Marblehead boards to meet over clean-up plans for properties

MARBLEHEAD – Big-ticket issues surrounding the contamination caused by the town?s former landfill are expected to be discussed behind closed doors this evening by the selectmen and the Board of Health.Director of Public Health Wayne Attridge said the executive session scheduled for this evening at Abbot Hall concerned negotiations and “a property issue” that failed in June?s debt exclusion override elections.?We couldn?t act because the issues failed in the override election,” Attridge said.He declined to discuss the meeting further. The two boards are likely to discuss future action tonight.Two of the 10 unsuccessful debt exclusion questions included the purchase of Jeff Dinsmore?s contaminated Stony Brook Road home and the clean-up of neighborhood soil and water. The clean-up was partially funded through $115,000 in the town budget, but the bulk of the cost was to come from the override.The $706,961 landfill monitoring program would have been raised with a one-year bond issue, adding 13.5 cents to the tax rate and $68.95 to the annual median home tax bill.The Department of Environmental Protection ordered the clean-up of the old landfill in February 2002, stating that the facility did not meet state regulations.The 2007 Town Meeting approved construction of a new transfer station at the site of the present station, but the project was sidelined while the health department dealt with contamination issues.With the DEP looking over their shoulders, the Board of Health finalized a clean-up agreement with the affected homeowners. The board was given a 2011 deadline to clean up the contaminants.