At last night’s capital budget workshop meeting, council approved Resolution 123-13 and awarded the contract to Suburban Disposal for the 2013 bulk pick-up services for an amount not to exceed $16,000. This amount does not include tipping fees (also known as disposal fees) which will more than double that amount. With the passing of that resolution, the dates for this year’s bulk pick-up were officially announced. The dates are Thursday, June 27th for the east side of town (from Galloping Hill Road to Chestnut Street) and Friday, June 28th (from Chestnut Street to Valley Road) for the west side of town.
In what has become an annual custom of the past few years, the dates for bulk pick-up were announced within two weeks of implementation. The contract bid – technically called a Request For Quote (RFQ) – for bulk pick-up went out in April of this year and there is a 60-day period to allow for contractors to submit their bids – hence the deadline of June 12th. To avoid such last-minute approvals in the future, Finance Chair and First Ward Councilman Andrew Casais stated he would work with Ken Blum, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), to put out a RFQ for bulk pick-up services in October of this year. The 60-day waiting period would have the bids come in at the beginning of 2014. Council also approved the printing and mailing of fliers which will describe what will and will not be accepted for bulk. The mailing will go out on Monday.
Ordinance 2385, which is scheduled to be voted on and passed at the June 20th Mayor & Council meeting, has set a weight limit of 500 pounds per property. How that weight is determined to find out if someone has violated the ordinance has not been discussed. The following items are noted as acceptable material:
- Furniture
- Items generated by a homeowner in minor repairs not requiring a zoning or construction permit
- Lawn furniture
- Mattresses (limit two per address)
- Storm doors
- Storm windows
- Toys
- Wood doors
- Wood, replaced/repaired wood fencing sections. Wood products are limited to two (2) 32-gallon containers with pieces cut into three-foot pieces.
The following items will not be accepted during bulk pick-up:
- Appliances (refrigerators, washers, dryers, any metal products)
- Ashes
- Asphalt
- Automobile parts
- Branches
- Brush
- Carpeting
- Chemicals and materials resulting from the demolition, alterations, or repairs to buildings/homes or other structures generated by a contractor/homeowner requiring a zoning or construction permit.
- Closed-top drums
- Concrete
- Dirt
- Electronic waste
- Garbage bags
- Household garbage
- Leaves
- Paint
- Pool filters
- Railroad ties
- Rocks
- Rugs
- Stones
- Stumps
- Tree trunks
In response to having council proactively address bulk pick-up to avoid last-minute approvals, working towards implementing three-year contracts was discussed. The possibility of having an additional bulk pick-up, which would increase the municipality’s portion of property taxes by about $7.00 for a house assessed at $65,000, was also mentioned. Mayor Accardi stated that although the service itself would not be a significant increase, residents should understand that events and services like bulk pick-up, parades, and fireworks, all add up to become a significant increase. Fireworks for this year, which will be held on July 6th, were paid by donations.