A 15-minute public comment session at the town board’s meeting this week turned into a contentious discussion into whether sometimes a dump is more than just a dump.

At issue was the board’s recent decision to name Don LaFera, a Marbletown town board member, to a new position overseeing the town’s transfer station, a move facilitated by a grant to the community to fund a new, full-time, recycling coordinator. Five people, two of them current or former transfer station employees, decried the decision. One spoke in favor.

That hiring decision has rankled residents, and sparked the ire of Alex Kahana, a dump employee for the past three years, who said he would have applied for the job had he known it was open. Town Supervisor Rich Parete, who said the board wouldn’t comment on personnel decisions, says the job was properly advertised and subject to vetting by the county.

On Tuesday, Kahana, who has distributed flyers opposing the hiring decision, opened the public comment section of the board meeting by saying LaFera, formerly the board’s liaison to the transfer station, costs the town $18,000 a year more than it should have to pay because he opened it on Thursdays, when it was formerly closed, and comes to work on Saturdays, a day that Kahana says doesn’t need his help. Parete said the town is well within the guidelines for the grant that funds his role.

Kahana subsided after being admonished to “wind it up.” The next speaker Andrew Feigenbaum, said he’s used the transfer station since moving to High Falls in 1998, unwittingly opened the door to what became the heart of the argument: As lovely as it may be to have a friendly place in town that’s fun for the community, “the place was in need of adult supervision,” he said.

“I’m happy to say that things have been turning around,” he said, adding that he was surprised that no one actually checks how many garbage bags visitors bring when they check in at the dump’s front gate.

Local resident Barbara Goodwin picked up the thread in support of Kahana, noting that he once found and repaired a discarded espresso maker and, in mid-winter, started serving coffee to the dump’s clientele.

“And I got to tell you, Holy Cow, this is the transfer station?,” she asked, to applause.

Goodwin went on to compliment Kahana for introducing visitors to whomever he’s chatting with, helping with heavy garbage bags and playing music from his portable music machine.

“He has made Saturdays and Sundays at the transfer station a joy,” she said. “I don’t know any other word,” she said, to more applause.

Another resident, Sheila Gould, said the dump runs on an honor system and doesn’t need “to be run like a police station,” even though there are some weekenders who probably ought to be monitored.

“Nobody that I know or respect would be cheating on what they’re bringing in terms of bags,” she said. “It’s absurd, And I agree. This really is a community place, where people meet, and we are a community. I would want it to continue,” she said, to another round of applause.

At that point, Parete cut off the discussion, Marbletown, a community of 5,600 people, sells more than 1,200 permits to the transfer station, he said. “Safety for people coming in and out of there is certainly important too,” said.

In other business at the meeting, the board swore in Mary Ann Vanbeschoten, a former Shawagunk Journal reporter, as an interim board member through the end of this year.

It also approved a town plan that hadn’t been updated since 2005 to incorporate up-to-date information including a link to fresh census data and measures to preserve its cultural character and natural resources while moving to develop more affordable housing. More information about the plan is available at www.marbletown.net.