SANATOGA PA – To ensure Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township can attract more than just one bidder for its garbage collection business, the Board of Commissioners said Monday (Oct. 3, 2011) that it’s willing to consider having a hauler pick up trash over a two-day period.
Don’t worry; there’s no guesswork involved. If a multiple day pick-up schedule is ultimately accepted, property owners north of Buchert Road would have their garbage collected on Day One, and those south of Buchert on Day Two. The winning bidder, most likely, would specify the days involved.
Getting multiple bidders involved is what commissioners ardently hope for, as they negotiate a new contract for waste hauling in coming years. The current contract, soon to expire, is held by Norristown-based J.P. Mascaro and Sons. None on the board have openly criticized Mascaro, but they’ve made it clear they want other firms involved in the negotiations to gain some bargaining leverage and lower costs.
Several potential bidders attended an initial meeting earlier this week to review the Lower Pottsgrove’s requirements. All but one clamored for the multiple day option as a way to cut their expenses and, in return, those of the township. Without it, Solicitor K. Kurtz Holloway explained, the firms’ representatives indicated they probably wouldn’t be interested.
“So we run the risk of not getting competitive bids if we don’t do more than one day,” Commissioner Michael McGroarty said. Holloway agreed. “Probably should do that,” McGroarty added.
There’s a precedent for multiple day pick-ups, Manager Rodney Hawthorne noted. Over slightly more than a decade the township has had as many as four, and as few as one, pick-up days scheduled. Buchert Road was the dividing line then too.
Commissioners agreed to “split out multiple days as a bidding option,” as Holloway put it, and create a sort of bidder’s smorgasbord intended to elicit more than one price quote from the competing companies. Another meeting with bidders is planned for next week.
Related:
- Township Bends To Give Garbage Bidders Choices
- Thanks To Survey Input, Township Preparing Trash Bids
- From Township Trash Survey, A Heap Of Interesting Ideas
- Township Didn’t Know You’d Have Trash On Your Mind
- Trash Talkin’: Township Wants Opinions On Messy Topic
- Lower Pottsgrove Seeks Suggestions In A Trash Survey
Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Oct. 3):
- Township Bends To Give Garbage Bidders Choices
- The Problems At Pruss Hill Lurk Beneath Its Bridge
- Police Detail At Limerick Hearings Cost $1,468
- Pruss Hill Bridge Might Re-Open With Weight Limit
It’s about time. Now maybe we can get real service for the expense. Mascaro has overstayed their welcome.