Pennington is down to one garbage truck

Council asked to work as quickly as possible to get a new garbage truck.

By John Tredrea
   Gone to that junkyard in the sky is one of Pennington Borough’s two garbage trucks.
   The truck’s "packer," which tightly compresses garbage in order to make room for more of the same, is broken. "It can’t be salvaged," borough Councilman David Garber, council member in charge of Public Works, said of the packer Monday night.
   Public Works Supervisor Jeff Wittkop requested that council work as quickly as possible on the task, already under way for months, of getting a new garbage truck.
   The specifications for the new truck are ready or very close to it, Engineer Donald Fetzer and Administrator Karen Waldron said. However, the process of seeking bids and approving a bid for a truck will take one or two months, they said. After that, four or five more months will pass before an order for a new truck is filled.
   "We can rent one in an emergency," Mr. Wittkop said.
   Messrs. Garber and Wittkop also reported that the borough Water Department pumped 8,907,000 gallons of water last month, up from 8,643,000 gallons in April 2002. The borough picked up 85.77 tons of household trash last month, up from 81.20 tons in April 2002.