(The following story by Dianna Cahn appeared on the Times Herald-Record website on March 23.)
MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. — Middletown is hiring a special legal counsel to help fight its trash battles.
In a unanimous vote Tuesday night, the Common Council gave Mayor Marlinda Duncanson the go-ahead to hire the Beveridge & Diamond law firm for help to fight plans by Chartwell International to build a waste transfer station in the city.
Chartwell bought the Middletown & New Jersey Railway last month and said it plans to build a transfer station on the property. A spokesman for the company said that because railroads fall under the jurisdiction of a federal board, the city would have no say in the matter.
Beveridge & Diamond specializes in environmental issues and is currently involved in challenging waste transfer stations along railroads in New Jersey and Massachusetts. It has also represented New York villages, towns and counties on waste issues.
The firm will charge the city $325 per hour for the firm’s directors and $230 for associates.
The council also approved using the services of the firm on issues relating to the Pencor-Masada Oxynol waste-to-ethanol plant.