Politics & Government

Little Silver Opts for New Trash Collector

Borough chooses three-year bid from M&S Waste Services over longtime contractor Marpal Disposal.

Starting in April, residents of Little Silver can expect a new trash collector arriving at their curbs.

During their last meeting of 2011 on Dec. 21, Little Silver Borough Council awarded a three-year, $565,880 contract to M&S Waste Services, of Middletown, to provide trash collection services twice a week for residences and six times a week for businesses until March 2015.

The deal will pay M&S $180,532 in the first year, $191,057 in the second, and $194,291 in the third.

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M&S submitted the lowest of 4 bids, offering a savings of $34,454 over a $600,334 three-year offer from longtime borough garbage handler , of Tinton Falls.

Council awarded the contract by a vote of 4-1, with Stuart Van Winkle absent and Council President Dan Levine dissenting.

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"I think you're exposing yourself to an unknown for a long, extended period of time," said Levine. "You're eliminating a known factor for a slight differential. I would either stay with the one year and then rebid it or I would consider once a week pickup and see how that works for the residents."

Borough Clerk Helen Gormley said she contacted Fair Haven, which , to inquire about their experience with the company. Mayor Michael Halfacre told Gormley they had a few problems at the beginning, but were otherwise happy with the service.

Officials from Shrewsbury, which also has a three-year contract with M&S, said they have experienced no problems and are very pleased with the service.

"They're not known to us, but they are known to others," said Mayor Robert C. Neff, Jr. "I haven't heard any horrible things about them and I think if we don't go three years, we lose the financial benefit of doing it for a longer period of time."

Council bid out for three alternative packages: keeping pickup the same at twice a week for residents and six times a week for businesses, cutting residential collection to once a week and business collection to three times a week, or reducing residential pickup to once a week from October to April and business pickup to three times a week year-round.

Cutting residential collection to once a week and business collection to three times a week would save the borough $148,955 over three years if they decided to stay with Marpal, but the consensus was residents would not like the reduction in service.

"I asked a lot of people if they could save ex amount of dollars to go to once a week, and nobody was in favor of it. I actually couldn't believe it," said Neff.

Levine said those he spoke to had told him otherwise.

"I change contractors all the time. It's always a scary move, a scary endeavor," said Councilman Jonathan Bitman, who also serves as an estimator for Charles B. Hembling & Son Builders of Red Bank. "We've done some due diligence, they are known. It's not like we're bringing in Frank's Carting from Ohio. As much as I respect the duty Marpal has done for this community over a long period of time, unfortunately this is the public bid process and I go with M&S for three years."


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