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Consortium is all about sharing
(by Karen F. Mrnarevic - January 23, 2008)
The borough administrators of the
Pascack
Valley have been hard at work on a project they hope will save taxpayers’ money in the future. The Pascack Valley Shared Services and Cooperative Purchasing Consortium, as the group calls itself, has set its sights on numerous objectives, such as lowering the cost of banking services and road resurfacing through joint bidding.
Westwood Administrator Robert Hoffmann has taken the initiative to petition the county on the part of the consortium for a grant of $19,500 to study joint purchasing and equipment sharing possibilities for the boroughs’ public works departments. Hillsdale Administrator Harold Karns said that while the DPWs of the
Pascack
Valley are not overstaffed or in need of personnel reductions, a thorough analysis of borough spending on DPW equipment and services is in order. “This is for each community to be able to stretch their resources of men and material to meet state mandate. This is not a layoff situation,” said Hoffmann.
Hoffmann brings up a number of reasons that the towns should analyze their available resources. “
Park Ridge has a water utility with specially trained staffs to diagnose water leaks. If we [other
Pascack
Valley municipalities] can call them, it will save time and money.” The same goes for equipment sharing, adds Hoffmann. “
Washington
Township has some special equipment that other towns don’t require; if another community can borrow it, everyone benefits.”
The consortium has organized itself into various subcommittees in charge of analyzing how the towns of the
Pascack
Valley can benefit from shared services in different categories. Given his professional background as an engineer, Woodcliff Lake Administrator Ed Sandve will head up the road paving project. According to Westwood Administrator Bob Hoffmann, the total cost of the project should be over $2 million once all the towns submit their projects. The goal is to go out to bid at the end of January and open bids in March. “If we ban together, each community will pay less than if they do it individually,” said Hoffmann.
The northwest Bergen towns of Allendale,
Franklin
Lakes , Glen Rock, Ho-Ho-Kus, Mahwah,
Midland
Park , Oakland, Ramsey, Ridgewood,
Saddle
River ,
Upper
Saddle
River , Waldwick and
Wyckoff banded together last year to bid jointly on road paving projects. In February of 2007, the towns signed a joint $2.3 million contract for road work. According to Sandve,
Woodcliff
Lake went out to bid for a road resurfacing project within weeks of the northwest
Bergen towns, and received quotes from the same contractor. “
Woodcliff
Lake ’s project was about $500,000,” said Sandve, “and northwest Bergen’s group price was three to five percent less than what
Woodcliff
Lake actually received.”
Under normal circumstances, road resurfacing projects would be handled by an engineering firm, incurring about $90,000 in fees toward engineering and design. Since this resurfacing project is going to be handled by the consortium, there will be no fees for engineering and design. Sandve says he plans on putting together a bid containing “generic specs” for the project. “At the co-op, what we will be purchasing will be paving, so design fees will be reduced to zero.” Sandve plans to meet with each town participating in the project and analyze the specifics of the roadwork required. If an element of design or engineering is required to fix the road, it will be eliminated from the project.
Another project that Hoffmann says will require the consortium’s attention is leaf pickup and disposal. “It’s is a big expense for every community. There are fewer and fewer places to dump leaves. The places that used to be leaf dumps are now being developed.” According to Hoffmann, Westwood spends approximately $60,000 on leaf collection per year. “The price of leaf collection and disposal,” he says, “is a result of development and over-regulation by the state.” He believes the cost could be reduced if leaves do not have to be trucked to distant locations for dumping.
But the advantages of finding local leaf dump sites within the
Pascack
Valley are not just economic. “If we find a place to stockpile leaves, we can turn them into energy and mulch for gardens,” says Hoffmann, “ The objective is to take leaves, a renewable resource, and make them work for people.” He suggests that the municipalities of the
Pascack
Valley pool their resources to come up with leaf processing alternatives, such as “tub-grinding,” to turn them into mulch, and possibly even extracting methane gas from decomposing leaves.
These options, of course, would require the municipalities to approach authorities who regulate leaf disposal at the state level, but Hoffmann seems optimistic that with their combined strength, the shared services consortium could make headway in this area in the future. “The more we can do turning leaves into energy… To me, it’s a triple-crown winning concept.”
The consortium is involved in a number of smaller initiatives aimed at improving quality of life for
Pascack
Valley residents. One of these projects, the responsibility of Karns, is to review options and eventually procure equipment to control geese. One alternative method of deterring geese from landing in parks and on fields that Karns is investigating involves the use of concentrated strawberry juice.
Karns says he is also looking into methods of controlling and limiting breeding among the winged menaces. By the way, according to Karns, “they are no longer even called ‘ geese,’ since they don’t migrate; they stay all year round.” Regardless of what they are called, says Karns, the geese population must be controlled, and the consortium is looking at valley-wide solutions.
“One of the nice things about our shared services group,” says Hoffmann, “there is a synergy and energy that has developed that will help us to help every resident of the
Pascack
Valley .” But he is not fooled into thinking it will be an easy undertaking. “It takes a lot of man-hours to set this stuff up… People have to understand we need time to do it, but it will be successful.”
Not all of the
Pascack
Valley towns have passed resolutions to authorize the cooperative pricing agreement, according to Hoffmann. But Sandve said, “Hopefully all the towns’ resolutions should be in by the end of the month.”
Woodcliff
Lake passed a resolution on Jan. 21, as did River Vale, on Jan. 14, and Old Tappan plans to pass a similar resolution at the council meeting on Jan. 22.
Hoffmann said that Westwood’s Mayor and council plans to review the resolution on Jan. 29. If passed, Westwood will be named the “lead agency” of the cooperative, meaning that it will be responsible for collecting bids in the name of the cooperative.
Karen F. Mrnarevic's e-mail address is Mrnarevic@northjersey.com.
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