Video: City Council Meeting of 8/19/10; Upper Roberts Meadow Dam; Extended Producer Responsibility

Here is a complete blip.tv video of the 8/19/10 meeting of Northampton’s City Council. Download the agenda (PDF). This meeting includes a discussion of preserving Upper Roberts Meadow Dam (see the public comment period at the beginning of the meeting and then the councilors’ debate during 0:38:50-2:01:22 on the video) and promoting a waste-reduction initiative, Extended Producer Responsibility. The EPR presentation takes place during 2:01:30-2:30:10. There was also a controversy during the Finance Committee portion of the meeting over fire department stipends for medical calls (see special video excerpt).

Note that blip.tv now lets you skip around recordings, so you don’t have to view an entire video in sequence. Just click on the timeline to where you want to go. This complete video is 3 hours 35 minutes long and was recorded by Adam Cohen.

This board was displayed by The Friends of the Upper Roberts Meadow Reservoir as part of a presentation by Joe Misterka:

See also:

Video: Gene Tacy Challenges Mayor on Fire Department Stipends for Medical Calls
Ward 7 City Councilor Gene Tacy says the Fire Department’s most recent contract gives each member $14.06 for each medical call they respond to, in addition to their regular compensation. In aggregate, these stipends add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

In the Finance Committee portion of last night’s City Council meeting, Tacy says he feels the stipend is excessive and unusual in Western Massachusetts. Mayor Clare Higgins responds that she would like to discuss the matter in executive session, as she feels it is a collective bargaining issue.

Here is a 9-minute YouTube video of this part of the City Council meeting.

Website: Save the Chesterfield Road Dam  

CommonWealth: “Cheap, clean energy stirring interest in Holyoke”

LaBarge, Spector and Tacy Propose Resolution to Preserve Upper Roberts Meadow Dam (8/13/10)

Video Highlights: BPW on the Dam, Landfill (6/30/10)
In this first 7-minute segment, Ward 7 City Councilor Gene Tacy urges the Board to support hydropower generation on the Mill River system. A network of hydro stations at several dams could collectively generate hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of green electricity per year, and the Upper Roberts Meadow dam and reservoir could be preserved. John Clapp and Dee Boyle-Clapp of Save Our Dam then debate with Board Chair Terry Culhane about whether the friends of the dam are making the progress the Board wants to see.

Gazette: “Advocates dig in to save Northampton dam” (6/30/10)

Video: Board of Public Works Not Keen to Save Chesterfield Road Dam (6/12/10)

Northampton Media: “Dueling Engineers: Can Micro-Hydro Save the Dam?”  (5/15/10)

MassDEP: “Draft 2010-2020 Solid Waste Master Plan: A Pathway to Zero Waste” (7/1/10)

Solid Waste Management Alternatives Study (PDF, 2.7MB)

Key Portions of the Solid Waste Management Alternatives Study

Video and Slides: Public Forum on Innovative Approaches to Manage Northampton’s Solid Waste, 11/19/08
City Engineer Jim Laurila gave a presentation on Northampton’s current solid waste management program (PDF, 54KB). He was followed by Gary Liss of Gary Liss & Associates (“Zero Waste to Cool the Planet”, PDF, 975KB) and Alan Cohen of HDR (“Innovative Approaches to Managing Northampton’s Solid Waste”, PDF, 5.9MB). The presentations were followed by comments from the public and from members of the Board of Public Works.

Valley Advocate: “Trash is Good” (10/9/08)
In the landfill business, trash is good. Currently Northampton’s Solid Waste Enterprise Fund relies on 45,000 to 50,000 tons per year in order to meet budget. If Pioneer Valley residents significantly reduce what they throw away, the city may move to expand the landfill’s “wasteshed”–that is, to entice tonnage from other areas. If another regional facility offers haulers a cheaper alternative, this strategy may fail. Duseau Trucking has a permit to operate a transfer station in North Hatfield, with rail access. If, for instance, Duseau were able to ship our region’s trash to another facility at a lower cost, it is possible that the Northampton municipal landfill would end up cash-starved…