By ROBERT LINNEHAN | The Haddonfield Sun
For the first time in Haddonfield’s history, trash trucks not bearing the borough emblem will be roaming the streets on July 1 for weekly trash pickup.
Borough commissioners last week unanimously approved outsourcing Haddonfield’s trash pickup service to Casworth Enterprises of Deptford.
The borough released its findings earlier this week on possible savings of outsourcing trash and recycling collection to a third party, and it was found that $800,000 could be saved over five years.
There will be no changes in the pickup schedule or the service offered, commissioners said.
Residential pickup will remain at once a week, and the business district will be five days a week, from Monday to Friday.
The contract was signed for one year — beginning July 1 and running until June 30 of 2011 — with a four-year renewal option.
After a year of the outsourced pickup the borough will re-xamine the quality of the service provided and determine the contract should be renewed.
For the first year, the borough awarded Casworth Enterprises the contract for $179,929. If Haddonfield had kept the service in house, it would have cost $196,238.
The old trash trucks and equipment will not be sold within the first year.
At the end of the first year, Borough Administrator Sharon McCullough said Haddonfield may look into the possibility of the one-armed trash trucks again.
The report found that if the borough transferred to the one-armed trash pickup it would most likely save about $35,000 over the next five years.
This is taking into account the purchase of a new one-armed truck and the new trash receptacles for every home in the borough to be used with the service.
But, McCullough said, the $35,000 savings is not written in stone because the trucks are known to break down and have more maintenance costs than the present trucks.
Commission Ed Borden said the Public Works Director David Watson believes the one-armed trucks are the wave of the future and could save a tremendous amount of money over time, but right now there are no guarantees and too many inherent risks.
Mayor Tish Colombi reported the four public works employees that handled the Borough’s trash pickup will be let go.
Borden addressed the crowd and said he had read on a blog that a resident called the decision a “slam dunk” for the borough. He said that while saving Haddonfield taxpayers $800,000 over five years is the correct decision, it’s not a “slam dunk” because the borough has to lay off four employees who have served Haddonfield well for years. All four have families to support, and laying them off in this economy was not an easy decision, he said.
Commissioner Jeff Kasko agreed with both Borden and Colombi.
“This was not an easy decision, but it is the right decision for the borough,” he said.
Recycling, vegetative waste, and bulk goods pickup will continue to be handled by the borough. Recycling will cost about $131,000 for all of 2010.
The report can be found at haddonfieldnj.org.
