Above: Last year, the pink color of the transfer station permit irked some residents. This year, it’s the placement of the permit that’s the biggest sticking point. (Photo by Susan Fitzgerald)
Stickers for using the Southborough Transfer Station don’t expire until September 15th. But to avoid extra fees, you may need to act soon.
For most residents, the fees are lower for registering online or by mail. The new sticker may then take 2-3 weeks to arrive in the mail.
The new Transfer Station rules mailed out by the DPW have drawn the ire of some readers. The department seems to be residents’ favorite to dump on. (Pun intended.)
So, I decided it was time to clear the air about policy changes, etc. Most of the information below is based on the answers Department of Public Works head Karen Galligan provided.
Online payments
Some commenters have reported that the online payment system assesses a $10 fee.
Those fees are only assessed when you select credit card as payment method. The bank charges (and keeps) a 5% fee for that. It appears that this is the same across the board for all online payments to the town, including tax bills.
However, an electronic check only costs $0.25. (That is supposedly also true for paying by debit card.) So, you can pay online while incurring a fee less than the cost of a postage stamp.
The additional benefit for registering online is that the system can pull your registration data from the town’s Excise Tax information. That is why you do not need to send in a copy of vehicle registration with your online payment. (It is also why online registration isn’t an option for new residents.)
To register online, click here.
Lower fee for registration by mail
One resident raised the question – what if you don’t have a photocopier to make a copy of your registration? I checked with the Southborough Library. The fee for a black and white photocopy is only $0.15 per page.
Stickers will now be required on the front of vehicles
Some residents are angered by this change. For some, the damage to their front bumper is seen as an unnecessary inconvenience. The big question was why?
Galligan explained that the DPW was directed to enforce the existing rules. Moving permits to the front of the vehicles better enables transfer station employees to see them.
While many vehicles back in to the hopper, depending on the placement, stickers on the back are often not visible when a tailgate is down or trunk is open for unloading. And many vehicles do pull in, facing forward.
At the recycling center, parking is set up for vehicles to pull in. That means employees can’t see permits on the rear of the vehicles while they are working on the recycling pad.
The new structures at the Transfer Station
The structures were built by Assabet students to provide improved swap shops for the town. The DPW expects to open them in September.
Thanks, Beth, for clearing up some of the questions, but one remains…how much DOES it cost to go in to the DPW office to pay for your sticker?
I still think it is a shame that there are fees incurred no matter which way you pay for your sticker now. As far as some of them costing less than the cost of a stamp…seriously? I suppose that is justification in some people’s minds…
And why in the world should it take 2 – 3 weeks to have your sticker mailed to you?!? Thanks for the heads up on that.
And….if the transfer station attendant was watching those back up to the hopper then they would see the sticker, wouldn’t they? And what makes the sticker on the front bumper any different to see than the one on the back bumper? I suppose some of the answers we were given make sense, but some are just ridiculous justifications of decisions that make no sense at all.
It comes to mind that the town will have to spend 45 cents to mail the stickers to us and we get a reduction in the sticker price if we don’t go in, so in essence, it seems to me that all these changes are costing the town money, not saving any. Any comments , BOS? Is pennywise and pound foolish how Southborough wants to operate? I, for one, hope not…
Just to add some more detail to say that the bank charges and keeps a 5% fee is pretty inaccurate. The credit card processors are the ones who charge the fee and its usually about 3%, so on a $200 bill it really should be 6 bucks, rounding up to 10 isn’t that unreasonable, but annoying none the less. The fee makes even less sense on my sometimes $50ish water bills, but it is a town level (or unipay gold) stupidity and not the transfer station, but the explanation above isn’t quite accurate. I just pay with my checking account, and I’ve always assumed the .25 went to pay unipay gold for their service.
I also think it’s ‘cute’ how buying online is a ‘discount’. Its not a discount, the cost is 200 and there is a 20 fee to buy in person and a 30 fee to buy after oct 1st. I love how even local government officials use marketing on their citizens.
I agree that the front of the car justification makes no sense. Walk around some parking lots, lots a people have stickers for various things on their cars. How many do you see on front bumpers? I see none. I also think its funny that the fronting into the transfer station was used as a reason too, because if I was asked for one improvement to the whole place it would be changing the parking lines so I could back into the recycling area.
Karen get’s dumped on for a reason, she’s one of the higher paid people in town and treats us like we’re idiots and enemy’s instead of customers who she should be trying to make happy. At the end of the day, we employ her! I sincerely believe she really does hate us and does these things for fun, there really is no other explanation.
Is there REALLY a $20 fee to apply for the stickers in person?
“Galligan explained that the DPW was directed to enforce the existing rules.”
Directed by whom?
I like how I can apply for the sticker by mail. It’s not the cost of going to the DPW – it’s fitting it within working hours. Many town offices are closed when I’m not working, and vice versa. What irks me is that the site (for a long time, not sure about now) only took MasterCard and (I think) Discover. What if you have a Visa? What I like most about this post is that I learned I can pay by electronic check or debit card, and it saves my info.
p.s.: for those complaining about stickers (or even the color!) – really? It’s a sticker. Get over it. How pristine is your car? I like my car like anyone else, but I’m not bent out of shape about the sticker….
I must agree that it makes no sense at all for the sticker to be on the front bumper when most cars back up to the hopper. I think that dumping in the hopper without a sticker would be more of an issue than someone recycling without a sticker.
Thanks for the heads up on the 2 – 3 weeks to get stickers in the mail!!!
Why
I will put my two cents in here. The town asks for your registration and such to get a sticker but no one actually ever checks to see if the sticker on your car matches that registration. I know folks who give their second sticker to a friend so they can dump their garbage for free. I think it makes more sense to tie the sticker to someone’s license which they should be prepared to show if Transfer station employee asks (this should happen on a frequent basis).
Also why can’t we just have co-mingled recycling at the transfer station? It would make everyone’s life so much easier.
The registration# (aka license plate #) is written right on the sticker sticker
by the DPW person which is then placed near your license plate (front or back bumper). Its easy to see whether you aren’t legit.
Actually, I was asked about my sticker because it did not match my license plate. (My annual car inspection failed because my beloved green plate was too faint, and I was required to get a new one.) It didn’t occur to me that I also needed to change my dump sticker until one of the DPW workers asked me why it didn’t match. (This happened within a month of my new plate issue.) And as an aside, I could care less what color the sticker is, but it is annoying that it costs an extra $20 to pick it up at the DPW. They should at least allow you to drop off the paperwork for free and mail you a new one in about a week. It’s just not small town friendly to say – stay out of our office or it will cost you – we’ll get back to you. The DPW workers are friendly in my opinion. I just think whoever issues these “rules” doesn’t realize how unfriendly they come across to the public. I find it a little power-hungry or something.
And from the headline, I thought it was the pink color that was bugging people! As a former Southborough resident, I enjoy reading up on what’s going on in town!
I wasn’t being snarky in my comment above; I’m genuinely hoping for an answer. The piece says, “Galligan explained that the DPW was directed to enforce the existing rules.”
Directed by whom? Thanks.
Call Karen and ask her. 508-485-2511 (transfer station)
The Transfer Station rules and regulations are decided and voted for by the BoS.
The $20 fee to pay in person (which I always did) was added because DPW clerks were interrupted each time someone came to the window. Apparently, it is more efficient to process a bunch of applications at once. Also the late fee, which I agree with, is needed because way too many folks wait until after Oct 1 to get their stickers. The “save money” is a little deceptive since the fee did increase from $175 to $200. However I am not complaining since it is way better than PAYT and the other crazy fees/restrictions that were proposed earlier this year.
You are correct that it is somewhat reasonable to have a in person fee, but the fee doesn’t make sense. I went in to get my sticker for many years, a process which took no more than 10mins (and that’s stretching it). If it takes half that time to process a mail in, we are saving no more than 5 mins per person. If the clerk makes say 25 an hour, the fee should be no more than 3 bucks for their loss of time. If the clerk is so over burdened, hire a part timer Aug-Oct, a $3 fee will cover the costs of the hire. And once you are talking about the 3 bucks, you just dissolve that into the cost of the TS. As for the ‘late’ fee, the reality is this is our community and it is our transfer station. If there are residents who want to get their sticker in Oct why shouldn’t they so long as they aren’t using the TS without a sticker. Government isn’t supposed to run like a business where we try to squeeze every last cent of people, it is supposed to be a fair service put forth by the community for the community. Lastly I’m not much of a fan of the philosophy of be happy with what we got because it could be worse.
My goodness.
1. Let us be clear. Nobody has to pay anything. You have a choice. If the terms and conditions at the Transfer Station are so onerous and bad then do not pay them. Contract with a private hauler. They will actually come to your house and take away our trash and recyclables. You have the freedom to choose.
2. Karen, in my opinion is one of our communities best employees. She is a little tone deaf on some issues but she will tell you exactly what she thinks. No guile or double talk.
3. Really, it is a sticker.
Al,
I usually agree with you on most points, but not this time. We are paying taxes and part of those taxes are to have a transfer station to go to for trash disposal and recycling, not to mention the sense of community that is sometimes afforded by a visit to the TS. If we pay a private hauler as well, we are essentially paying double, (although some would contend that paying for a sticker is also paying double…but at least that money goes into the town of Southborough coffers and not into a private haulers cash register.) Plus it is my understanding that we cannot recycle with a private hauler :-( Frankly, I don’t see that as being a choice, at least not a viable one.
As far as Karen is concerned, no one is perfect at their job, or so we are told in today’s society, what with performance evaluations often including personal improvement plans. I have never had direct dealings with her, so can’t speak to the no guile or double talk issue, but there have been decisions made that defy all common sense and rationale. Knee jerk reactions, perhaps, but not well thought out as evidenced by wanting to close the swap shop for instance. There are two things in town that have had a lot of comment of late, one being most decisons made by Karen and the Planning Board operating in a less than stellar way. I like your comment about being a little tone deaf, however, many of her decisions are made without input or discussion and sometimes it seems without a lot of thought.
And yes, it is a sticker. But it is NOT just about the sticker….when changes are made to a system, for no apparent reason, that has worked in the past, it does give one pause to wonder why. Otherwise, why would there be all this dialogue about a sticker!
I also agree with Bonnie about using our seniors to do the paperwork in the DPW office for the issuing of stickers, thereby affording Jean a no interruption workday (just as an aside, try working at the schools in the front office to see how that goes…or most other jobs for that matter!! Goes with the territory, I would say.) Nice of Karen to want to do that for Jean, but seriously? Life is nothing but a series of interruptions and there are few jobs out there that don’t have interruptions as part of standard operating procedure.
I think it is time for common sense to come back into government!
I’m just sayin’,
Well said.
Thanks, Al.
I called out this silliness in the previous thread, and was rewarded with the suggestion by SB Resident that Beth should have “filtered” my comment. Really unbelieveable, people. Count your blessings every day that this is the kind of thing you fret about.
It was your tone. Disagreement is good. Purposefully inflammatory remarks are not.
What happens if we simply put our transfer stickers on the back bumper? We paid for the sticker and the use of the TS. I would assume (maybe I should not) that nothing would happen. Is there any sort of fine for puting it in the wrong place?
Remember the good old days!
Southborough, MGL chapter 59, Section 5k
This Local option provides homeowners who are age 60 or older the opportunity to participate in a property tax relief program in return for volunteer service to the Town. Participants in the program are compensated at a rate per hour of service, not to exceed the state’s minimum wage, that is credited to their real property tax bills.
The program recognizes that many senior citizens can provide a WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS from which the Town could benefit in its various departmental needs. The Senior must meet the requirements for the program and have appropriate skills for the position.
There is no good reason not to utilize the skills and abilities of qualified volunteer residents to assist the DPW with the Transfer Station sticker sales we have done it in the past and it has worked.
Southborough Accepted the Senior Citizen Tax Work-Off Program on 10/21/2002
“Life is one damn thing after another”
(apparently said by Elbert Green Hubbard; American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher.)
Put the sticker on your front bumper and move on. If it gets worn by our New England weather, than so be it. It will surely last one year.
sheesh………
The sticker is a diversion. If it wasn’t meant to be then it’s just lucky for Karen that it turned into one. Please pay attention to the following.
Metal section will now be gated with only the ability to throw into the area from the backside. No more picking, no scores, no helping things go around one more time. It didn’t cost the town anything for us to pick since the person taking the AC’s and refrigerators took them for free to get the scrap. Now they will simply get more scrap and we pay for the fence and the asphalt to keep us out.
The swap shop will soon be moved to the landlocked sheds built by the Assabet School kids. They most likely will not be open in the winter or when it rains enough for the lawn to get too muddy.
Karen didn’t want the swap shop but had to keep it so she moved it far away and can shut it down whenever she wants. Her reaction to folks picking the metal is to close it up and probably pave the little road up the back.
Small changes that kind of bother me, first world problems for sure but they change what makes our dump awesome. Can any other town say that their dump is awesome? Soon we won’t be able to either.
I would like to hear Karen make the announcement that she is closing the metal section. If it is true I will not be buying a sticker in protest. Our dump is better than any other town and it is why stickers sales continue. Making things difficult to use and taking away perks will continue to hurt sticker sales and go to Mr Rooney’s PAYT will kill he dump. Karen said a BOS meeting that “they” were telling her to close the metal section. 10 minutes later the selectman tell her its her decision. So I to am a believer that Karen either doesn’t want the extra’s at the dump or just plain doesn’t like the towns people. I always was under the belief that government was for the people but I am starting to wonder these days. “If its to good we will take it away” seems the norm.
Lets also keep in mind that if sticker sales fall to low we will be in breach of contract with wheelbrighter and have to start paying more per tone, they expect a certain tonnage and if we fall behind, we bet penalized.
As someone who has paid very close attention to the local politics in Town for decades. I am deeply concerned about the attitude and behavior of the DPW’s Karen Galligan. She is cavalier and disrespectful to the local residents and the taxpayers who pay her salary. She conducts herself as though she is not accountable for her actions or decisions to the Town of Southborough residents. She has forgotten that she is a Public servant and is currently employed by the Town of Southborough at the taxpayers discretion. She has become the classically entrenched bureaucrat who thinks they are untouchable when in fact she should only be responsible for the impartial execution of assigned tasks by the Town Administrator, who receives direction from the Board of Selectmen. The Board o Selectmen are hopefully operating on behalf of the taxpayers.She is then required to sacrifice her personal judgments if they run counter to the execution of her official duties. There is a serious professional disconnect going on here. Anyone who thinks that her suitability, competency and skill levels required for the challenges of the DPW Head job are not questionable at best,should have driven up Oak Hill Road last night (a Friday night) and ask themselves if that project has been executed in a professional manner. Not even close.Those in Town who also follow town politics closely also know that she was the main instigator behind the entire “Pizzagate” fiasco. Its time for the Board of Selectmen (with Selectmen Boland recuseing himself due to his family’s Conflict of Interest relating to Ms.Galligan) to take a “No Confidence Vote” regarding Ms.Galligan and begin the search for her replacement. The Taxpayers demand it.
Patriot, I agree.
Its sad that we just renewed her contract for 3 years with nothing but praise from the selectman. They must not be seeing the same things we are.
In the absence of any comment from her or the selectmen we are left to our own theories and opinions. I wish there was an open dialogue between her and the community. Even something as simple as the topsoil that was scraped off the little hill behind the metal section could have been donated or re-used or taken by any resident who needed some soil. Who knows, maybe it was, but we’ll never know, we will only suspect it probably went to Karen’s garden or wasted in the wasteland behind the three new sheds.(I never saw a permit displayed for them by the way).
I know this may not be the proper venue for comment from town officials but even Rep. Dykema knows that this town blog is read by enough to take seriously. I invite some clarification from Karen Galligan and the Selectmen on the issue of action taken at the dump that seem quite counter to the “will of the people”.
We are interested in a response and may consider phone calls and letters and emails if that gets that message through. Perhaps we could formulate a list of a few simple questions for Karen to answer with no threats or criticism. You get more flies with sugar than with salt after all. Lets change the tone and be nice, firm but respectful. She does a great job in many minds, lets give her the benefit of the doubt until she can respond.
What are the questions? If someone can draft them up I would be interested in getting them submitted in the form of a petition. Signatures could be collected Wednesday through Saturday and you know where and when.
Those bridges have been burnt.She needs to update her resume.I am going to obtain a copy of the contract,and its exit provisions. I would rather provide severence now than ever have to contribute to her pension for who knows how long.
I rarely post on this blog but this Karen Galligan bashing is getting out of control.
I’ve lived in town for 21 years and have known Karen through my work on town committees for the past 9 years. Karen and I haven’t seen eye to eye on a couple of things over the years, but I’ve found that she’ll take the time to listen to your differing point of view and I have found her to be flexible enough to change her mind on occasion.
From my experience, she does a good job juggling all the tasks thrown at DPW. Maybe she’s too blunt in some of her comments (me too), but I’ll gladly accept that because it also comes with her direct responses and forthright manner. When Karen says she’ll do something, it gets done.
Some of the posts on this topic would make it appear that Ms. Galligan operates in a vacuum or that she is sitting under an umbrella somewhere sipping a cocktail and plotting how she can up with new and creative ways to aggravate the good people of Southborough.
There are currently 32 vacancies on town committees listed at this link: http://www.southboroughtown.com/committee_vacancies.htm
If you want to change the way the town operates, join a committee and let your voice be heard. Town government works better when we have a diverse group of people involved.
There are far more important issues facing Southborough than whether the sticker goes on the front or the back of your car. Join a committee and help make those decisions.
Finally, make an appointment to speak with Karen and discuss your concerns with her. She’ll at least listen to you. If you still disagree with her decision, then go to a Selectmen’s meeting and ask the Board about it. She works for the BoS and THEY make the final decisions.
A few of the posts in this thread are just cheap shots at Karen Galligan. She and every other town employee deserve better.
Jim,
46 years in town.
I just don’t want the Metal section closed down at the TS. Over the years every time the subject comes up I see every one run around the topic. Even with the fences going up no one can tell me for sure if it is really closing or not. I have witnessed a friend address this with both the BOS and Karen and have witnessed the run around myself. It is very frustrating as I have been using things from the metal section since it opened after the landfill closed on Parkerville rd.
At the end of my rope I guess.
Alan,
After reading your reply last night, I sent an email to Karen Galligan asking if the metal section would be closing. She replied this morning and gave me her OK to post her reply:
“Anyway, we definitely are not stopping metal recycling. The Town gets money for the scrap metal which covers the cost of the Freon items and also adds to the Town’s General Fund. Unfortunately, the way the pile and the Swap Shop are currently set up the scrap metal is mixed in with re-usable metal items that people don’t put in the Swap Shop, (like bikes, mowers, other yard tools, metal furniture etc). This set up creates a problem where people are in the metal area working on items to remove parts, organizing the area and sometimes even climbing the pile to get things. I’ve seen video where the operator is trying to clean up the pile with the loader and vehicles won’t move for him. I’ve also had people complain that the operator cleans up the pile and crushed items that they had organized out of it. The climbing is obviously a liability issue. So, once the new Swap Shops are open, there will be space to put bikes and re-usable metal items in one of those buildings. Then, people will be able to drop scrap in the scrap area, re-usable items in the Swap Shop and only the operator will have access to the pile.”
From all that you’ve seen over the course of your 46 years in town, I’ll bet you could write a book about all the many well-intentioned changes in town policies that got screwed up.
Karen Galligan and DPW would benefit from your input on this proposed change to the DPW, especially regarding how that last sentence will be implemented.
Thanks!
Jim Hegarty
Jim,
I appreciate your efforts. I could say so much about her comment you have printed, but I wont. I will say this, no one knows what I am looking for in the metal section, not even me until I see it.
There is more to the story about the metal section than can be explained in this post. I would assume that Karen would feel the same way.
My stance still remains the same, DO NOT CLOSE OFF THE CURRENT METAL SECTION.
Someday soon I may talk to Karen but it will not happen in the next couple of days.
I do not know who approved these changes to the TS and I do not have the time to go to every meeting. I do hope that Aldo Cipriano did not have influence it. I use the swap shop and metal section to live, he make $100,000.00 + just on the town of southborough alone.
You wrote, “When Karen says she’ll do something, it gets done.” The point is we don’t want change at the TS. That was the overwhelming view in the town survey. Karen is solving her problems at the expense of the townspeople. We simply want her to maintain the status quo and if change needs to happen particularly for financial reasons, communicate the reasons clearly.
A good example is I don’t think anybody wants the swap shop to move. The whole point is that it is just right there, you can just take a quick glance and be on your way. Clearly the metal section is a major issue as well, how are people supposed to decide what is scrap and what should go to the swap area. She knows everyone is going still put what they currently do into the scrap section, and thus is effectively closing it. Clearly she’s not dumb, she knows what she is doing, and she simply isn’t on our side. Lastly, you may think there are far more issues facing Southborough, than where the sticker goes, but clearly it’s pretty important to many of us. To me is also simply symbolic, It is just a common sense thing that you don’t ask people to do (proven by the fact that I can’t find any car anywhere with a sticker on the front bumper), that the people in charge don’t get this, is symbolic to me that they are in fit for the position.
I concur with patriot that I have no confidence in Ms. Galligan’s ability to run the DPW in a way that represents the desires of the townspeople!
PS – I’ve been in town a long time too, but whether you’ve been here 1 year or 100 is irrelevant, we are all paying taxes and each persons view is as important as the next.
Karen Galligan did irreparable damage to the reputations of many other Town employees you speak of during the entire PIZZAGATE/DEEP DISH scandal. Ultimately facilitating the departure of many extremely dedicated qualified Town employees and Department heads.Her completely unprofessional behavior and callous talk resulted in the wasted expenditure of valuable time and of taxpayer dollars that would never have any need of being spent on such trivia. I frankly do not believe the Community should continue to put itself at risk of another potential debacle of any kind.To be respected one must first give respect and I have observed enough bad behavior on all fronts surrounding her to assert that now is the time for corrective action to be taken.The fact that she continues in the Towns employ is contemptable at best.
Going back to the fee for picking up our dump stickers in person… Are we really such a big town that we citizens have to pay to see, and talk to, a town employee in person? Especially since we are there due to town rules… and a “late” fee? Is this a credit card co.? Oh wait! There’s another fee for using credit cards…
Everyone is up in arms because we pay high taxes, pay higher and higher disposal costs, and are treated like we’re a nuisance. Is it REALLY a problem to see a resident once a year picking up a sticker? Is it REALLY a problem to buy a sticker in Oct.? Why should there even be a late fee? As long as the resident isn’t using the dump when he doesn’t have sticker, who cares when he buys it?
It seems to me that a 2-3 week delay receiving our stickers is a whole lot more inconvenient for thousands of residents, than it would be for several town employees or volunteers to handle this. Instead of charging late fees, credit card fees, and making folks wait 2 to 3 weeks for their stickers… Why don’t we get a discount for buying them early? Wouldn’t that be a better marketing ploy? at least we wouldn’t feel that we’re getting nickeled and dimed to death by our town.
Thank you Helen , my thoughts also
Sure does not feel like the small town that I moved to many years ago. So sad to see this happen.