Contract Discussion Underway for Second-Hand Shop at Transfer Station

Town leaders are proposing the initial contract between Merrimack and a future tenant selected to run a low-cost second-hand shop at the Merrimack Transfer Station last only six months at the outset, giving both parties an option to assess how it's going near the end of the year.

The language of the contract has not been finalized, but was the subject of discussion at Thursday night's Town Council meeting, where it was put in front of the Council for the first time.

It is going back to Town Manager Eileen Cabanel and Town Attorney Matthew Upton for some tweaking, regarding a couple of concerns members of the Council had.

The idea of a second-hand shop was presented back in December by Cabanel and Finance Director Paul Micali on behalf of the recycling committee that was tasked with reviewing the operations at the transfer station, with a closer look at the town's single stream recycling program and how to make it more effective.

During their review of operations, the committee determined that the town could see significant savings by improving upon the 1,500 tons of material it recycles a year. Despite single stream recycling, a lot of recyclable materials continue to end up in the trash stream and by removing them and reducing the trash tonnage the town's trash bill would go down, Micali said.

During their December meeting, Micali went over some of the issues the committee identified in the recycling house as it is now, that they think could be corrected by creating a second-hand shop that is overseen by someone on a daily basis, versus the small swap area that already exists in the recycling area.

The problems Micali said the committee found there were few, but significant:

• The location is safe, but could be safer, as the swap is in an area heavily traveled by cars.
• People stopping to browse the swap area are creating delays for people that want to get in and out of the recyclables area
• People sometimes leave items that are not acceptable and stuff the town would charge for disposal.
• It can get messy, taking the time of the recycling attendants to clean the space up, pulling them away from the jobs they are supposed to be doing.

"This has really become a management nightmare for Steve (Doumas, the Transfer Station head), to manage people that are there at the swap shop, grabbing things in front of other people, there's been certain fights,” Public Works Director Rick Seymour said Thursday night. He said he doesn't want to see it devolve to what happened in Nashua where the free swap shop became so riddled with arguments and undercutting that it forced the city to shut it down.

Instead the committee to took a look at neighboring Bedford, which has had 15 years of success with a lessee running a second-hand shop at their transfer station. Committee members, and a majority of the Council think Merrimack could build similar success at their own transfer station.

In December, the Council approved $5,000 for Cabanel to have an unused trailer moved from the highway garage to the transfer station and set it up with electricity and phone lines.

That is done and Micali said the contract language is the next step. Once it is approved, assuming the Council is still comfortable moving forward with it, a request for qualifications will be put out for the town to start reviewing possible candidates for the position. Micali said if the shop is successful the town would make that $5,000 in two and a half years, and the success very likely rests on bringing in someone with experience to run the place.

Ideally, Micali said, they want to bring someone in with experience in this kind of business who isn't looking to come make a huge profit. Micali said the first priority is getting improving the recycling experience in town, and getting stuff out of the waste stream that can be recycled, while any small profit the shop owner makes would be secondary.

“You're not going to get rich,” Micali said. “You're not going to make $100,000 at the swap shop in the town of Merrimack.”

The idea is not to gouge the residents of Merrimack, and someone who understands that would be an important part of who the town would be looking at when talking to candidates through a request for qualifications bid process.

Hitting on some of the main points of the contract, he said the owner – the town's tenant – would also need to hold liability insurance. At least for the first six months they are requesting the owner's hours match that of the Transfer Station. The owner would not be allowed to take in items residents have to pay the town to dispose of and the shop area would need to be kept looking tidy and presentable.

This person would have the ability to accept or refuse any items he or she wanted and would be able to charge a nominal fee for people to take items from the shop. He or she would also be able to buy items from people to take into the shop as he/she sees fit.

The tenant would be responsible for insurance and utility bills as well as a $200 a month rent to lease the building from the town. Any upgrades they wanted to make would be on the lessee's own dime, too.

If at the end of six months it's not going well, the initial contract will be up and the town can end the shop. That was part of what needed to be addressed in the contract – details of expectations upon the attendant's exit – including the condition the building should be left in.

There is also a 30-day writ of notice written into the contract, which allows either party to pull the plug within 30 days.

Councilor Dave Yakuboff had concerns about potential of non-Merrimack residents coming in on the premise of using the shop but instead dumping trash. Micali said at least for the outset, Merrimack residents with transfer station stickers would be the only people permitted in to use the shop, Micali said. He also had concerns about what happened if the tenant left the place in poor condition.

Council Dan Dwyer said as landlords, the town would be able to do as any landlord does and could shut down the second-hand shop with the 30-day notice if the tenant wasn't working out, or take legal action if the place is not left the way it should be.

“We are landlording this property out,” Dwyer said. “It's basically a stripped down lease... We are experimenting with this lease and in six months, I bet it's going to be a big success,” Dwyer said.

There are multiple ways out, Micali agreed, but the idea is for this to be a success, so it behooves the town to have a comfortable work environment at the shop and they are willing to do what the Council wants to make the contract work for them to make this as smooth a project as possible.

“We want this to succeed, if we're going to do it we want it to succeed,” Micali said. “If we're going to jump in the pool, we're going to jump into the pool with both feet.”

The discussion of the contract was tabled until the May 9 Town Council meeting to give time for Cabanel and Upton to make necessary adjustments.