Skip to content

A town square for an unsquare town

redbankgreen

Standing for the vitality of Red Bank, its community, and the fun we have together.

RED BANK: TRASH PICKUP TO GO PRIVATE

rb-trash-092414-1-500x375-6689325Two of the borough’s four garbage trucks will be sold, and the other two kept for leaf and snow removal, officials said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot-topic_03-220x138-2130637Red Bank is getting out of the garbage business.

By a 4-0 vote at a special, single-issue meeting Monday night, the borough council approved a three-year, $1.49 million contract for collection of trash, recyclables and household bulk waste with a private hauler, Delisa Demolition of Tinton Falls.

But the change, effective September 1, will be all but unnoticeable to residents and small-business owners, town officials said. And it should generate “significant” savings, they contend.

In terms of service, “nothing will change,” said Administrator Stanley Sickels. Trash will continue to be picked up twice a week, and on the same schedule now used, he said. Recycling will remain as a single-stream collection twice monthly. Bulk pickups will still be monthly and by appointment, he said.

Homeowners will continue to use their own trash bins and won’t be given, or required to buy, new barrels, Sickels said. And there will be no out-of-pocket expenses, as the town covers the entire $469,000-a-year tab just as it now pays for trash pickup: through tax receipts.

DeLisa will also service the borough government’s own trash, with pickups at parks, borough hall, from street cans known as litter lockers, and all other facilities, Sickels said.

Sickels said the switchover would produce “at least” $200,000 in annual operational savings on salaries and equipment costs. But no one will be laid off from the 31-employee Department of Public Utilities, he said, because staffing has shrunk as a result of retirements, resignations and terminations for cause, and so the remaining sanitation workers will be reassigned to other DPU tasks such as street and sewer maintenance, Sickels said.

A move to privatize trash collection was aborted in October, 2014, in part because the bid specifications did not include a provision that borough employees laid off as a result of the switch be offered jobs by the winning bidder. Though the latest round of bids included the condition, and DeLisa is looking to hire, the provision won’t be needed, Menna said.

More will be saved in avoiding the replacement of two garbage trucks that are nearing the end of their useful lives, said Sickels. Trucks sell for $500,000 and more, he said.

The borough will auction off those two trucks and keep the two newest ones, using them for hauling leaves, as well as snow from places where has to be carted to another location because of space issues, he said.

But the real savings, said Sickels and Mayor Pasquale Menna, should come from the “hidden costs” of staffing the sanitation department when an employee is hurt or sick — and that department is the most prone to injury, said Sickels.

According to an operational study commissioned after the 2014 bid process was halted, the town incurs personnel costs as a result of moving employees to fill temporary vacancies; in hiring temps to take up the slack in other departments; and in lost productivity, said Sickels.

By cutting out sanitation, “the savings were real,” Sickels said. He said even greater savings are expected in the future as a result of lower insurance and workman’s comp costs.

The borough had budgeted $547,250 in salaries and wages for the DPU’s sanitation unit this year, up from $520,000 in 2014.

According to a memo prepared by Councilman Ed Zipprich, who was absent Monday night, the town saved $371,500 in rebidding the project. A breakdown of that figure was not immediately available. But Menna said the private hauling industry has become more competitive in the past year, with prices charged to municipalities falling.

A summary of bids showed that the lowest one in the 2014 round came in at $1.5 million for a three-year contract, and that DeLisa was second-lowest, at $1.72 million.

The figures also show, however, that all four of the other bidders who participated in both rounds increased their prices in 2015. DeLisa’s was the only one to drop.

The borough will continue to pay tipping fees incurred at the Monmouth County Reclamation Center, with no markup by the contractor, officials said. The budget adopted earlier this year includes $384,000 in landfill fees.

Drawing a process it began 18 months ago to a conclusion, the council put Red Bank in the ranks of area towns getting out of the hauling business, including Fair Haven and Rumson.

Little opposition to the change was voiced during the public comment session of the meeting, though local Republican party chairman Sean Di Somma, who lobbied for privatization two years ago, pressed officials on the reasons for the one-year delay in finalizing a contract. Menna replied that the result was a less costly contract. Resident Freddie Boynton, a former borough employee, said private hauling hadn’t worked in Eatontown.

The borough has the option to extend the contract for two years, at prices of $516,000 and $532,000, in fourth and fifth years, respectively.

Menna said the town would now have to embark on a “massive communication effort” to get word about the change to all those affected. But he nixed the idea of including a notice in mailed tax or water bills as too expensive.

In particular, he said, customers will need to know who to contact. DeLisa’s website lists its phone number as 732-361-2081 and its email address as [email protected].

 

 

 

 

 

Remember: Nothing makes a Red Bank friend happier than to hear "I saw you on Red Bank Green!"
Partyline
THEY’RE BACK!
Ospreys returned to the skies over Red Bank this week for the first time since they migrated to warmer climes in late fall. With temperature ...
SPRING IS SPRUNG
RED BANK: Spring 2024 arrives on the Greater Red Bank Green with the vernal equinox at 11:06 p.m. Tuesday.
RED BANK’S FINEST – AND NEWEST
Red Bank Police Officer Eliot Ramos was sworn in as the force’s newest patrolman Thursday, and if you’re doing a double take thinkin ...
EASTER EGG MAYHEM AT THE PARK
An errant whistle spurred an unexpectedly early start to the Spring Egg Hunt on Sunday, which had been scheduled to begin at eggsactly 11am ...
PRESEASON DOCKWORK
RED BANK: With winter winding down, marina gets ready for boating season with some dockwork on our beautiful Navesink River.
CORNED BEEF AND DISCO FRIES?
It’s Friday, and smart Lent-observing Leprechauns know the pot of gold at the end of Red Bank’s rainbow is actually the deliciou ...
SURFBOARD DITCHED
It’s a violation of etiquette in surfing to ditch your board.  (it could hit another surfer and hurt them). But someone appears to ha ...
ELSIE, TAKE ME WITH YOU!
Soaked by pouring rain with the temperature hovering in the low 40’s, this sign in the window of Elsie’s Subs on Monmouth Street ...
WALK THIS WAY
PARTYLINE: Before-and-afters of a sidewalk cleanup on West Street.
SOGGY NOTION
RED BANK: Breezeway sculpture captured the mood downtown as heavy rains fell Saturday morning.
HOME DELIVERY
RED BANK: After a subdivision, an instant house rises on a new Catherine Street lot.
COMMUNITY PROFILES
For Black History Month, Red Bank's Community Engagement and Equity Advisory Committee has been running a series of local profiles on Facebo ...
HEARTY FAREWELL FOR HARDY
RED BANK: Council to honor DPU supervisor Rich Hardy, who retired recently after almost 39 years of keeping things running.
HOMEBOUND? READ ON…
RED BANK: Can't get to the public library? It's now offering free delivery and pickups for homebound borough residents.
TAMING A BEAST OF A WEEK
RED BANK: After the second snowfall of the week, a borough family finds the perfect use for it – a Godzilla snow sculpture.
RED BANK: LIBRARY CLOSED, BUT THE HILL’S OPEN
RED BANK: Though the library was closed by a snowstorm, kids got to enjoy the riverfront property's steep slope Tuesday.
LIGHT(HOUSE) MAKEOVER
This year, getting ready for spring means a midwinter makeover for Strollo's Lighthouse in Red Bank.
TODAY: LOCAL PUPPY COMPETES ON ANIMAL PLANET’S “PUPPY BOWL”
Red Bank’s very own rescue puppy, Biscuit, is set to compete in Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl this Sunday, February 11, at 2 PM. Th ...
WHAT? NO redbankgreen NEWSLETTER?
Apologies to redbankgreen newsletter subscribers: the daily email hasn’t gone out for two days because of technical issues.
RED BANK: TIRED OF SKEETERS?
RED BANK: Tired of mosquito bites every summer? Monmouth County has a free program to help eliminate skeeter breeding grounds.