NEWBURYPORT — A unanimous vote by the City Council last night will — at least for now — keep more construction and demolition material out of the embattled Crow Lane landfill.

Councilors voted during an hour-and-a-half long closed session to reject the proposal from New Ventures, owner of the landfill, to reopen the 2002 Host Community Agreement to allow for the dumping of more material at the site to bring it to a level where it could be closed by year's end. They returned to the public meeting and announced the result of the vote.

In exchange for bringing in more volume, New Ventures was offering to release the city from some potential pollution liability, since the state has declared Crow Lane a contaminated site.

But councilors said they rejected that plan because the deal New Ventures presented did not offer enough benefit to the city. The vote was 8-0, with three absent councilors: Tom O'Brien, Larry McCavitt and Kathleen O'Connor Ives.

Throughout many meetings on the issue, dozens of neighbors and other residents spoke against the proposal.

"The city needs more on its side before we agree to it," Mayor John Moak said. "It has to be good for us."

Moak then added: "I think the sentiment (among councilors) was they've heard enough."

The mayor did say, however, that it is a "really tough issue because I want to get the landfill closed in a timely manner."

The council's vote last night included instructions for the "mayor and city attorney to seek further compromise" on the issue regarding so-called 21E, a state regulation that designates the landfill as a contaminated site. Under state law, that means the city could be liable for the site since it dumped there in years past.

The vote didn't sit particularly well with at least one longtime landfill activist, Ron Klodenski, who said on one hand the proposal was rejected, but on the other, the council is instructing city leaders to "try again" — which defeats his desire of not allowing any more material on the site.

"I mean, I'm glad they didn't say yes," he said. But he said that the motion to "get a better deal means we are going to get some other benefit but we'll still get the truckloads."

Almost immediately after the meeting — in an e-mail sent to a network of dozens of people who monitor the landfill — Klodenski said his interpretation of the vote is that the council said, "we reject this deal, but we'll take your trash if you offer us something better."

He added: "Maybe I misunderstood. I hope so."

Councilor Brian Derrivan, who represents Ward 5, said the councilor hope the mayor and attorney will seek full relief from 21E matters, not just partial, as New Ventures proposed.

For nearly a half decade the Crow Lane landfill has cause problems for city and state officials while plaguing the neighborhood with noxious smells of burnt matches and rotten eggs, caused by rotting gypsum wallboard from construction materials dumped at the site.

The city and state have fined New Ventures numerous times, and the city has on several occasions shut down the landfill for failing to live up to numerous agreements.

Neighbors have suffered through headaches, watering eyes and lost sleep — among other symptoms — from the smells. New Ventures' proposal sought to bring in more of the same material that caused the smells — up to 75 trucks a day.

Many argued, including during public comment last night before the executive session, for the council to reject the plan because of the deceitful business practices of New Ventures.

Klodenski said the only reason the company seeks to put more material on the dump is to make more money.

At the same time, New Ventures is in negotiations with the state attorney general's office and the Department of Environmental Protection about closing the site. City officials said New Ventures was waiting to sign that agreement until the council voted on the proposal to bring in more material.

It is unclear what the council's negative vote will mean for New Ventures' agreement with the state.

New Ventures wants to bring in more volume to the landfill in order to make the site "financially viable," Moak said in a previous interview. He said that stems mostly from the change in policy a few years ago that required that gypsum get mixed with soil before getting put on a landfill.

The mayor said New Ventures went to the state to say they needed more volume to make up that cost. New Ventures makes money by trucking in material.