BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE

OCEAN COUNTY

900 WEST BAY AVENUE

BARNEGAT, NJ 08005

 

SPECIAL TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES

January 24, 2013, 6:30 PM

 

1. Call to Order

 

2. Provisions of the Open Public Meetings Law:

Pursuant to the requirements of the OPEN PUBLIC MEETINGS LAW, adequate Public Notice of this meeting has been given:

a. By publication in the required newspapers of the date, time and location of this meeting more than 48 hours in advance.

b. By posting advance written notice on the official Bulletin Board in the Municipal Building.

c. By filing advance written notice with the Township Clerk for the purpose of Public inspection.

 

ANNOUNCEMENT: At this time we ask everyone to please turn all cell phones or pagers to either OFF or VIBRATE.

 

3. Roll Call of Officials Present:

Committeewoman Taylor – Present

Committeeman Bille – Present

Committeeman Lisella – Present

Deputy Mayor Conway – Present

Mayor Morano – Present

 

 

4. Salute to the flag

 

 

Motion to open Public Comment: E. Taylor Second: M. Lisella

All are in favor

 

Jake Taylor – 106 Newark Road: Why can’t we have recycling every week, especially in the Pebble Beach section, it doesn’t cost more.

 

Frank Pecci – 11 Hemlock Drive: Why can we not have recycling each week as we’ve had in the past?

 

Walter Fernandez – Fifth Street: I have 4-5 people in my house and we put out two cans every two weeks is fine.

 

Motion to close Public Comment: E. Taylor Second: S. Conway

 

 

5. New Business:

 

 

Discussion of Recycling Schedule for 2013

 

Dave Breeden – To be in accordance with the law, Barnegat must have a recycling program, besides being the law there are financial and environmental benefits to recycling. For every ton of recycling material kept out of the landfill the town avoids paying a tipping fee of approximately $72.00 per ton in addition to generating a nominal amount of revenue from the sale of recycling material.

When considering outsourcing or in-house collection some things to consider;

• on average four trucks must be used on a daily basis, that cost of operation is $40,000 per year (bi-weekly) considering the age and poor gas mileage of the trucks,

• one employee assigned to each truck costs $85,000 total position value,

• considering half the fleet of recycling trucks are at least 13 years old, the process of replacing these trucks over the next few years at a cost of $200,00 each truck must factor into the equation

• Based on the following information the estimated direct cost of recycling collection being performed by Barnegat Public Works is as follows, based on the bi-weekly collection schedule:

• Salaries & wages: $170,000, cost of maintaining fleet: $160,000, sub total: $330,000. It costs the Township approximately $330,000 per year to fund just the operational element of biweekly recycling collection. And that is a very conservative number, this DOES NOT take into consideration any capital cost required to acquire new recycling trucks, which if added, would significantly increase the cost of in-house recycling. Also, this amount does not include supervision of administrative overhead cost which will add to the cost of performing recycling collection in-house.

• Three firms; Waste Management, Meadowbrook and Atlantic County Utility Authority (ACUA) expressed interest and submitted bids for recycling collection when the Township went out to bid for shared services with Ocean Township in the summer of 2011. Each of these three companies submitted proposals for collection of recycling material on a weekly and biweekly basis. Assuming 8500 homes in Barnegat, which includes the Pinewood Estates Mobile Home Park, the annual cost of the two (2) collection options for the three (3) firms are as follows:

• Waste Management: Weekly: $402,900 per year, Biweekly $242,760 per year

Meadowbrook: $358,020 per year, Biweekly: $241,740 per year

Atlantic County Utility Authority (ACUA) Weekly: 345,780, Biweekly: $236,640 per year

From an operational standpoint outsourcing is an attractive option that relieves the Township of many of the challenges associated with the tremendous burden of performing collection in house. The key with outsourcing is being able to contract out the work without laying off any Public Works employees along with not having an adverse impact on the 2013 operating budget. Consider the following if outsourcing was selected:

Savings from operating recycling trucks: $160,000; Overtime savings: $40,000; Total financial savings: $200,000

Cost of outsourcing: $270,000; Additional costs: $70,000. This additional cost will be offset to a certain extent by the sale of recycling assets which would generate approximately $50,000 in revenue.

 

• Consideration should be given to establishing a recycling schedule in which frequency of collection is based upon amount of material placed at the curb. Recycling increases during the summer months and around holiday season. The following should be considered in order to accommodate the additional recycling material placed out for collection during these time periods:

 

January 1 to Memorial Day

Biweekly collection

 

Memorial Day to Labor Day

Weekly collection

 

Labor Day to December 31

Biweekly collection

 

• Please note from mid December to mid January recycling collection could be increased to once a week to handle the additional recycling generated by the holidays. This modified recycling collection schedule will increase recycling collection to once a week for roughly 16 weeks per year.

 

It is no longer practical from both a financial and operational perspective for Barnegat Public Works to perform the recycling collection function in house. Matching collection frequency with demand for service reflects a wise allocation of limited resources. The Township should commence with discussions with the ACUA to assess whether entering into a shared service agreement would represent the best interest of the community. If that effort proves unsuccessful then consideration should be given to going out to public bid in order to secure up to date proposals from interested private vendors.

 

Kevin Starkey – Attorney: The Township needs to determine the best for the community services provided in house or by outsourcing.

 

Marty Lisella – This is an equitable opportunity and should think about it.

 

Al Bille – The County is looking a financial situation over the next five years, and that burden may come back down to us in taxes. If we can save $100,000 and still give the service it’s a win-win situation.

 

Susan Conway – Explained the tax structure in order to keep taxes down. Cost wise it makes sense to look at privatization of recycling. It is debatable if we can do it every week all year round, the financial hit is minimal why not give it.

 

Len Morano – For many years we had recycling every week, the taxes are very important, and we are going to do everything possible to stabilize taxes. We should go out to bid with Atlantic County for every week. Then our guys will shift to other duties in Public Works. We are saving dollars, and giving more services. The best for this community is outsourcing and go to every week.

 

Marty Lisella – we are not going to save the $100,000 on the bids section if we do it every week, the bid that’s there now based on every other week, costs us $15,000 which makes it a bigger impact of $115,000.

 

Kevin Starkey – armed with the information you have from prior bids, you have a good sense of what bidding will get you. If you recommend that the Administrator and I speak about entering into a shared services agreement with ACUA, if those numbers are not satisfactory you can authorize public bidding for the same services.

 

All are in agreement about Administrator and Attorney to meet and talk with ACUA about a shared services agreement.

 

6. Consent Agenda:

 

The below listed items are considered to be routine by the Township of Barnegat and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no formal discussion of these items. If discussion is desired, this item will be removed from the Consent Agenda and will be considered separately.

 

Resolution 2013-47

Resolution appointing the position of Township Conflict Public Defender for the year 2013

 

Resolution 2013-48

Resolution appointing members to the Economic Development Committee for the year 2013

 

Resolution 2013-49

Resolution appointing members to the Planning Board for 2013

 

Resolution 2013-50

Resolution appointing members to the Zoning Board of Adjustment for the year 2013

 

Motion to Adopt Consent Agenda: M. Lisella Second: E. Taylor

Roll Call: Taylor: Yes Bille: Yes Lisella: Yes

Conway: Yes Morano: Yes

 

7. Motion to Adjourn: M. Lisella Second: E. Taylor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hereby certify that the foregoing

minutes were formally approved by

The Barnegat Township Committee:

 

 

 

____________________________

Municipal Clerk