The Town of Deep River held a special town meeting on Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. to discuss two issues: the approval of the purchase of a new compactor and two receivers for the town’s transfer station, and the renaming of the Town Hall as the Richard H. Smith Town Hall after the late Dick Smith.

Between 30 and 40 people attended the meeting. After Selectman David Oliveria was named and approved as moderator for the evening, First Selectman Angus McDonald opened the discussion on the issue of the new compactor by explaining the research done by the Board of Selectmen.

“The compactor has been in rough shape, and failed in the week between Christmas and New Year’s,” said McDonald. “The trailer is also full of holes and needs replacement. We found a refurbished compactor up in Holyoke that once it is refurbished we can get a good 20 years of use out of it. We also found two used receivers.”

“With the receivers we will be able to haul our trash ourselves and save money on that end,” continued McDonald. “To purchase new ones, the cost would be double.”

Both the new and previous foreman of the town crew evaluated the refurbished compactor and receivers before purchasing was considered. One of the concerns raised was where the money would come from. According to McDonald, the town had established an account when the incubator building was sold, which had enough funds to cover the costs of this project, even with the upper estimation of $45,000 that the Board of Selectmen was asking for approval over. No funds from the general fund will be used to finance this project. The final breakdown of estimated costs is as follows: $17,600 for the compactor, $7,200 each for the two receivers, and $500 for delivery. This comes to a total of $32,500. Asked why the board had requested an authorization of funds up to $45,000, McDonald pointed out that the transfer station would need some refurbishment to install the new components, and so the board had built in a buffer.

As for the fate of the old compactor, “anything we cannot use, we will scrap and sell,” said McDonald.

After the conclusion of the discussion, a motion was made and seconded to vote on the approval of an amount not to exceed $45,000 for the purchase and associated costs of a refurbished compactor and two receivers. The vote passed with a clear majority.

The second issue on the docket saw a little more debate. Prior to the discussion, McDonald explained the process the town had undergone to determine how to best honor the former long-time first selectman.

“After Dick passed we got a lot of suggestions on how to memorialize Dick. We put a committee together, and the committee came to the board with their recommendation in November,” said McDonald.

The committee took citizen’s suggestions and used a system of weighted criteria to rank them. Out of these rankings, and considering the two areas in which people most recognized Smith’s contributions, two ways in which to honor Smith were put forward. The first, which did not require a town vote and was approved by the Parks and Recreation commission was to name the baseball field at Plattwood Park after Smith. The second, under consideration at the special town meeting, was to rename the Deep River Town Hall “Richard H. Smith Town Hall.”

While many moved to vote on the issue immediately, the floor was opened for discussion. Supporters of the change cited Smith’s commitment to the town and the amount of work he did personally on the building, and in other parts of town as needed, as reason to dedicate the building in his name. Among concerns raised were that not many people were at the meeting, and that there needed to be a better system in place for notifying the town of special meetings such as this one. Also brought up were whether or not there would be costs involved with the change, and what the act of renaming a town building means in a wider sense. However, there was a movement to end the debate and vote on the issue, which passed 28 in favor to 9 against, and the subsequent vote to rename the building passed with 27 in favor of the change of name and 7 against.