Council OKs MHS work

By Eileen Oldfield Staff Writer
   The Borough Council awarded a $151,074 contract to repair the Manville High School parking lot and sidewalks as part of the shared service agreement at its Monday meeting.
   S. Brothers Inc., of South River, won the contract for the repairs.
   Additional bids were received from 14 other firms, all from New Jersey. Of the 14 bids, S. Brothers offered the lowest bid.
   The Board of Education is contributing $40,000 to the repairs. The council approved the contract unanimously.
   ”We do paving and sidewalks every year,” said Borough Administrator Gary Garwacke. “The schools tend to do interior work. We’re much more proficient at exterior work.”
   Under the shared service agreement, the borough and the school district contribute to the cost of repairs. According to both Mr. Garwacke and Board of Education Business Administrator Richard Reilly, sharing the services saves taxpayer money by consolidating costs.
   ”If both of us were doing it separately, we’d have to have two attorneys, and two engineers,” said Mr. Reilly. “With one of us doing it, there’s only one attorney and one engineering firm doing it. That alone is worth thousands of dollars.”
   ”We have our own site engineer,” said Mr. Garwacke. “Lumping them (the projects) together, we save the taxpayers about $20,000.”
   According to Mr. Garwacke, the repairs would start around mid- to late-October, but would not disrupt school activities. The areas needing repairs include the sidewalks by the high school’s front entrance, the high school parking lot, and the Bleecher Street sidewalk.
   ”There’s enough overflow parking in the student lot,” said Mr. Garwacke. “It’ll make a dramatic improvement to the front of the building.”
   Mr. Garwacke said that around $100,000 worth of sidewalk repairs were slated for areas around the high school.