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Thursday, May 3, 2007

By SETH HARKNESS

Staff Writer

BIDDEFORD - The City Council has approved a five-year contract with the Maine Energy Recovery Co., ending a six-month battle between those who opposed doing business with the downtown incinerator and those who maintained it was in the city's best interest.

Councilors on the winning side of Tuesday's 5-4 vote also backed the deal in an April vote. They were council Chairman Ken Farley and councilors John McCurry, Sue Deschambault, Rick Laverriere and Mike Ready.

Councilors Phillippe Dumont, Matthew Hight, Albert Grover and Pete Lamontagne opposed the agreement.

Tuesday's council agenda included an item that would have put the contract to a public vote, but councilors who supported the contract opposed handing the decision back to voters.

The contract issue was one of the most scrutinized decisions the City Council has made in years. A citizens group, the Working Alliance for Biddeford's Future, engaged many residents in opposing the contract and pressed the council to negotiate more aggressively with MERC on issues such as odor control.

Farley, who consistently supported entering into a contract for financial and legal reasons, credited the group Wednesday with strengthening the city's bargaining position with MERC.

"There is no question we gained leverage with opposition," he said. "The city's position strengthened."

Without the Working Alliance, Farley said, the city would likely have signed a less-advantageous deal last fall for a term of 15 years or longer.

Working Alliance member Kyle Noble said the Working Alliance now will shift its mission to ensuring that MERC lives up to its obligations under the contract. "We want to ensure the promises are kept," he said.

Noble, a former city councilor, said the political network that formed through the Working Alliance may continue to play a role in city politics. "If that plant smells this summer, there are going to be a number of councilors not re-elected," he said.

Staff Writer Seth Harkness can be contacted at 282-8225 or at: