By Mary Brienza, Staff Writer
Although the bid to install artificial turf on the Rowland Park football field did not include a warranty when first submitted, the Township Council did not feel it should be rejected.
The council held a special meeting Tuesday night and voted 4-0 to accept the bid by Applied Landscape Technology Inc., of Montville, which was low bidder for the project. Councilman Joe Camarota was absent from the meeting.
Officials said the vote on awarding the contract will be held at the March 22 meeting.
Township spokesman Ron Schmalz said Applied’s bid was only for the football field. Separate bids will be accepted for artificial turf for the two baseball fields.
Mr. Schmalz said the township now has received a warranty from Applied.
Adrienne L. Isacoff, of the law firm Lowenstein Sandler, which is representing Applied, discussed why the council should accept the bid at the March 8 council meeting. She said not including the warranty did not give a competitive edge to Applied.
Applied picked a brand name product, AstroTurf, that has a warranty given by the manufacturer, Ms. Isacoff said.
”Warranty comes with the product,” Ms. Isacoff said.
Ms. Isacoff also said nowhere in the bid was there a provision that failure to include a warranty would result in the bid being rejected.
At the Feb. 8 meeting, Township Manager Matt Watkins said the turf project was put out as two separate bids since engineers had raised the estimated cost of the project from $950,000 to about $1.6 million.
The council had approved matching more than $400,000 in county grant money to put the artificial turf on the fields last year. But at its meeting March 8, it introduced an ordinance to increase the township’s contribution to $630,000 plus $598,500 in bonds or notes.
A public hearing and final vote on adoption on the increased financing will be held at the March 22 meeting.
Deputy Mayor Chris Killmurray said earlier that artificial turf is more durable than natural grass and can be used after rain, which would allow the fields to be used more. He also said artificial turf would require less maintenance than natural grass.
Mr. Camarota said at an earlier meeting that using artificial turf may bring some tournaments to South Brunswick that will bring in more money.

