A so-called “single-use” bag ordinance, examined for 11?2 years by a Town Council subcommittee, is now in the hands of the full council.

The Town Council on Oct. 20 will get a look at a proposal from the Ordinance Committee – a plan that is loosely modeled on a Portland ordinance that took effect in June 2014. The single-use bag ordinance would place a fee on plastic and paper bags. The Ordinance Committee, which met Tuesday, noted that one of its three members, Scott Gleeson, favors leaving paper bags out of the mix.

Key elements of the proposal fall short of recommendations by the town’s Recycling & Solid Waste Committee, which in a report submitted last summer advocated a ban on such bags. The Recycling & Sold Waste Committee also wants the Town Council, rather than the public, to decide the issue.

During its meeting, Sarah Tracy, Ordinance Committee chairwoman, explained the logic behind sending the matter to voters, rather than having the council decide it. Committee members acknowledged that the full council could reverse that, and decide the issue on its own. The council also could decide to ban the bags rather than impose a fee, and also what stores should be affected. Supermarkets that use plastic bags to hold groceries have been the main target.

“There’s a value in leading,” Tracy said, “but there’s also an appropriate time to have the public decide, and I think this may be one of those times. If the council decides to make a decision, I’m perfectly comfortable with that.”

Josh Olins and others on the Recycling & Solid Waste Committee, leery of lobbying by the plastic bags industry, favor a Town Council vote. Olins and others who attended the Oct. 13 committee meeting also said that enough time has been spent studying the issue. Elly Bengtsson and Meredith Broderick, proposed to the Town Council a ban on disposable plastic shopping bags when the girls were seniors at Freeport High School in the spring of 2014, and the council quickly passed the proposal to the Ordinance Committee.

“We feel that the option of a referendum would slow the process down greatly,” Olins said.

Bengtsson’s father, Jeff, also spoke against a public referendum.

“I personally feel that the time has come to make a decision,” Bengtsson said. “You have all the right information you need to make a wise decision.”

Bengtsson went on to say that his daughter and Broderick were inspired by what they learned in an environmental science class at Freeport High School.

“They had the very best of intentions,” he said. “They wanted to think globally and act locally.”

Most residents who spoke during public comment favored a ban or fee on disposable shopping bags. Sukie Rice said 5 cents is not enough.

“I’d prefer 10 cents, but it would be OK to start with 5,” Rice said. “We need to change habits and I don’t know if a 5-cent fee would change the habits.”

Rice said she is much more concerned with the use of plastic bags, rather than paper.

“Plastic lives forever,” she said.

Ethan Pierce, a Freeport High senior, spoke in favor of the single-use bag ordinance.

“As a member of the generation that’s going to have to deal with the consequences of this decision, I advocate a ban,” Pierce said. “Once (plastic) enters the ocean, it’s everyone’s.”

Not everyone agreed that the town should become involved in the use of disposable bags. John Lowell said from the audience that lots of businesses have stopped using the bags on their own, and that other businesses should be given the same chance.

“I’d like to see you do it in a little bit different way,” Lowell said. “Plastic holders on Pepsi bottles are a worse hazard.”

Town Manager Peter Joseph then read a lengthy letter, co-written by Freeport residents Patricia Leighton and Andrew Molbert, who wrote they would cease shopping in Freeport if the town moves forward with the single-use bag ordinance.

“It feels like a punishment,” the letter read. “Personally we object on principle. It’s not the town’s place to insert itself in the middle of a business transaction. We feel to see a connection between 5 cents and helping the planet.”

Ordinance Committee members followed the public comment period with their own observations.

Andy Wellen said that, after all this time, there’s still not enough data to make an informed decision.

“If we do anything,” Wellen said, “we should do a referendum.”

Wellen said that according to some studies, the production of paper bags is more of an environmental hazard than plastic bags. Wellen proposed treating plastic and paper the same.

Gleeson also spoke for a referendum. He said he favors a fee on plastic, but no fee on paper bags.

Tracy said it makes sense to treat paper and plastic similarly. Tracy said she supports a fee on both, but not on all businesses. The real target is the flimsy bags, she said. Tracy added that businesses with “incidental food sales” could be exempted.