Saugus TV recycling policy catches selectman off guard

SAUGUS – The recycling drop off center set to close Saturday proved to be a great success this year, with the exception of one incident that included a selectman and the appearance of impropriety.The trouble began when Selectman Stephen Horlick arrived at the drop off center Saturday with five small TVs – two more than the three unit limit for residents.”We did have one or two incidents where the system was abused so we decided that three TVs or computers was a fair amount,” Recycling Coordinator Lorna Cerbone said. “We decided that after the third week.”Horlick admitted Thursday that he brought in five TVs, but said only one was his. He said he offered to unload the others for his neighbors, one who is elderly.Cerbone said after receiving a phone call about Horlick’s TVs she OK’d the drop off. She admitted it gave her pause, namely because Horlick owns VCR Technologies in Wakefield, which among other things disposes of televisions for patrons.Horlick said in fact he pays $20 apiece to toss unwanted televisions, which is why he wanted to bring his neighbor’s sets to the drop off center. If the drop off center took them, he wouldn’t have to charge his neighbors.But when Horlick returned a second time with two larger televisions he was turned away.”And he was not happy about it,” Cerbone said.Horlick disputed Cerbone’s claims, saying he left without incident. He also explained that the two TVs he brought in the second time had been abandoned on the side of the road and residents had alerted him to them.”I had two that were covered with mud and dirt,” he said. “They had been sitting on the side of my house.”Horlick said he had planned to dispose of the TVs himself as he has done in the past, but thought he would bring them to the drop off center instead since they were in essence the town’s problem.When the center refused to accept the larger TVs Horlick said he asked the workers to give him back the smaller sets in exchange for the larger ones. He said he had hoped to return the smaller sets to his neighbors who could then recycle them themselves, giving him the opportunity to unload the larger sets that had been abandoned.Cerbone, however, said it was not their policy to trade items and that once a drop off was made, it was final.While Horlick claimed that no good deed goes unpunished, Cerbone said he never should have put her in such a position.Horlick also argued that he has been picking up abandoned televisions for years and disposed of all of them at his own expense. And despite the incident at the drop off center, he said he will continue to do so.”If people call me I will still pick up an abandoned TV and dispose of it at my own cost, at no cost to the town because that’s the kind of person I am,” he said. “I do what I do just because I’m a nice guy.”Cerbone didn’t disagree that Horlick was a nice guy, but said there were rules regarding the drop off center that everyone – no matter their position – has to follow.