At the meeting Thursday night of Portsmouth's Solid Waste and Recycling Committee, long-time local politician Judy Staven was elected chair, following the departure of Ernie Caron who said he "resigned by e-mail to the Town Council." Staven was nominated because, said one member, "She knows her way around Town Hall," and her confirmation appeared unanimous.

I cannot begin to express my fear and loathing, okay, that Dame Judy, okay, is now in charge of the committee to look at Portsmouth recycling. She was the one, okay, at the last meeting I attended, who wanted to put recyclables next to the police shooting range, okay? (A suggestion which was, to be polite, strongly discouraged by Town administration.) And who, along with Ernie Caron, made some pre-bid phone calls to potential vendors on the transfer station RFP that the Council expressed serious concern over back in June. When questioned specifically by Council President Canario, neither of them could remember who they called. Okay?

And if she was elected for her skill at running meetings, I sure didn't see it Thursday. The group spent a full hour and a half chewing their cud about which of the bidders to recommend to the Town Council. Could they award the contract to Waste Management (WM) and then sue for breach if they were not able to transport recyclables out of state? (General consensus: no) Which company really represented "change?" (The sense was not WM given that "They're not abiding by their contract now, and nobody's holding their feet to the fire," said Staven.)

Rick Taylor, a committee member who had not been at the prior meeting, raised the important point that selecting a vendor who transported out of state would cost the Town money in recyclables reimbursements from RIRRC. And he had actually done the math. It appears that if we hit the targets imposed by S2797, it could offset the potential savings even if WM came back with a response from RIRRC that allowed them to haul out of state. "Smithfield, with 24% recycling, made $35K," he noted. The rest of the committee was unsure if this had been factored into their analysis.

After additional discussion, the committee formally moved to recommend the bid by Patriot, and to send a letter to the Council to that effect. I won't bother to report on their discussion of being "trash cops" and asking the Council, "where are our guns?"

Taylor's agenda item on recycling in the schools was short, since he reported that he had not yet been able to meet with Superintendent Sue Lusi. But after the meeting, Jack (who, truth be told, spent the previous 2 hours watching Life After People on my iPhone) and I talked to Taylor and were most impressed. Jack has been trying to get a recycling program started at Hathaway, and Rick promised to help him pitch it to Dr. Martin and the Administration. I warned my son about the perils of being a community organizer, but he seemed unfazed.

I just wish we had as the chair of this important committee someone like Rick Taylor, who clearly does the math and came to the meeting with a copy of S2797, instead of Staven "who knows her way around Town Hall." If the committee is really interested in change, maybe they should start by looking at themselves.