Here is a complete blip.tv video of the 7/30/09 special meeting of Northampton’s City Council. The councilors deadlocked on how to proceed with a citizens’ petition to put a question on expanding the Northampton landfill on the November ballot. This video is 1 hour and 30 minutes long, and was recorded by Mimi Odgers of Water Not Waste.
Here is the original agenda of the meeting:
See also:
Sunday Republican: “Landfill project prompts debate” (8/2/09)
Ward 4 Councilor David P. Narkewicz submitted an ordinance change that would relieve the council of permitting authority for so-called “heavy public use” projects and give that authority to the Planning Board. As it now stands, the council will decide whether to issue a special permit for the controversial landfill expansion on Glendale Road, if the Department of Public Works brings that project forward…
Narkewicz’ proposal was referred to the Ordinance Committee, the Planning Board and the Committee on Education, Housing and Land Use.
Gazette: “Landfill question rejected: With council’s vote, signatures needed” (7/31/09)
To get the question on the ballot, supporters must now collect the signatures of 10 percent, or about 1,800, of the city’s registered voters. Petition backers can begin collecting those signatures Monday.
“We’ll just go get the signatures. We planned on it anyway,” Ward 6 City Councilor Marianne L. LaBarge, a supporter of the petition, said after the meeting.
At Thursday’s special council meeting, a motion to move the petition “off the table,” or move it forward for a follow-up yes-or-no vote, ended in a 3-3 tie. LaBarge, At-Large member Michael R. Bardsley, and Ward 4 member David J. Narkewicz voted to move the petition forward. At-Large member James M. Dostal, Ward 3 member Robert C. Reckman and Ward 5 member David A. Murphy voted against the motion.
Ward 1’s Maureen T. Carney, Ward 2’s Paul D. Spector and Ward 7’s Raymond W. LaBarge were absent.
Video: Board of Public Works Meeting of 7/29/09; Roberts Meadow Upper Reservoir Dam; Landfill Alternatives
Video: Board of Public Works Meeting of 7/15/09 – Alternatives to Landfill Expansion
Gazette: “Northampton landfill options reviewed” (7/16/09)
Gazette: “A duel of votes, voices: On landfill future, two possible paths to city’s fall ballot” (7/11/09)
At Thursday’s City Council meeting, Bardsley and LaBarge presented a resolution, at the request of a group of residents, that calls on councilors to place the nonbinding question on the ballot asking voters: “Shall the City of Northampton expand the Northampton landfill over the Barnes Aquifer?”
Videos: City Council Meeting of 7/9/09 – Landfill Ballot Questions, Local Meals and Hotel Taxes, Conservation
Video and Slides: Public Forum on Innovative Approaches to Manage Northampton’s Solid Waste, 11/19/08
Water Not Waste Launches to Save Barnes Aquifer
Paradise City Forum: Landfill and Aquifer
Department of Public Works: Proposed Phase 5 Expansion Information