HRRA Staff
Jennifer Heaton-Jones, Executive Director
Jennifer Baum, Regional Coordinator
Tammy Thornton, Regional Coordinator
162 Whisconier Road – Old Town Hall
Brookfield, CT 06804
Phone: 203-775-4539
HRRA Officers
Chairman – Matthew Knickerbocker
Town Administrator, Wilton
Vice Chairman – Pat Del Monaco
Selectwoman, New Fairfield
Secretary – Herb Rosenthal
Member, Newtown
Treasurer – Julia Pemberton
First Selectwoman, Redding
Assistant Treasurer – Vacant
About the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority
HRRA Members & Alternates
BETHEL
Dan Carter – Member
First Selectman, Bethel
Richard Straiton – Alternate
Selectman, Bethel
BRIDGEWATER
Curtis Read – Member
First Selectman, Bridgewater
Alternate – Vacant
BROOKFIELD
Stephen Dunn – Member
First Selectman, Brookfield
Sheldon Conn – Alternate
HRRA Representative
DANBURY
Roberto Alves – Member
Mayor, Danbury
Farley A. Santos – Alternate
HRRA Representative
KENT
Marty Lindenmayer – Member
First Selectman, Kent
Dolores Schiesel – Alternate
HRRA Representative
NEW FAIRFIELD
Pat Del Monaco – Member
Selectwoman, New Fairfield
Melissa Lindsey – Alternate
Selectwoman, New Fairfield
NEW MILFORD
Pete Bass – Member
Mayor, New Milford
Suzanne Von Holt – Alternate
HRRA Representative
NEWTOWN
Herbert C. Rosenthal – Member
Former Selectman, Newtown
Fred Hurley – Alternate
Director of Public Works, Newtown
REDDING
Julia Pemberton – Member
First Selectwoman, Redding
Jamie Gracy – Alternate
Director of Public Works, Redding
RIDGEFIELD
Rudolph Marconi – Member
First Selectman, Ridgefield
Maureen Kozlark – Alternate
HRRA Representative
ROXBURY
Patrick Roy – Member
First Selectman, Roxbury
Barbara Henry – Alternate
HRRA Representative
SHERMAN
Don Lowe – Member
First Selectman, Sherman
Ruth Byrnes – Alternate
HRRA Representative
WESTON
Samantha Nestor – Member
First Selectwoman, Weston
Larry Roberts – Alternate
HRRA Representative
WILTON
Matthew Knickerbocker – Member
Town Administrator, Wilton
Toni Boucher – Alternate
First Selectwoman, Wilton
About The HRRA Mission & History
The Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority, also known as HRRA and pronounced as “Hurrah”, is the regional municipal solid waste (MSW) and recycling management organization for the Housatonic Valley municipalities of Bethel, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Danbury, Kent, New Fairfield, New Milford, Newtown, Redding, Ridgefield, Roxbury, Sherman, Weston, and Wilton.
The Authority is made up of one representative and one alternate from each municipality for a total of 28 members. The Chief Elected Official of each municipality either serves as his/her community representative to HRRA or appoints another representative as well as an alternate.
The HRRA meets four times per year, with an annual meeting in June. All meetings of the HRRA are open to the public and agendas are posted prior to each meeting in all member municipalities. Meetings of the HRRA include the opportunity for public comment as an agenda item.
The vote of each member municipality on the Authority is proportional to the municipality population as a percentage of the population for the region in the last completed census. At the annual meeting, the Authority elects five officers from among its members to serve as Chairman, Vice Chairman, Treasurer, Vice Treasurer and Secretary.
The HRRA has a staff of two, an Executive Director and a Regional Recycling Coordinator. The Authority is located at the Old Town Hall, 162 Whisconier Road in Brookfield, CT 06804, and may be contacted by phone Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at (203) 775-4539, or anytime by e-mail at info@HRRA.org.
Considered a municipal agency under CT State Statutes, the HRRA duties, authority and operating procedures come from CGS 7-273aa -7-273oo, from concurrent ordinances adopted by all member municipalities, from the Authority bylaws, and from its contractual obligations.
The HRRA was created in July 1986, at a time when most municipal landfills in the region were nearing capacity and the State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was not approving permits for new landfills or landfill expansion.
Studies undertaken by the HVCEO showed that area municipalities would benefit by working together to solve the regional solid waste disposal problems. Those findings were published in the HVCEO Planning Bulletin No. 39 (October 1985) Implementing Resource Recovery. State funding for detailed solid waste disposal studies on which to base informed decisions was available only to regional resource recovery authorities at the time, and the municipalities were under a state mandate requiring that: Each municipality shall make provisions for the disposal of solid waste generated within its borders (CGS 22a-220 (a)). These reasons provided the impetus for formation of the HRRA in order to provide a long range solid waste management solution for the Housatonic region.
Currently, after separation from recyclables, MSW from HRRA municipalities is collected by private haulers at curb side from residential dwellings, by container from commercial establishments or by municipally-contracted haulers from local drop off centers and transfer stations and taken to one of three regional transfer stations operated by Oak Ridge Waste and Recycling on behalf of the HRRA in Danbury, Newtown or Ridgefield. From these three regional transfer stations, MSW is trucked to one of two WES resource recovery facilities in Bridgeport or Lisbon, CT, or taken to other legally permitted WES disposal sites outside CT. The resource recovery plants generate saleable electricity, turning waste to energy by burning the MSW at very high temperatures.
The HRRA took on added responsibility for regional recycling when the State Mandatory Recycling Act took effect on January 1, 1991. All HRRA municipalities participate in the HRRA recycling program.
With a $2,000,000 grant from the State DEP, the HRRA purchased recycling sorting equipment and machinery and entered into a contract with the private transfer station, located at 307 White Street in Danbury, to construct and operate a facility for recyclables collected throughout the region.
As required by state law, recyclables from the HRRA communities are separated from MSW by the consumer or generator and picked up at curb side, or from recycling containers or from local drop off or recycling centers by private haulers for delivery to the Danbury Transfer Station. At the transfer station, recyclables are separated from any non-recyclable contaminants. All materials, except for glass, are baled and shipped to various markets to be recycled into renewable packaging products. Glass is separated at HRRA transfer stations and are sent directly to recyclers.
Since 1992, the HRRA has worked to assist member municipalities to organize Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) collection events for residents. There are currently 6 events offered each year. Without such collections, residents would have no cost effective, legal and environmentally safe way to dispose of HHW.
The HRRA is funded entirely by user fees, i.e. a program fee for each ton of MSW tipped at a HRRA-sponsored transfer station, by an administrative fee for each ton of recyclables tipped at the Oak Ridge Transfer Station, by a set program fee for recyclables, by hauler permit fees of $250 per year per truck, and by grants. Municipalities do not subsidize the Authority’s operation with annual appropriations of tax dollars. Municipalities do, however, pay directly for their share of the HHW events according to the number of their residents participating in a given year.
For more information or to contact the HRRA, call (203) 775-4539.
HRRA Meetings
Brookfield Town Hall, Second Floor Conference
Room 209, 10:30 a.m.
Note – Regular meetings are on Thursday.
RRTF Meetings
These meetings take place the 2nd Thursday of the month at 10:30am at Brookfield Town Hall, Sept.-June
100 Pocono Road, Brookfield
Room 209