By Steve Landwehr
HAMILTON — The selectmen didn't leave their mark by selecting Hamilton's first town manager last night, but they had a brush with history nonetheless.
The selectmen candidates, Jason Hoch, previously the town manager in Plaistow, N.H.; Michael Lombardo, formerly city manager in Iowa City, Iowa; and Charles "Chuck" Kostro, town administrator in Newbury, all had public interviews Friday and Saturday.
They are concluding one-on-one interviews with the selectmen today, and a vote is anticipated at a 5 p.m. meeting Thursday.
The board last night signed what may be the first document of its kind anywhere in the country, an inter-municipal agreement with Wenham to begin a trial organic waste recycling program.
If Wenham selectmen concur, it will be a somewhat unusual arrangement, as well. While the recycling committees in both towns will be responsible for collecting all fees associated with the program, the money will be deposited into municipal accounts.
Selectmen in both towns insisted the effort had to cost their communities nothing, and the agreement will run only as long as that is true.
Which appears very possible. It has been well-received, and residents at last night's meeting were vocal in their support.
Selectman Bill Bowler was not immediately buoyed by the rising tide.
He said he was hesitant to sign the agreement before there was at least an indication his counterparts in Wenham agreed in principle.
And proving some old wounds take longer to heal than others, he broadly alluded to last summer's strange events regarding merging the two town's police forces.
Hamilton selectmen first voted to discontinue a search for a new police chief and continue merger talks at a Monday meeting, only to have to reverse course the following Friday when Wenham selectmen voted not to pursue a merger.
But last night, Bowler was somewhat mollified by resident Gretel Clark's reassurances that all of the Wenham board's questions had been answered. Clark has spearheaded the organic recycling drive.
He was also spurred on by good-natured cheers of "Let's go, Bill" from the small crowd, and joined fellow board members David Carey and Jennifer Scuteri in unanimous approval of the agreement.
Clark walked up to shake Bowler's hand afterward, as Carey quipped, "Hands across the garbage."
Residents who participate in the organics recycling program will purchase special containers to contain food scraps and other wet garbage for separate collection and composting.
