt that some tough choices needed to be made on waste disposal soon. "The dump is a time bomb. Some people in town think it's a big joke, but it isn't," said Selectman Alan McBrierty. Selectman Bonnie DuBien admitted that she doesn't actively recycle, but said that it was an option that should be considered. "We just have to make sure that it's set up properly and give people options," said DuBien.

The town and the DEP are at odds on one aspect of the landfill, however, and that's the financial assurance portion of the landfill closure statute. Simko said that he questions the constitutionality of the law, which was enacted in 1999, since it requires towns to set up a trust fund that can be "accessed by the DEP, if necessary, to close the landfill." The closing cost is estimated at $471,000 plus yearly maintenance and monitoring fees.

While town officials are willing to negotiate a line of credit from a local bank for the cost of closing the dump, Simko asked DEP officials why it was necessary to create an escrow account. "I can see doing this for private corporations, in case someone just throws their hands up and walks away," said Simko. "But the town of Greenville isn't going to disappear. This, in my opinion, violates home rule and town meeting authority," he added.

In other action taken at last week's meeting, Shaw Public Library Trustee Vernon Smith reported that the furnace in the building recently had to be replaced after "catching fire - literally." The unit was replaced at a cost of $4,000, which Smith noted wasn't in the library's budget.

While town accounts can be overdrafted by as much as 10 percent in an emergency, the Shaw Public Library account is different, selectmen noted. The library gets a lump sum authorized at the annual town meeting, then it's disbursed as needed.

Simko and the board agreed, however, that funds can be located somewhere to reimburse the library. "We're obligated to do something," said Eugene Murray, chairman of the Board of Selectmen. "We can't let that building go to hell."

Selectmen also looked over the Greenville Police Department's "new" patrol car, a 1998 Ford Crown Victoria formerly used as a state police cruiser. Police Chief Duane Alexander said that the town "got an excellent deal" on the car, which was picked up for less than $3,000 at a state auction. Alexander noted that during routine patrols, a lot of people ³are taking a second look at it² due to its resemblance to a state trooper's vehicle. "That's fine with us," he said.