On July 11 the Cape Elizabeth Town Council will decide if Cape Elizabeth wants to continue involvement with the regional, non-profit solid waste management corporation that the town has invested millions of dollars in since 1978.

Last month, the Town Council unanimously voted to table four documents related to the Regional Waste Systems reorganization as ECO Maine and the adoption of a new “ECO Maine Interlocal Solid Waste Agreement.”

Regional Waste Systems, the non-profit solid waste management corporation founded in 1974 as a regional solution to the problems of waste disposal, is reorganizing after an independent study commissioned last year recommended certain operational changes, one of which is to change the makeup of the Board of Directors and remove the sunset clause in the contracts that would dissolve RWS in 2014.

“As we plan for the future we need to look beyond the years that are left in the current contracts,” RWS General Manager Kevin Roche said. Solid waste “is almost like a utility … it’s ongoing. It’s not going to just cease in 2014.”

The corporation is owned and operated by 21 towns and cities, including Cape Elizabeth, which joined RWS in 1978, at which time the town shut down their open-burning dump. These communities are being asked to sign on with the reorganized ECO Maine and adopt the new solid waste agreement. According to Roche, 11 of the towns with ownership in RWS have already adopted the changes, including Scarborough and South Portland.

However, Cape Elizabeth town councilors said they were not satisfied with the amount of information provided about the effects the changes will have on the cost to communities.

Councilor David Backer said reading through the amended by-laws, the new solid waste agreement and the waste handling agreement didn’t mean a thing to him and requested a more thorough explanation of the proposal. Backer said his request for more information should not be taken as being in opposition to the new ECO Maine agreement.

“But, I don’t want to blindly approve something without first understanding what it is I’m blindly approving,” Backer said.

Roche said that many of the communities have legitimate questions about the changes is structure and new arrangements and said he and Financial Director Rocco Marzilli, who was at the June Cape Town Council meeting, were traveling to certain communities to answer those questions. Roche said he would be at the July 11 meeting to answer and specific questions the Town Council may have.

Over the years, RWS has experienced financial difficulty because of poor management and oversight, and as a result the participating towns and cities have accrued a large debt.

According to Roche RWS’s current debt stands at $55.7 million, which is due to be paid off by 2014. Last year the RWS Board of Directors, which is made up of representatives from participating towns, decided to refinance that debt. They could have extended the maturities past 2014, the year that the original agreement said RWS would sunset.

“But, they didn’t,” Roche said. “The board is committed to making strides to improve the efficiency of our operations.” Roche said there will be projected capital improvements between now and 2014 that will have to be done, but not to the level of debt service experienced in the past and “they will be fiscally responsible and done in a prudent way.”

According to Cape Elizabeth Town Manager Mike McGovern, as of June 30, 2004, Cape Elizabeth is responsible for $2.6 million of the overall debt incurred by RWS.

At the June Town Council meeting McGovern said he could not give a “ringing endorsement” for the new agreement, but said it was the town’s best option. “The good thing is that Cape Elizabeth hasn’t had to worry about where they’ll put their trash for 30 years,” he said.

“I’d much rather put our eggs in the basket of regional cooperation,” he said.

If Cape decided to look for a unilateral approach to solid waste management after the original contract expires in 2014 and gives up ownership rights to the corporation the town would be losing millions of dollars in assets. “If we walk, we’d lose that investment,” McGovern said.

The cost of RWS is always the largest single line of the Cape Elizabeth’s Public Works budget. Every year 3,600 tons of solid municipal waste from Cape is brought to the RWS incinerator located in Portland. For the 2006 fiscal year, the RWS tipping fee is $158 per ton, which equals $568,800. That amount, plus the cost of RWS recycling services the town uses, including the “silver bullets” and corrugated cardboard recycling, costs $603,650.

Councilors asked McGovern to provide information on possible alternatives for the July 11 meeting. “What are reasonable solid waste alternatives beyond 2014 and … what are the costs of those reasonable alternatives?” asked Councilor Mary Ann Lynch.

McGovern agreed to do so, though he said, “it’s difficult to look at alternatives for nine years out.”