During their meeting on Monday, Oct. 7, Bath Borough Council awarded a three-year sanitation contract to Advanced Disposal. This contract comes after 13 years of services by J.P. Mascaro & Sons.
The borough received two bids for this new contract from Advanced Disposal and J.P. Mascaro. Both companies were to bid on three options: weekly trash pickup, weekly recycling pickup, and curbside leaf pickup twice per year; weekly trash pickup, bi-weekly recycling pickup, and leaf pickup twice per year; and weekly trash pickup with no recycling.
Advanced Disposal offered the lowest bid in all three scenarios, with a yearly bid of $270,624 for the first option.
Representatives from both companies were present at the meeting to state their case.
Sam Augustine, J.P. Mascaro’s director of sales, told the borough his company has provided consistent service to borough residents. As a local, private company, he promised continued customer satisfaction.
“We have worked hard to have your business,” he said.
Ron Carlson, from Advanced Disposal, also spoke. He acknowledged that while a merger between Advanced Disposal and Waste Management is possible, he said Waste Management would continue the borough’s contract “to the letter.” He said his team does their job to the “best of our ability.”
Resident Bobby Siegfried acknowledged that J.P. Mascaro’s customer service has been pleasant to work with and the company’s service has improved over the past several months.
However, he urged the borough to maintain recycling, no matter which provider they chose. He said the borough cannot continue to throw plastic and other recyclables into the trash. It would be unsustainable for the community and the planet.
“There is no circumstance I can think of where we should not be doing recycling,” he said. “Unless we do not care about our kids.”
Council agreed, with four members voting for weekly recycling against three who voted for bi-weekly recycling.
However, council was ultimately required to go with the lower bid as long as it was in compliance. This meant awarding the bid to Advanced Disposal for a three-year contract with a total cost of $811,874.01.
In other news, council discussed plans to privatize some area roads which had never earned official public status.
Following a road inventory, council highlighted roads that did not meet special certifications. Some of these roads include borough alleyways and roads like Sleepy Hollow, McClure, Spring, and Birch, among others. Council is working on an ordinance that would make these roads the homeowners’ responsibility.
However, some residents expressed worries about such a change. Darren Heckman asked council where residents would go during snow emergencies. Many residents, he said, use the alleyways when a snow emergency is in place on state roads.
“If you take them off 248 and 987, where are they going to go?” he asked. There are an estimated 30 cars that use some of these streets to park, he added.
Other residents were worried about the borough “dropping support for infrastructure.”
Borough Manager Brad Flynn stressed that the borough would still maintain utilities and stormwater, just not paving or road maintenance.
Councilmembers said they understood residents’ concerns, which some members saying they are not sure where they stand on the issue.
“I do not know what I am okay with,” said Councilman Frank Hesch. “And I am sure I am not the only one.”
Saginario agreed.
“Is it going to pass? I cannot guarantee that,” he said.
More about the borough’s road plan can be seen by visiting https://bathborough.org/borough-of-bath-road-plan/.
