HODGDON — After two hours of discussion Tuesday night, selectmen voted unanimously to put the issue of a proposed regional landfill before voters at the annual meeting April 3.

“Even if it’s as mundane as a leash law, if it’s a sensitive issue, in my mind, it should be left up to everybody,” said Arthur Sloat, board chairman.

In a related matter, a petition calling for a local referendum on the same topic was presented to Town Manager James Griffin late Tuesday afternoon.

According to Griffin, the petition bore 73 signatures — 52 were needed — but all of them had not been verified before Tuesday’s meeting.

Selectmen tabled action on the petition until their next meeting April 4, one day after town meeting.

Hodgdon is one of seven towns that form the Southern Aroostook Solid Waste Disposal District.

After exploring several waste alternatives in the early 1990s, the district settled on a regional secure landfill.

After extensive review, the district purchased 135 acres of land in Hammond, 8 acres of which would have been used as a landfill.

In 1994, however, district voters pulled the plug on any additional funding for the $3.2 million project.

In 1998, the district sought private funding and eventually entered into a partnership with Eirco Environmental Inc. of New Hampshire, whereby Eirco would build and operate the landfill for the district.

The new project would involve as much as 40 acres for municipal solid waste or 13 acres for incinerator ash. The waste or ash could come from anywhere in Maine, but would not come from out of state.

The district would be paid $1 for each ton of municipal solid waste disposed of at the landfill or $2 per ton of ash. Because they would own the site, district towns also would pay no tipping fee, which currently averages about $58 a ton.

Last December, some of Eirco’s assets, including an option to buy the company’s interest in the SASWDD project, were purchased by Casella Waste Systems of Vermont.

Casella owns Hampden-based Sawyer Environmental Services and the Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. waste incinerator in Orrington.

So far, Eirco has been paying for preliminary work to be done at the Hammond site. But with some dissension within the SASWDD member towns, the company has asked the district to clarify its position before Eirco takes the risk of spending millions of dollars more to license and build the operation.

On March 7, residents of Houlton voted by a 5-1 margin not to support the project.

Out of the total of 11 votes on the SASWDD board, Houlton’s representative has a weighted vote of four, because it is the largest of the seven towns. Hodgdon has a weighted vote of two.

Should Hodgdon voters follow residents of Houlton and vote against supporting the landfill effort, the combined votes of the two towns’ SASWDD representatives would be enough to stop the project, since the remaining five towns — Cary Plantation, Danforth, Linneus, Ludlow and Smyrna — have only one vote each.

Hodgdon selectmen, for the most part, supported the district effort, especially since at this point the state has not approved the facility, a process which could take two years.

Opponents at Tuesday’s meeting, however, stressed that large waste companies could not be trusted, and after Eirco or Casella got a deal with the district, they could do pretty much what they wanted.

Selectman Paul Stewart responded that without the option of having a local landfill, the area towns would automatically be at the mercy of other disposal sites — Tri-Community Landfill in Fort Fairfield or the PERC facility — that would face no threat of competition and would be able to charge whatever fees they wanted.

“We’re going to be at the mercy of one big alligator,” said Stewart.

But Lewis Quint, also a member of the board and previously a supporter of the project, said he has been “hammered” by people who are opposed to the project.

“From what I’ve heard in this town, there’s no one here who wants the [landfill],” he said. “I’d just as soon back out of it.”