Thomaston Board of Selectmen
2/3/26, 6 PM
Present: First Selectman Rich Sileo, and Selectmen Michael Burr and Beth Campbell
The Thomaston Board of Selectmen (BOS) is gearing up to change its solid waste local law and extending a contract for recycling materials with Murphy Road Recycling for the next three years.
The Selectmen discussed the possibility of entering a new three-year contract, which would last until June 30, 2029, and start this July, at their Board meeting on Feb. 3. To enter that contract for the management of recyclable materials, however, they would also have to amend the town’s waste management ordinance.
The contract, according to a copy of it reviewed by The Goshen News, dictates that the town will deliver recyclable items to Murphy Road and pay for the acceptance and processing of said items. It would be on Thomaston residents to separate recyclable materials from their trash.
“This is something we looked at. This is a contract extension for our recycling work,” Sileo said. “It is a multi-year contract. We passed it through our lawyers and insurance. They agreed to our changes. We now need to send this to the Board of Finance. Once they approve it, we can send it to a town meeting.”
During discussion at the Feb. 3 meeting, Burr said he wanted to urge the Board of Finance to approve the contract with Murphy Road. He said that further delays would really put the town behind given that the BOS had already reviewed the potential contract months ago.
“There was concern with some finance members. We first started vetting it, it went out to bid, we reviewed the bids. Murphy Road was the most cost effective for the town,” Burr said. “What if the Board doesn’t approve it? We have to go to rebid and it puts us way behind the eight ball.”
Sileo said that the reason why the contract has stalled is because the BOS needs to amend the town’s old local law governing solid waste.
“We have an ordinance that directly references what we can do as it pertains to solid waste removal,” Sileo said. Signature of the contract would directly violate the old ordinance if it did not receive the amendments planned by the town and its legal team, Sileo said. “That ordinance was very old. It did not cover what we are doing now with Murphy Road. That ordinance needed to first be fixed. No one can sign this yet.”
Later in the meeting, the Selectmen voted unanimously to approve amendments to the ordinance. Sileo said the amendments allows the town flexibility on where solid waste from Thomaston can be sent to.
“If one place stops taking our solid waste we can have an option to go find another one,” Sileo noted. “This will be a problem for us moving forward in the future. Things will continue to evolve. Our waste is going to Pennsylvania these days. Sooner or later they are going to tell us to go somewhere else. We will need a plan.”
