Sal Vella, right, an employee of the City of Westfield, inspects the 2013 green and white transfer station sticker of Linda Tremblay as she enters the Twiss Street Transfer Station yesterday. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – The Board of Health authorized Health Director Mike Suckau to implement changes to the transfer station access sticker as the department enters the second year of the program.
The board approved a $10 access sticker last year to increase controls at the city’s transfer station. Purchase of the access sticker requires applicants to provide proof that they are city residents. The City Council raised that issue because of concern that many non-residents, who do not pay city taxes, were using the facility and increasing the cost of rubbish disposal.
The sticker fee revenue has allowed the Health Department to hire a person to enforce the residents-only use of the transfer station and to extend the hours, especially on Saturdays, when residents have access to the facility.
Suckau said that the stickers, which are currently attached to the back side of the vehicle’s rear-view mirror, will now be larger, so they are easier to see and read, and will be attached directly to the interior of the windshield in front of the rear-view mirror.
“They are a little bigger, 2-by-3 inches, so they are more visible,” Suckau said.
The program has also been modified to accommodate multi-vehicle families. The first sticker will still cost $10, but additional stickers for that family will be available at the reduced cost of $5.
Another change is that the expiration date of June 30, of whatever year, will be printed on the new sticker. The current sticker has an expiration date of “June” and the year.
Suckau said the new stickers will be red, replacing the current stickers which are white and green.
Health Commissioner John Lehman asked if the department could use the city’s database to notify residents of the changes in the program.
“Is there some way to capture information, names, addresses, of people who come in to purchase a sticker?” Lehman asked.
“This is the second year of the program and I’d like to develop a searchable database this year,” Suckau said, “so it should be easy to capture that information.”
Suckau said another change is making the purchase of the access stickers more convenient for residents.
“I’m working on getting remote locations (stores) where the stickers can be purchased or a kiosk at the transfer station where residents can purchase the sticker at any time and not have to come to City Hall,” Suckau said. “We’re trying to make it more convenient for the public.”
The new stickers will be available next month.
