SAYREVILLE – Members of the Borough Council and department heads defended the purchase of roughly half a million dollars in equipment.
At the July 13 meeting, several residents questioned whether it was necessary to buy the vehicles, which included a Bobcat Skid Steer Machine at about $101,800, a Trackless Municipal Tractor at $183,000 and an automated side-loader garbage truck for roughly $256,000.
The Director of the Department of Public Works (DPW), Bernie Bailey, said the Bobcat and Trackless Tractor could be used for a number of different tasks, reducing the total vehicles required within DPW.
“The new piece of equipment is multipurpose; it has a snowplow, it has a [brush cutter], it has a bucket that can be used to load small items, it has a forklift that can be used to load trucks and it has a … cold planer,” Bailey said of the Bobcat, adding that it would be replacing a 19-year-old machine. The national replacement average is 11.7 years.
“[These are] multi-use pieces of equipment, which is what we’re trying to do in public works,” he said. “We had two budget workshops where we went over everything we’re talking about here tonight.”
According to Bailey, the side-loader garbage truck would replace an aging truck, which would be “cannibalized” for parts.
The Director of the Water and Sewer Department, Robert Smith ,sought to justify the purchases as well, stating, “We’ve got to give our guys the tools and the knowledge to do the job.”
Councilman Art Rittenhouse said he asked the department heads to attend the meeting and explain the reasons for the purchases to the public because of the unusually high cost of some of the items.
“When we had three items totaling over $500,000 I thought it would be good to explain to the public what those were,” Rittenhouse said. “It is expensive equipment, and so I felt it was important for the public to understand why we need that equipment.”
Councilwoman Victoria Kilpatrick noted a decrease in the DPW budget and number of employees, stating that the equipment is necessary for the department’s day-to-day operations.
“Our public works operating budget, since 2005 until now, has actually decreased by $166,880,” Kilpatrick said. “But in addition … we also have had a decrease in our manpower from 1993 to 2015 of over 20 percent.”
Councilwoman Mary Novak said if the equipment could lead to less overtime pay by expediting the work, in the event of a snowstorm for example, then purchasing the equipment now would pay dividends.
“Manpower is the most expensive thing,” Novak said. “If we can get equipment, where we can reduce manpower, reduce injury to our workers and accomplish our goals in less time so that we’re paying for less [overtime] hours … it’s well worth it.”
Considering the pace of development in town, Kilpatrick said the DPW is taking on more work with less people and requires the material support of the council to continue operating at the current level.
“They need this equipment,” Kilpatrick said.
Councilman Ricci Melendez echoed Kilpatrick’s comments, adding that the department heads were asked to put together a prioritized list during the crafting of the budget.