Deal with borough means dropped lawsuit, involves Peddie School
By Vic Monaco, Managing Editor
HIGHTSTOWN The Borough Council this week approved a bond ordinance that includes about $375,000 for repairs to the sewage treatment plant.
But not before much debate and criticism, along with some assurances that there’s an even chance that nowhere near that amount of money might be needed.
Borough Administrator told the council Monday night that a meeting with staff and some members of the council is scheduled for next week to discuss how to proceed on the repairs. At issue is whether to spend about $100,000 to replace rock media that sewage passes through or spend up to $373,500 for more efficient plastic media. Borough Engineer Carmela Roberts previously said she was leaning toward recommending the less-expensive route, while plant operator Bill “Biff” Searing prefers plastic.
“We’ll know fairly soon how much money to spend,” Ms. Gallagher said.
Council members Constance Harinxma, Ryan Rosenberg and Walter Sikorski said they were uncomfortable acting quickly on such a high potential cost, with council President Sikorski pointing out that he and his colleagues had just been handed a 12-page report from Mr. Searing.
“We always seem to be rushing into major decisions involving major expenditures,” he said.
“The borough needs a wake-up call that this isn’t the way to do business.”
Mr. Rosenberg added, “I don’t understand why all of a sudden the sky is falling.”
Ms. Roberts said the borough has known for some time that one trickling filter at the plant is in bad shape and another is deteriorating.
“It’s not something that just popped up,” she said.
She, Ms. Gallagher, Councilman Jeff Bond and Mayor Bob Patten urged action to get the process rolling, including drawing up specifications.
“If we can’t do it, it’s going to jeopardize our plant,’ said Mr. Bond.
He added that he’s leaning toward the less expensive repair.
“I don’t foresee us spending that kind of money,” he said in a reference to the ordinance amount.
Mr. Bond and Ms. Gallagher added that a council OK for the ordinance is not tantamount to approval of spending any specific amount of money. Additional information would be brought to the full council after next week’s meeting, and the council would have to act separately to approve specific spending, Ms. Gallagher said.
In the end, the ordinance was approved on a 4-2 vote, just the amount of affirmative votes required to OK an ordinance. Only Mr. Sikorski and Ms. Harinxma voted no. Mr. Rosenberg later said his yes vote was “a decision I wasn’t happy to make” but did so because he had been told there was an urgent need.
Borough officials have acknowledged that a 2005 decision to process grease at the plant may have played a part in the damages.
Ms. Gallagher added this week that the borough could lose about $100,000 in annual revenue if the plant continues its recent cessation of accepting grease from outside haulers. In addition, she said, the plant earns about $400,000 a year by accepting gray water and sewage from outside haulers, and that could be in jeopardy if the repairs aren’t made.
Gray water is largely water from toilets, showers and sinks that has been held in storage tanks.
The bond ordinance totals $404,000 and includes $30,452 for the purchase of a pickup truck with a snowplow.