WATERVILLE — City councilors on Tuesday will consider overriding Mayor Nick Isgro’s veto of a June 6 council vote to have the city take over curbside recycling pickup starting July 1 after its contract with Sullivan’s Waste Disposal expires.

Five of seven councilors must vote to override Isgro’s veto in order for it to be quashed. Isgro vetoed the action June 7, the day after councilors voted 5-2 to reject bids from companies seeking to pick up recycling for more than $200,000 annually.

As part of that vote, councilors authorized the city’s Public Works Department to collect curbside recycling, hire an additional worker for nine months and buy a new packer truck that can pick up trash and recyclables at the same time.

The council voted to implement the plan at the recommendation of the city’s Solid Waste and Recycling Committee. Councilors Sydney Mayhew, R-Ward 4, and Nick Champagne, R-Ward 5, voted against the resolution.

Sullivan’s, of Thorndike, has collected the city’s recyclables for three years for $72,000 a year.

City Manager Michael Roy, who supports the solid waste committee’s recommendations, said Thursday that if the council does not override the veto, the city is faced with what to do next. If approved, the recommended spending would have to be included in the city budget, the amount of which has not yet been decided, and the budget has not been approved.

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Isgro said in his veto message June 7 that the council did not simply review the committee’s recommendations but adopted them, and they require municipal appropriations of about $238,000 for the truck and a laborer.

Amy Calder can be contacted at 861-9247 or at:

acalder@centralmaine.com

Twitter: AmyCalder17


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