The Select Board heard a presentation on a new curbside textile recycling service that could soon be coming to town at its meeting Monday night. The program is run by Simple Recycling, and would be completely free to residents.
Steve Lisaukas of Waste Zero, a company which connects towns with waste reduction services, described the details of Simply Recycling’s service. Residents would receive pink bags to put their old textiles in, and the bags would be picked up the same day as normal trash and recycling.
Vice-chair John Cronin was worried that this service would discourage people from donating unwanted but wearable clothes to charities via the various dropboxes around town. School Committee vice-chair Anne Louise Hanstad was worried about a potential negative impact on their textile recycling drop-box program as well.
Lisaukas assured both Cronin and Hanstad that Simple Recycling’s service is intended to complement those programs, not compete with them. He also said that the promotional material for the new service could include information about donating via drop-boxes.
This service is becoming very popular in the Metrowest area. Lisaukas said that Ashland, Milford, Natick, Framingham, and Upton all use this service. The Board seemed very open to bringing it to Holliston, and the new program, if approved, could be up and running in the next few months.
The Board also interviewed Sgt. George Leurini, who was up for a promotion to Lieutenant. Leurini has been a sergeant in the Holliston Police Department since 2006, and is the director of the Holliston Auxiliary Police Department. After the interview, the Board voted unanimously to appoint Leurini to the position of Lieutenant. The Board also appointed Officer Todd Hagan, who was interviewed last week, to the position of Sergeant.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Board made a series of proclamations honoring first responders in town for their heroic actions serving the community. The honorees included Brian Kramer and Dylan Mahoney from the fire department, and Detective Ciara McGuire, Sgt. Glenn Dalrymple, Officer Felicia Filadelfo, Officer Ethan Coakley, Officer David Charette, and Sgt. Jonathan Remkus (who was recognized for two separate occasions) of the police department.
“Firefighters and police officers are constantly in harm’s way and often make a big difference,” said chairman Mark Ahronian. “A couple of residents wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for them.”
Towards the end of the meeting, the Board discussed the sustainability coordinator position that the Town will share with Sherborn. Tina Hein said that she was worried that sharing the position with Sherborn would not allow the town to see the necessary return on investment to justify a full-time position in the future.
Ahronian also had reservations, saying that the Town would need some sort of contract with Sherborn to ensure that the sustainability coordinator would split their time equally between Holliston and Sherborn. The Board is scheduled to meet with Sherborn’s Select Board on October 10th to discuss the position. In other business, the Board officially approved the creation of a traffic advisory committee after a few weeks of discussion. The Board also approved, at the suggestion of Ahronian, to establish the “Select Board Humanitarian Award”, which will be awarded every November. Each Board member will nominate a recipient from town to receive the award.