By David Kilby, Staff Writer
JAMESBURG — As Jamesburg prepares to share its animal control services with Helmetta, Mayor Tony LaMantia and the current borough animal control officer are saying the borough is getting rid of a good deal and starting a bad one.
The Borough Council finalized the contract at its meeting May 11.
The council chose to share animal control services with Helmetta mainly because Joseph Intravartola, the current animal control officer, already gets paid a full-time salary as Public Works foreman, Councilwoman Barbara Carpenter said.
”He’d have to leave his full-time job to do his job for animal control. I just thought that wasn’t right,” she said.
But Mr. Intravartola disagreed.
”They said it takes away from my Public Works services. I’ve been doing it fine for 12 years,” Mr. Intravartola said.
”We felt it would be more efficient if he spent full time as the DPW foremen,” Ms. Carpenter said.
Mayor Tony LaMantia doesn’t agree Mr. Intravartola’s two jobs conflict.
”Everybody in this town wears three hats,” he said.
But the council also chose Helmetta over a local animal control service because Helmetta has three full-time officers for animal control and a brand new animal shelter.
However, the shelter will come at a cost of $100 per week for dogs, $90 per week for cats and $25 per week for any other domestic animal, such as rodents, birds, reptiles and amphibians, states the contract.
Mr. Intravartola said two of Helmetta’s animal control officers are also full-time Public Works employees just like him.
As of June 1, Mr. Intravartola no longer will be the animal control officer for Jamesburg. The contract with Helmetta is a yearly contract that ends Dec. 31, 2011.
In the original contract with Mr. Intravartola, the borough pays him $14,000 for all animal control duties, including trapping strays and wildlife and picking up dead animals from the road, Mr. Intravartola said.
When the borough went out to bid for a new contract, Mr. Intravartola offered a contract that asked for $6,800 per year, plus $50 for all calls from 3 p.m. to 7 a.m. and for calls weekends and holidays, but the council didn’t accept his offer.
In the contract with Helmetta, Jamesburg will pay $7,200 per year, plus $55 for calls from 3 p.m. to 7 a.m. and for calls on weekends and holidays.
”You have to look at the bigger picture. I have high hopes that this will work,” Ms. Carpenter said, adding if it doesn’t, Jamesburg simply won’t renew the contract at the end of the year.
”We’re just looking at the best possible service and cost savings to the town,” she said. “The governor is pushing for towns to share services. We thought this would be a good thing and we’ll see what happens.”
Councilman Otto Kostbar concurred sharing animal control services is a good way to follow the state’s encouragement to consolidate services.
”The state encourages these types of agreements,” he said. “We feel it will be more efficient instead of utilizing our employees who have other things to do. Hopefully, that will impact positively on the tax rate.”
Mayor LaMantia said he doesn’t think the new contract will save the taxpayer money.
Shared services are supposed to do at least one of three things, he said.
”They’re supposed to save people money, provide a better service or make the town more money,” he said. “This shared service does none of those three.
”In fact, it’s going to cost the residents of Jamesburg more money, and they’ll be losing services because Helmetta doesn’t trap stray dogs or cats or wildlife such as raccoons,” he said, adding residents will have to pay an extra fee for those services.
”The animal control officer shall not be required to trap nuisance wildlife or pick up dead animals,” states the contract with Helmetta,.
Mr. Intravartola, who gets paid $75,000 a year as DPW foreman, said he also has an advantage because he knows the town.
Within the new contract, Helmetta will capture stray animals, feral cats and animals that escape the house, pick up injured animals and send them to the vet, conduct an animal census, host an animal rabbis clinic and perform the normal animal control duties.
Stray animals will be sent to the Helmetta shelter, and runaway pets will be sent back to their owner.
”I know most of the dogs that tend to get out often,” Mr. Intravartola said. “I catch them and bring them home since I know where they live, and I’m here every day.”
He added Helmetta officers will only come when called, and they serve six other towns, such as Plainsboro, Spotswood and South River.
”I don’t think it adds up,” he said. “They didn’t do a proper cost analysis to see if they’d be saving money. And it’s a lot less service. They’re going to get a lot less than I was giving them.”

