Residents Raise More Questions in Continued Debate About W.L. French Landfill Capping
At the Board of Selectmen's meeting on Monday, March 25, several citizens rose to express concerns about the landfill capping operation ongoing at the former Mabardy landfill site on River Street, which is now being capped according to state DEP mandate by W.L. French Excavating Corporation Inc. This operation has been addressed by citizens at several public board meetings and hearings in the past weeks.
Resident David Watkins rose to ask "a couple of questions." He began by going back to when Mabardy was operating the landfill, and was accepting waste from a transfer station in Cambridge. "We all know how they operate. You know, they take things in, they get sorted, and the sorted items may be items that they wanted to discard, bury, so to speak, came to Winchendon, unfortunately for us. So my main question...is what is buried in that ground? So there's been no tally of what went in there. This was supposed to be construction debris. We all know what that includes, because I've read all about it. What else was buried there? What kind of toxins were buried there? My concern is that house that lies vacant. What's buried behind that house? Why is it vacant? Why is this cap expanding? I know it's because they found items in the ground. What were those items?"
Mr. Watkins went on to say that he has a 480-foot well for drinking water, but he has no idea what is in the water. Water testing is expensive.
Mr. Watkins said he understood that surveying was being done to determine the property lines, but the capping operation was expanding. He understood that it was expanding because of the waste that was being found in the ground, but how far past the waste was the cap being extended?
"Because the water bleeds away in a 45 degree angle, not straight down," he said. "So this contaminated soil that we've agreed to take in Winchendon is now being the runoff. And I know the plan is to be able to control that with ponds and all kinds of stuff. I just think that this is such an operation that I don't think they can control this. I don't think that the Millers River is not going to be involved. I'm sure it is already. So I think the water testing needs to be expanded. I mean deep dive water testing, something that's going to really tell us what's in that soil, what's in various lagoons on that property. What's in the Millers River."
Mr. Watkins said that water contamination can go all through the town, to other towns, and all through the state, if the deep aquifers become contaminated. An additional issue is that the capping operation is bringing in very large quantities of COMM 97 waste material, which has its own contaminants. The state allows certain minimums, but they're still harmful, and they're being brought into the site in very large amounts.
Mr. Watkins pointed out that loads of material are tested in one spot, but there might be a plume of contaminants in the load that miss the testing. "I see French truck after French truck" coming into town, he said. Citizens need to know what, exactly, is in the ground being capped, what waste has been found in the test holes that have been dug. Water testing needs to be done more. Deep water testing is too expensive for homeowners to afford themselves.
Mr. Watkins also brought up the question of the truck washing station, which presents a dilemma: either it's not being used at all, or when it is used, it's rinsing contaminants out onto the site and recirculating contaminated water to get even dirtier. "There might be a filtration system, but this is contaminated soil, contaminated water. You can't dump it on site, because now that's got to contaminate the site even further. So it's been filtered, apparently, and I still don't know if anyone's actually seen that in use. I've gone by that, I don't see any wet roads from the structure being washed, that station is not too far from the exit onto the road." He added that in the agreement with the town, it doesn't say that the truck wash won't be used when it's below 32 degrees.
Jarrett Everton, Director of Environmental Services for W.L. French, and John Kitchen, consultant to W.L. French from Civil and Environmental Consultants, Inc. rose to respond to the questions.
Mr. Everton said that all of the site has been tested. Most of what they'd found in the test pits was "Asphalt, brick, concrete, tile, demolition, drywall, that sort of stuff. It's primarily concrete and brick though, for the most part. There's limited amounts of MSW, which is solid waste, household trash. Very limited amount of that, we didn't see a lot of that, but there is some out there. So that's basically what we're finding."
As far as the extent of the cap, Mr. Everton said, "It's right up to the edge so that when we find a dirty one, it goes right up to, they call it the limit of waste. Limit of waste, and we bring the cap right up to that, and then everything drains off into a drainage swale that captures the water to make sure it doesn't go back underneath the cap. So all the soil that we're bringing in is getting capped, fully capped."
Mr. Everett said they do semi-annual groundwater testing, and there are four water testing holes on the site. There are surface water samples taken from the Millers River, and wells on the adjacent property owned by the United States military.
The environmental reports on the project are now available on the town website. The button for the link is at the bottom of the left column of buttons under "Citizen Action Center" at the left of the website's front page, labeled "Mabardy 2021-2024".
Mr. Everton said that they are not required to have the truck wash operating when the temperature is below 32 degrees. The ground is frozen, so the tires don't get muddy. The trucks pass over stone and gravel that removes whatever might be on the tires. They are in the process of installing a different wheel wash that can be used at colder temperatures. "On top of that, we are going to be paving the entire draft driveway down to the scale, which is probably a 200 foot stretch, as soon as the asphalt plants open," he said.
Board Vice Chair Rick Ward asked if anything "highly toxic" had ever been found in the test holes, especially with the MSW waste being found. Mr. Everton said they did find a car battery, which would be "probably toxic." He said he wanted to clarify that this material is already in the landfill, it's what they're covering, it's not what they're bringing in.
In terms of surveying the property, Mr. Everett said, "we've had survey crews out there surveying the 608 property, I guess which is the one that was in question. They use on the ground equipment. The markers didn't line up to what's been shown on the plan. So now they have to go back and tie in the other neighboring properties to make sure that everything ties in because that 608 property doesn't match what's on their plans. So we have to do a survey all the way down to the driveway, tie them all in. That's in the process of getting done right now."
Resident Mike Giovannucci rose to ask why, if the materials listed by W.L. French--wallboard, brick, concrete, and so on--don't sound very toxic, why does the landfill have to be capped, and with COMM 97 materials. "There's something that they're covering up that they're not telling the people in Winchendon. It makes no sense to cover up brick, asphalt, gypsum. It makes no sense whatsoever. So if it's safe, why are we dumping tons of material on top of it?"
Mr. Kitchen stated that it was a state law that every landfill must be capped, no matter what has been dumped in it.
Resident Jodi Mendoza rose to say that she operates a farm on River Street not far from the landfill. "I have yet to understand why we are putting COMM 97, which has toxins, on top of toxins. So he's saying that there's just municipal waste and all of these things. Why are we adding COMM 97? What assurance do I have? I'm going through the process of becoming certified organic. How does it make sense to become certified organic if we're using polluted water? Am I growing vegetables to spread these toxins throughout the region? That doesn't make sense to me. And what I want to understand is I want to have the water tested. I want to make sure that our water is safe. I want to make sure that our children are drinking that water is safe. And why should I have to pay for that? Who's going to pay if the residents on River Street want their water tested? Why should we have to pay so that French can make money?"
Ms. Mendoza also raised the issue of all the dust in the street, which either is wet and tracked on the roads or dry and blows onto people's property. She asked who residents have to talk to if W.L. French is violating their permit or otherwise not doing the right thing.
Town Manager Bill McKinney said that residents with concerns should reach out to him, he would be happy to talk to residents as a group or individually.
Resident Richie Peña, Ms. Mendoza's husband, rose to question the amounts of material that had been brought in, which were far in excess of the original agreement. Originally, he said, the capping operation was going to bring in 415 cubic yards or about 708,500 tons of material. As of last May, they had brought in 786,000 tons and requested an increase to bring in more. "This is a project that was supposed to last no longer than three years, according to the documents that we were given," he said. "By October they had already accepted 901,000 tons and right now they are at 1.4 million tons that they can deliver because they got a 60 percent increase from the original permit."
He spoke about the amount of dust, and his children who ride their bikes on River Street. "I feel for the residents of the street that can't open their windows because of the dust. This is a real concern. There's also a concern because the weather patterns have been changing a lot. And now when it rains it's no longer the little rain that we used to get. It's a force. The winds this weekend blew two greenhouses from our farm. And those winds were very fast. So, what is happening? What's going to happen when we get these wind gusts that are blowing dust all over the neighborhood? You know, the proximity to forests are very concerning to me because of all the wildlife that we have around."
Mr. Peña pointed out that W.L. French is a for-profit business and they're also in business running the gravel operation on the property. They've increased their capping operation by 60 percent over their original plan. "We are concerned that they are then going to try to dump more COMM 97 next to the river in this land, in this gravel pit," he said. "So we have no assurances...when we asked them what they were going to do. They wouldn't say that they wouldn't dump more COMM 97. Please consider all of these points that I brought up to light, and all the other residents, to really get down to the bottom of what's really happening and protecting this neighborhood and keeping it clean."
Following this, Board Chair Audrey LaBrie stated that the Board would discuss the matter further at their meeting on April 22.
For previous Courier coverage of the landfill capping, see "Citizens Pack BOS Meeting in Beals Auditorium Looking for Answers about W.L. French Landfill Capping on River Street" in the February 29-March 4 edition of the Winchendon Courier.
Beals Library Director Manuel King Presents Library's Programs and Goals to BOS
At the Board of Selectmen's meeting on Monday, March 25, Beals Memorial Library Director Manuel King and Senior Library Technician Alexis Chanthachack gave a presentation to the Board on the library's programs, achievements and future goals, and explained how these determined the library's budget requests for FY25. The goals include adding the position of Assistant Library Director to the staff and promoting Ms. Chanthachack to this post.
"Because of search engines like Google, libraries are perceived by some as outdated and no longer relevant," Mr. King began. "The truth is that libraries are more important than ever in this age of conspiracy theories. A library remains the place to find reliable and fact-based information. The library is also a thriving, inclusive, free and welcoming environment where the community can gather, be themselves and engage in open conversations. We make it our mission to encourage civic and cultural engagement and inspire personal growth through literacy and lifelong learning. When a family is thinking about moving into a new community they often look into two important things. One is the schools and the other is the library and what it can offer. Here in Winchendon we have a jewel, a library the whole town can be proud of."
The Beals is a "full service library," Mr. King said. It has embraced new technology in recent years and built collaborations with the schools, non-profit organizations and other town departments. The library actively pursues grant money to expand its services, and has been awarded over $35,000 in grants since 2022.
Mr. King summarized the services and resources available inside the very modest-sized library building at 50 Pleasant Street. "Not only the newest books, but DVDs, audio books, music, CDs, magazines and video games. Library card holders have access to online resources, such as ancestry.com...the online library app Libby provides access to thousands of digital ebooks, audiobooks and more. Through our Interlibrary Loan network CW-MARS, patrons have access to the collections of hundreds of other libraries in Central and Western Mass, and if need be the rest of the country. Our Library of Things provides users the opportunity to borrow unusual items such as hotspots, a sewing machine, a telescope, even a full Santa suit.
"We also provide discounted passes to the Museum of Science and the [New England] Aquarium and free passes to Mass State Parks and the USS Constitution, all available to our patrons free of charge. Our services include free WiFi, public computers with internet access for those who don't have it at home, databases and other online resources, and one-on-one tech help by appointment. We offer printing, copying and faxing for a small fee. Additionally, we provide free research help into local genealogy and history through our collection, both physical and digital, of the Winchendon Courier as well as town reports, street lists and vital statistics dating back to the mid 19th century. For teachers in Winchendon schools we offer a variety of services to support their curriculum needs, including class visits and delivery and pickup of curated library materials to their classroom. These resources are also available to homeschooling families."
The library has benefited from funding through through the Library Services and Technology Act or LSTA, as well as District Attorney Early's office and the Massachusetts and Winchendon Cultural Councils. These funds have helped support numerous cultural events, the Town Wide Read which included four "community conversations" and an author visit, and the current See Beyond the Spectrum Autism inclusion initiative.
"In April we will be celebrating Autism Acceptance Month with a variety of weekly programs highlighted by a Touch-a-Truck event at the American Legion," Mr. King said. "Also scheduled is a
sensitivity and awareness training and certification for the staff, which will make the Beals the only library in the state to be a certified sensory friendly library."
Ms. Chanthachack has become such an expert in this topic, Mr. King said, that Simmons University School of Library Science invited her to be on a panel discussing cutting-edge programming at small and rural libraries.
Mr. King talked about all the diverse cultural events the library has been able to host--music from classical to jazz to sea shanties, puppet shows, magic shows, theatre workshops and movie nights. The library has sponsored learning experiences for kids such as Animal Adventures, Cosmic Kelly and astronomy nights. All are free and open to the public. The library's ongoing programs include a Lego club, a Dungeons & Dragons group, preschool and storytime sessions for littles, and for adults, three different book clubs and yoga classes.
"All of these programs and initiatives would be much less effective without the community collaborations we have fostered and strengthened through our outreach efforts, efforts which have extended our services and programs beyond the library's walls to make deeper connections with the community," Mr. King emphasized. "Our collaborators include the Winchendon CFCD, the schools, the Clark YMCA, the CAC, the HEAL Collaborative, and the Winchendon Recreation Department. The Friends of the Library have also played a huge role in advocating for the library and raising funds, primarily through their book sale. We thank them for their love and dedication to the library."
Mr. King said that the library's FY25 budget included funding for two staff changes. "As Director, I currently enjoy a wonderful staff of four part-time people who are totally dedicated to the library and the town. It is because of their extraordinary abilities, innovative thinking and commitment and willingness to go above and beyond that we can do everything we do so successfully," he said. He told the Board that he proposed increasing the position of Library Technician Kayla Charlonne by 3.5 hours. This would alleviate the need to call in temporary staff to fill in shifts and improve the library staffing.
Second, Mr. King proposed promoting Ms. Chanthachack to Assistant Director.
Mr. King explained that the library used to have an Assistant Director but in recent years the position has not been filled. With the expansion of library services, it has become an essential role. Mr. King stated that "through her exceptional work at the library, from securing grant money to provide programs and services for individuals on the autism spectrum, to her work with teams, to her ability to promote the library and all aspects of digital and physical media, to her knowledge of library practices and her organizational skills" Ms. Chanthachack had demonstrated her qualifications for the job. In fact, Mr. King said, she had been performing all of the responsibilities in the Assistant Director job description for more than a year. It is a non-union position. These two changes account for the increase of $11,587 in library staff salaries requested in the FY25 budget.
Mr. King went on to discuss the ongoing improvements to the building itself. "The building has come a long way since I became Director in 2016," he said. The library was made fully accessible in 2018 "after 105 years of excluding some citizens because of disability." Last year the infrastructure project replaced outdated wiring, repaired and repainted interior walls and ceilings and added a fire suppression system, all thanks to the generosity of Winchendon taxpayers, the Robinson Broadhurst Foundation and the library Board of Trustees. Currently a new circulation desk is being constructed.
Now the library exterior needs some work, as well. Beyond that, Mr. King said, "It is my hope that before I retire, we have accomplished three additional things to improve the building. One is to convert the library away from burning fossil fuels and spending between $10,000 to $15,000 a year for oil and upkeep on the boiler, to a heat pump system that will keep us warm in the winter and cool in the summer. This conversion will save the town thousands of dollars in heating and maintenance costs. The second is to repurpose the existing ground floor space into a children's room that will meet the needs of our communities, kids and families. This move will allow us to reclaim the currently cramped children's room on the first floor as an area for teens and a young adult collection. The third is to reconfigure the currently overly large Director's office on the top floor into a space that houses the Director's office, the local history and genealogy room and an ADA accessible bathroom to replace the tiny existing one we now have."
Another increase in the library's FY25 budget comes from the cost of networking, which increased when the 2020 Census officially placed Winchendon over 10,000 in population, Mr. King explained. "Membership in the CW-MARS resource sharing network is important because it allows our patrons to borrow items from other libraries in the state, gaining access to nearly 8 million titles, several million times more than we could ever offer through our small library on its own. Another increase is linked to keeping our state certification and qualifying for state aid, without which the library and the citizens of Winchendon would lose the ability to borrow items from other libraries in the state. In essence, we would be isolated and unable to provide the services that community has come to expect."
The library must spend at least 16 percent of its overall budget on user materials such as books, DVDs and so on. To keep its certification, the library will need to spend $42,464 on such materials in FY25.
The total budget of the Beals Memorial Library represents less than 1 percent of the town's budget, for services that are available to every resident in town, of every age, free of charge. The library's total budget averages out to $33.69 per homeowner, about the retail cost of one hardcover book. "The value the library holds as a resource to the taxpayers of Winchendon is enormous, and a tremendous bang for the buck. I invite everyone in the community to drop by the library, get a library card and take advantage of everything we have to offer," Mr. King concluded.
Following the presentation, Board Vice Chair Rick Ward said that he had been a Library Trustee some years ago. "Two of the best things I ever did as a library trustee was being involved in the library elevator and the new entranceway. The second thing was hiring Manuel King, who has totally transformed that library from what it used to be." He added, "I appreciate what you've done and your staff has done to make it a dynamic library."
High Water Keeps Trails and Grounds Closed at Lake Dennison State Park
The Lake Dennison State Park boat launch and parking area in the first photo as approaching from the park beech, and 2nd photo as seen approaching from the adjacent roadside campground entrance.
Waterlogged Camping! Plenty of cleanup is both needed, and far behind schedule, as seen in these photos taken from different directions of the lower Lake Dennison State Park Campgrounds along the Route 202 side of its property. Here many of its lower road sited are both currently under water, and covered with both new and previous flood debris.
Lake Dennison State Park is again flooded as the Birch Hill Dam holds back water throughout the Birch Hill Wildlife Management Area, protecting the lower parts of the BHWMA as well as the downtown business districts of Athol and Orange, Massachusetts.
Since last summer's much heavier than average seasonal rainfall, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers which monitors Birch Hill Dam has kept a watchful eye on local water tables and flow monitor rates. Rainfall amounts cost Massachusetts DCR substantial losses in annual ticket revenue and campsite reservation cancellations throughout the Commonwealth and locally at Lake Dennison State Park and Otter River State Park.
Earlier this winter, a large freezing rain event in mid-December 2023, with many local areas receiving nearly 6 inches of rain in 7 consecutive days, the overflowing lake caused picnic tables at Dennison to be pushed up against the small boulders at the edge of New Boston Road, along with multiple damages to signs, including signage at the boat launch, from ice wave expansion.
Just as local outdoor enthusiasts were able to resume walking and hiking the grounds of Lake Dennison State Park in late February and early March, local rains again forced the dam downstream along the Millers River to hold back water. Now, for the third time this winter, those looking to walk and or hike are restricted to the higher ground of the roads pointing towards the train tracks and New Boston Cemetery side of the park.
In the first week of open campsite reservations this month, DCR reported over 10,000 bookings recorded. Due to its continued flooding, Lake Dennison State Park is currently behind in preparations for its traditional seasonal opening, which will probably have DCR scrambling to hire staff by upcoming Memorial Day opening day.
Photos and article submitted by a local resident
Fun with Music at the Beals Memorial Library
Members of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra will be coming to the Beals Memorial Library on April 17 at 3:00 for an interactive music experience for children.
Photo courtesy of Beals Memorial Library
Waltz to the Winchendon library for a spring break program that'll hit all the right notes and set the tone for a fantastic afternoon with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra's Musical Petting Zoo! On Wednesday, April 17, at 3:00 p.m., the orchestra will be bringing all the bells and whistles to the library to ensnare the attention of little music enthusiasts with a chance to learn about instruments!
The Musical Petting Zoo is a fun and informative hands-on traveling exhibit of musical instruments. After an introduction to the instruments, participants get a chance to bow a violin, blow a horn, or tap out a rhythm on a drum. Here's your chance to try an instrument in a judgment-free zone that encourages exploration and excitement! This fun and educational program is presented by the talented Springfield Symphony Orchestra, who have been providing musical cultural enrichment throughout Western Massachusetts with their concerts featuring classical music, pop hits, and more. This program is sure to be a band slam!
This event is sponsored by the Winchendon Cultural Council and Friends of the Library. It is free to attend and open to the public.
The Beals Memorial Library is located at 50 Pleasant Street in Winchendon. For more information, contact the library at 978-297-0300 or visit their website at bealslibrary.org.
Photo © Winchendon/Templeton Regional Animal Control
