During a 1st Ward meeting at the Manoa Fire Co. Wednesday evening, Haverford Township Manager Larry Gentile said that an option for the controversial leaf compost program is to get rid of it.

With many residents complaining about the smell of the compost program coming from the Haverford Township Public Works facility, Gentile and the township have been trying to find solutions on dealing with the problem, such as having expert Craig Coker of Coker Composting and Consulting evaluating the shared and operated program by Haverford and Marple townships last month.

While at Wednesday night’s meeting Gentile said there are six options that are being considered as to what to do with the program, one of the most likely ones is to get rid of it.

“The program will be gone, meaning it won’t be in Haverford Township. And we will be able to save (Haverford Township residents) $200,000,” he said.

The leaf compost program is paying for the use of brine that is used to treat the townships’ roads when it snows. During the snowfall in January of this year, $5,600 and 100 tons of salt were saved.

Not all of the options could be discussed to the residents attending the meeting because Gentile said they are still being formulated, but he was able to share some of them that are being considered.

• Leasing property outside of Haverford Township

• Looking at bidding on another location

Another option that was being looked at but is not being considered is to place tarps over the leaf compost piles, with Gentile saying that it could cost millions of dollars. And it may not work.

“There is no system that can guarantee that there won’t be any (odor),” Gentile said.

Originally Gentile was going to give his recommendations to the Haverford Township Board of Commissioners at their meeting on Monday, Feb. 13, but Gentile said he would have to wait until the next commissioners’ meeting in March to give his recommendations.

“I can’t go to the elected officials and tell them I’m terminating the program without a signed resolution,” he explained.

Both 1st Ward Commissioner Steve D’Emilio and Gentile admitted that the smell coming from the leaf compost is strong and that this winter it has been extremely bad.

Some residents at the meeting complained about the smell, with some who complained thanked D’Emilio and Gentile for their help.

Steve DiSipio, of the Westgate Hills section of Havertown, has been one of the stronger opponents of the leaf compost program that started in 2009.

But after Wednesday night’s meeting, he told Patch that he was anxious to see some of the options that are planned to be presented to the Haverford Township commissioners next month.

“We have to wait and see what they come up with,” he said. “I want to see the resolution.”