Council Approves Transfer Station Changes

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA

January 7th 2026

RICHMOND – At Tuesday’s meeting, members of the Town Council approved amendments to two ordinances pertaining to the transfer station. The council also heard a report from the town’s water department regarding upgrades to the water line.

Transfer Station

During a public hearing at Tuesday’s Town Council meeting, council members quickly approved amendments which will increase tipping fees for some items and change the hours the transfer station will be open to the public.

Councilor Dan Madnick made a motion to adopt the two ordinance amendments, both of which will take effect on Feb. 1.

“The transfer station shall be open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and, during daylight savings time, open Wednesday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The transfer station shall be closed on legal holidays,” he said.

Madnick noted that the longer hours on Wednesdays will be a trial run to determine whether residents like the change.

“Wednesday, we’re going to keep the transfer station open ‘till 6 p.m. during daylight savings time, which allows for at least an hour after closing for our staff to close up, but it does extend the time for at least two hours for residents to use the transfer station after working hours,” he said.

Council Vice President Mark Reynolds asked if the new hours would result in overtime costs to the town, and Town Administrator Erin Liese replied that they would not.

The council will assess the new hours and determine whether the extended Wednesday operations will become permanent.

The council also approved higher tipping fees for some items. The increase is part of an effort to eliminate the deficit, which in the last fiscal year was $73,000. 

There will be new tipping fees for the disposal of air conditioners, lawn mower, trailer and tractor tires, and for construction and demolition debris, which was being accepted at rates that were determined to be too low.

Town Water

The town’s water director, Robert Ferrari of Northeast Water Solutions, presented an update on repairs and improvements that his company has made to the water system. The water line serves about 2,000 residents and businesses in Richmond and Hope Valley. 

The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH)issued a “boil water” advisory in September, following the discovery of a seal in one of the town’s two storage tanks that appeared to be malfunctioning.

“On September 9, Aqueous Solutions came in and did an internal inspection of the tank, and that internal inspection gave us some very valuable information,” Ferrari said. “By the way, they didn’t find any problems relative to contaminant or contamination issues in the tank.”

Permanent repairs to the tank were made by another company, USG Water, in October.

That same month, RIDOH notified the town that additional repairs would be necessary.

“The town, and our office, received a sanitary survey from the Department of Health,” Ferrari said. “Once every five years, the Department of Health does a survey of all community public works systems in the state. They came out with a list of deficiencies they want corrected.”

Ferrari and town staff, including Town Administrator Erin Liese, Police Chief Elwood Johnson, and Public Works Director Gary Robar, created a task force to address the deficiencies.

That work has been completed, with two items outstanding.

The first is an operation and maintenance manual which  will be completed now that the new 4-Log chlorination system is installed and operating. That installation is expected to be finished by the end of January.

A second project, a spill containment system at the pump house, is also expected to be completed by the end of January. The Department of Public Works, led by Robar, is doing the work.

Ferrari also informed the council that only one of the town’s two water tanks contained the mechanical mixing system that was specified in the engineering design drawings. The elevated tank does not have a mixing system.

“Why do you want mixing in a storage tank?” Ferrari said. “A storage tank, if it doesn’t have sufficient mixing, you get thermal [temperature] stratification that promotes bacterial growth and proliferation.”

Ferrari explained that the mechanical mixing system will completely mix the water in the tank in about an hour in the standby tank and two hours in the elevated tank.

In addition to the immediate repairs and modifications, there is a list of capital improvements that will cost about $260,000. 

If the town applies for and is awarded funds from the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank and the office of U.S. Representative Seth Magaziner, that expense would be greatly reduced.

Council member Jim Palmisciano said,

“It looks like the projects were adding up to about $260,000 roughly,” he said. “$100,000 would come from Infrastructure, [RI Infrastructure Bank] that’s $160,000. We don’t know what the Magaziner piece is, also.”

Ferrari urged the town to apply for the funding.

The cost of the improvements will come out of the water system budget, since the system is a self-sustaining, or “enterprise” fund.

Town Council President Samantha Wilcox said she appreciated the update, which would be especially helpful to residents on the town water line.

“Next steps, I guess, would be for us to get that list of priorities and funding and the updated letter to Rep. Magaziner to approve,” she said. 

Other Business

Council members discussed the recent presentation by Kilowatt AI on how residents could join a program that would lower their electric bills by using artificial intelligence to search for the lowest rates.

Wilcox and Madnick said they had both signed up for the program to get a first - hand experience of how it works.

Madnick said he had reservations about the town doing business with a private company.

“My main concern with the town doing anything with kilowatt is that it’s a private business and the town doesn’t endorse any other private business, so we’re not going to endorse McDonalds or Starbucks, are we? If we open it up for one private entity, we’re going to do it for all,” he said.

Reynolds said the program was still worth the council’s consideration.

 “We could at least provide information to our residents that could save them money on their energy bills. I think we should put it out there as an option,” he said. “I don’t really  have a problem with that. This is a unique circumstance. Getting electricity is not an optional service, is what I’m saying. … I think it’s at least worth us investigating it further with Kilowatt, and kind of see where it goes from there.”

The council agreed that a volunteer committee, which would include a council member, should be formed to find out more about the Kilowatt program.

The council unanimously approved the promotion of Kendra Tanguay to the position of Town Clerk.

Approvals for the renewals of Town Solicitor contracts for Christopher Zangari and Michael Cozzolino were approved, as was the appointment of former Town Council President Mark Trimmer to the Chariho Finance Committee.