By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
The possibility of celebrating the new Princeton in some way, public works facilities, garbage collection were among items discussed by several subcommittees who reported to the full Transition Task Force to update their progress this week.
The Communications and Outreach subcommittee is exploring the options around a celebration in the New Year for the newly consolidated Princeton.
Facilities and Other Assets subcommittee is focusing on parking for employees and has formed a public works working group to focus on maintaining service levels and continuity.
Public works facilities are “out of date, inefficient and difficult to manage public works from,” and the group will be working on a five-year plan to remedy this situation, said Committeeman Bernie Miller.
The first step in sorting out the facilities is to figure out where the public works management team will be located. The next decision will be what to do about field personnel and where they and their vehicles will be located. Additional facilities will be needed for field personnel and five-year leased trailer facilities will be the recommendation. They will look at whether buying facilities will be cheaper than leasing them.
The subcommittee hopes to keep the costs under $100,000, by having municipal personnel do the move. The committee also may consider buying the trailers and selling them after they are done.
All of these moves to the public works facilities need to get this done in July and August before fall leaf and brush collection get underway, according to the subcomittee.
The plans for the public works facilities will be formalized and presented as formal recommendations to the Transition Task Force in the near future.
Information Technology subcommittee has been working on selecting a consultant for IT needs. It has received proposals from both companies that serve the borough and the township and is evaluating those materials. It also recommended Barnegat-based City Connections, which is the company that currently serves the township, as its website vendor. The cost would be $2,500 to design and build a website and annual costs of $9,199 for maintenance, which is less than the borough and township currently pay. Fee increases would be kept to 2 percent each year.
Infrastructure and Operations subcommittee is focusing on garbage collection and agreed to go for a contract for the consolidated Princeton. Decisions that still need to be made include what type of pickup will there be and a schedule of pickup. The committee also wants to have vendors bid on food waste composting.
Other items being discussed are who will supply the waste receptacles residents or the garbage contractor and if the pickup will take place at the curb or at the house.

