So Why Was I Trashed Over Trash?

  Ken O’Brien                                                                 



Well finally.

It's about damned time.

On October 3, 2011 I appeared before the Southbridge town council and made a statement that began:

“It is my opinion that virtually all penalties and fees assessed against Southbridge residents and/or property owners regarding garbage and trash collection or recycling have been done so unlawfully since at least 2007.

As a result, such penalties and fees should be refunded to Southbridge residents and property owners along with appropriate interest from when the charges were paid.”

The full text of the presentation is available on the web-site of United Southbridge.

Since then all I heard about in relation to this presentation were a variety of snarky comments by the town manager in subcommittee meetings disparaging the fact that I was not a lawyer and that I had relied upon “archaic laws”. I elaborated upon this dismissive treatment in an earlier article on this blog.

Finally, thanks to councilor McDonald, I have received a copy of the town attorney’s opinion relating to what I said on October 3, 2011.

For your information here is a copy of that letter.

Not only does Attorney Caprera’s opinion carry a much more respectful tone than the intemperate remarks by the town manager, it hardly appears to constitute the blanket dismissal of my position that has been implied by the town manager.

Now that you have the material in your hands, I’d like to hear your opinions.

Confused? So am I.

Our newly reconstituted local cable service is currently running this:

But on the town website it says we’ll be charged as follows:

Small appliances with refrigerant $20 each

(refrigerators, dehumidifiers, air conditioners, and freezers)

TVs $20

Computer monitors, including LCD's and laptops $20

So what is it? Was I crazy to point out that this is one major clusterfrak to serve the interests of Casella?

A copy of Attorney Caprera’s letter as well as a copy of the text of my presentation (without the supporting documents available at United Southbridge) can be found on Google Docs.

With all respect to attorney Caprera, who has treated me quite fairly, this appears to be little more than a legal tap dance.