By Jessica Ercolino, Staff Writer
ROBBINSVILLE The Township Council has unanimously approved a shared services agreement authorizing Hamilton Township to maintain its sewer system.
The ordinance approved Jan. 22 formalizes a working relationship the two townships began in October after two Division of Utility employees responsible for the system left township employment. But Hamilton had worked with the system before that.
“We had already contracted with Hamilton to process our ‘stuff,’ so to speak,” said Township Administrator Mary Caffrey. “We always had to deal with them for that reason so now we are dealing with them more extensively.”
According to the ordinance, Hamilton has agreed to provide the service in an amount not to exceed $129,000, plus $10,000 for emergencies and $5,000 for materials, per year. The agreement would get renewed automatically each year until either party chooses otherwise.
For the three months Hamilton has maintained and operated the system, the township has paid about $17,000, Director of Public Works Dino Colarocco said, while the former employees’ salaries and benefits combined would have cost $40,000 for that three-month period. Under the approved agreement, the township would pay a maximum of about $32,000 for a three-
month period, barring an emergency.
“If there’s a major failure at one of our pump stations, then one month’s bill could be $10,000,” said Township Engineer Jack West. “But we’ve been lucky so far that everything’s been straight forward.”
Mr. West noted that the township had the opportunity to monitor Hamilton’s service over the last three months, and it is doing “a great job.”
Robbinsville solicited bids from private service providers, Township Administrator Mary Caffrey said, but the price still was lower with Hamilton, and “no one could match (Hamilton) in response time because they’re right next door.”
Mr. Colarocco added that contracting with Hamilton is advantageous because it is not a profit-
driven entity as a business would be, and the townships also could look into applying for state grants based on the shared-service agreement.
Mr. Colarocco previously said one of the two former township employees resigned while the other retired. However, a published report says the two men were fired.
