At the Feb. 19 Council meeting, Mayor Keith Kazmark reported that the Borough went out to bid for a new garbage collection contract, as the current one was set to expire. When the bids returned, only one had been received for 2020, and it was $250,000 over what was paid last year.

Typically, the Council would award a five-year contract, but it was decided to award a one-year contract and evaluate other options for 2021. The large increase is due to insurance and transportation costs, according to the Mayor.

The Borough is looking at a few options.
Option 1: Re-bid with the current Tuesday/Friday schedule, which will probably yield the same results.
Option 2: Re-bid with the town split into four or six zones which would provide work each day to the bidding contractor, rather than only two days of collection each week. There would still be twice-a-week pick ups but it would be in different zones on different days, and it’s hoped that bids would be more competitive.
Option 3: Bring garbage collection in-house under the Department of Public Works. Superintendent George Galbraith is preparing a cost analysis – evaluating what the truck costs, personnel costs and disposal costs would look like – so it can be determined whether it would be more cost effective to handle in-house. This could include a traditional garbage truck pick up or the fork truck pick up which only requires one operator rather that a driver and two collectors on every vehicle.