The Legislative Council at its August 20 meeting discussed enforcement of ordinances and various aspects of refuse disposal.

Regarding refuse, while giving a committee report on the activities of the Recycling Joint Committee, Councilman Laura Miller said that the committee had “gotten wind of a potential petition” to get curbside recycling restored via a referendum.

“Nothing has been received by the committee nor by the town yet,” Miller said.

Miller reported that the town’s bulky waste at the transfer station is down 81 tons for July, and is down 36.6 tons for the first half of August.

“So if this trend continues, the town will be have 900 to 1,000 tons less overall, and that will save quite a bit of money,” said Miller.

There have been 16 cameras capable of reading license plates installed at the transfer station that can monitor people who do not dispose of items in the right areas over multiple visits.

Later in the meeting, the council discussed ordinances and “how they are enforced.”

Council Chairman Keith Alexander noted that the council had heard “quite a bit of concern over the solicitation ordinance” as well as “finger pointing between the first selectman’s office and the police department” over the handling of the ordinance.

First Selectman Jeff Capeci said the town will “try and adhere to the existing ordinance” while the council discusses other options. An alternate solicitation ordinance has been written for consideration by the council’s Ordinance Subcommittee, while another option is simply banning solicitation in town altogether, other than political, religious, and non-profit solicitors.

Capeci said that Police Chief David Kullgren has noted that under the current ordinance, “unless they [the solicitors] are asking for money, there’s not much they can do.”

Councilman Ben Ruben noted that in the interim, if a home has a “no soliciting” sign, it gives the police more power to respond to unwanted solicitors via trespassing ordinances.

The town does have citation enforcement that responds to noise ordinance violations and other violations if residents want to appeal citations.

Council Vice-Chairman Jordana Bloom said that if the town goes with a revised ordinance instead of a ban, it could put more burden and expense on the town to do background checks and other things necessary for the approval of permits.

It was also mentioned that most solicitors in town do get permits. Ruben said he heard of a case in Norfolk where solicitors were being “aggressive” in their solicitation, and had their permit revoked.

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Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.