Point Votes Yes on Robo-Can Bond Measure

Undoing a vote taken at its last meeting, the Point Borough Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to take the first step towards possibly borrowing money to buy robo-cans later this year.

All four council members at Tuesday's meeting voted for preliminary approval of a bond ordinance to appropriate $883,000, "including the sum of $43,000 as the down payment required by the local bond law," according to a copy of the ordinance.

The ordinance also calls for bonds to be issued in the amount of $840,000, to finance the bulk of the $883,000.

Council members Mitch Remig, John McHugh Jr., Chris Leitner and Chris Goss voted yes.

were absent.

. When asked after the Tuesday night meeting why he voted yes this time, he said, "The timing. Now we're closer to when the bids come in. We can look at all of the options and see which is best."

By "bids," he was referring to bids for the borough's trash and recycling collection from private contractors expected back by Nov. 22. The borough is going to compare those to the cost of hiring Brick or its own public works department to do the job.

The borough is considering buying robo-cans because it may contract with Brick, which uses robo-cans, or may do in-house trash and recycling collection, which may also require robo-cans.

Robo-cans are picked up by automated arms of garbage trucks retrofitted to be compatible with the robo-cans.

The private contractor the borough now uses rear-compacted trucks. The current contract expires on Dec. 31.

Mayor William Schroeder has said recently that it appears in-house collection won't save as much money as he had originally hoped, so that does not appear to be the most likely option at this point.

The vote Tuesday night was for first reading of the ordinance, with a public hearing and adoption scheduled for Nov. 15.

At the same meeting, Public Works Director Robert Forsyth is scheduled to give a presentation on facts and figures of the three possible options, with the information available so far.

That information will not include the bids from private haulers, since the borough is accepting bids until Nov. 22.

Forsyth said at last night's meeting that he was originally going to give the presentation last night, but asked to postpone until the next meeting when he will have more information and all council members will hopefully be in attendance.

The funds authorized by the bond ordinance would be used to purchase "95-gallon robo-cans, 65-gallon robo-cans and dumpsters," according to the ordinance.

However, municipal officials are still working on the proposal to see if they need two different size cans. The original idea was that the larger cans would be for trash and the smaller ones for recycling.

Approximately 8,100 cans would be purchased, since that is the number of households and businesses that the borough's private contractors are picking up now, officials said.

Even if the ordinance is adopted at the next meeting, the mayor and council still has to decide if it's going to use Brick, private haulers or its own public works department to pick up trash and recycling. Then they have to decide if it's necessary to buy the robo-cans for whichever option they choose.

If buying the cans is necessary, using the funding mechanism put in place Tuesday night, the borough still has to go out to bid for the cans, said Borough Administrator David Maffei.

He said the bid specifications will be written with specific requirements for the size cans the borough determines it needs, the number and type of cans and other requirements.

Suburban Disposal, Inc., of Fairfield, collects the borough's trash for about $730,000 per year, according to the terms of a contract that expires on Dec. 31, municipal officials have said.

If a new plan for trash collection is not in place by the end of this year, it may be necessary to contract with Suburban for a 30-day extension of the contract.

A 30-day extension would cost no more than the current amount the borough pays, which would be an average of roughly $60,833 per month, McHugh said in a recent interview.

Elizabeth-based Meadowbrook Industries, LLC, handles the borough's recycling pickup for about $230,000 per year, municipal officials have said.