The Sanatoga Post

Graphic from Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township

A Saturday mailing includes Lower Pottsgrove's trash collection calendar for next year

Mascaro's postcard

NORRISTOWN PA – Although little has changed in what, how, when or where garbage and recyclables are collected in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township, under its new trash hauling contract with J.P. Mascaro and Sons of Audubon PA, the company paid to print and mail on Saturday (Dec. 17, 2011) glossy, full-color postcards to township residents that describe what it called “important information” about its services.

What may be most important to property owners, according to township Manager Rodney Hawthorne, is that they’ll pay less for collection during 2012. The deal with Mascaro reduces annual collection costs next year by $17, compared to 2011.

The contract renewal – Mascaro did the work for the past five years as well – is not mentioned in the postcard. It does, however, supply a full-year calendar (above) of pick-up days (all Mondays, with three holiday exceptions) and yard waste collections (highlighted by an orange-colored leaf).

It also addresses when items may and may not be placed at the curb, how to contact Mascaro for bulk item pick-ups, and how its single-stream recycling program operates. Much of the same information is found on the township website, here. The mailed piece in its entirety also can be found at the website, here.

Related:

• One Mailing Across Township You May Not Want To Trash
• Township Budget Final, Approved With Average $31 Hike
• Township Says It Won’t Reconsider Rejected Trash Bids
• Lower Pottsgrove Back To Drawing Board On Trash
• 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

SANATOGA PA – A plea by one of the area’s largest trash haulers to have the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Board of Commissioners reconsider its rejection of all garbage collection contract bids opened earlier this month was itself rejected Thursday (Nov. 17, 2011) by a majority of board members, who said they were willing see what a new round of bidding brings.

J.P. Mascaro attorney William Fox

Officers of and the attorney for Norristown-based hauler J.P. Mascaro and Sons tried in vain to convince commissioners to not only look again at bids submitted by their company and two others, but also to award them the contract as lowest bidder. The board declined, in a 3-1 vote.

At issue is how much the township and its property owners will pay during the next three to five years to have their garbage, leaf waste and bulk items like used appliances picked up weekly. Mascaro has done the work for the past eight years; it and two other bidders, Waste Management and Republic Services, are vying for the same opportunity through at least through 2015.

Township Solicitor R. Kurtz Holloway claimed “material defects” were found in all three bids once they were opened, and on his advice commissioners voted Nov. 3 to dismiss them all. The board decision Thursday – commissioners Jonathan Spadt, Michael McGroarty and James Kaiser reaffirmed the rejection; James Phillips favored reconsideration; and Bruce Foltz was absent – allows it to wait for new bids expected Nov. 30.

Its vote followed a half-hour discussion by Mascaro attorney William Fox of the legal intricacies of bid rejection and acceptance. Fox’s two points:

• The board had the authority to reverse its rejection and accept a bid; and, he contended,
• Mascaro should be chosen as the lowest bidder because of its submitted price of $274 per household per year for one-day-a-week pickups.

Holloway generally agreed with Fox’s tutorial on applicable law, and congratulated him on his eloquence. What it didn’t change, Holloway added, were “several” problems with all three bid submissions that were severe enough, in his opinion, to recommend against acceptance.

The board also offered no comment on a request to defer any action on accepting trash bids until after newly elected commissioners were sworn into office. It came from former Commissioner Stephen Klotz, who again won election to the board and will be seated in January.

Related:

• Township Says It Won’t Reconsider Rejected Trash Bids
• Lower Pottsgrove Back To Drawing Board On Trash
• 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’ Nov. 17 meeting):

• Township Says It Won’t Reconsider Rejected Trash Bids
• Buchert Ridge Reps Expected At Township Meeting

SANATOGA PA – Area trash haulers and Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township commissioners are going back to the drawing board to draw up a new set of bids for garbage collection across the township in coming years.

Commissioners, at the suggestion of Solicitor R. Kurtz Holloway, placed an advertisement today (Monday, Nov. 7, 2011) to again seek quotes for the “collection, hauling and disposal of municipal waste, recyclable materials and leaf waste, with (a) bulk trash option” from more than 3,000 township properties and four municipal locations. Bidders are being asked to quote on providing services for a minimum of three, and as many as five, years.

The ad appears in The (Pottstown PA) Mercury, Lower Pottsgrove’s publication of record for legal notices.

The board has sought these bids before, and hoped to consider awarding a contract last Thursday (Nov. 3) during the first of its two monthly meetings at the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd. That didn’t happen, because a majority of commissioners heeded Holloway’s advice and rejected all three bids submitted. He claimed all had significant problems, the Pottstown Patch online news service reported.

• Read a story by reporter Brian Zarley, titled “Trash Talk Turns Heated” and published Thursday by The Patch, here.

Holloway even proposed the township conduct an information session on how and why the bids must be improved and resubmitted by any hauler that wants its business. The meeting is  reportedly scheduled for this afternoon at 1:30 p.m., also in the municipal building.

Commissioners clearly had hoped to have the trash contract behind them as the end of the year approaches, in part to complete the township 2012 budget. Board Vice President Bruce Foltz voted against the motion to reject; board member James Phillips suggested the bids be tabled rather than rejected, The Patch said.

The board now hopes to award a contract by Nov. 30.

Related:

• Lower Pottsgrove Back To Drawing Board On Trash
• 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’ Nov. 3 meeting):

• Lower Pottsgrove Back To Drawing Board On Trash

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

SANATOGA PA – Give James Kaiser credit as a man who can sift through garbage and create a valuable checklist from what he finds.

Kaiser – a member of the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Board of Commissioners – did not physically picked though piles of refuse. He did, however, read the extensive compilation released earlier this month of residents’ answers to a survey on trash collection. Within its 70 double-sided pages, he claims, were a few golden nuggets.

From that report, Kaiser told board members Thursday (Aug. 18, 2011), has come a list of items that likely will form the basis of the township’s next contract with a waste hauler.

Lower Pottsgrove during March (2011) issued a 21-question survey about existing trash removal services. More than 960 people responded; some with compliments, some with complaints, and many with suggestions on what they want to see in whatever forthcoming deal commissioners sign with a hauler.

The current contract with Norristown PA-based J.P. Mascaro and Sons is due to expire. Commissioners want to solicit bids for future years’ hauling, from Mascaro and competitors, as quickly as possible so they can be evaluated “well before year-end” and in advance of work on the 2012 township budget, Kaiser said.

Most survey respondents generally hope to pay less for hauling services they already receive. That would be nice, Kaiser agrees, but may not be possible. What the township might accomplish, however, is to avoid a substantial hauling price increase by heeding residents’ suggestions.

Lower Pottsgrove will actively look, he said, at a choice of days other than Monday on which garbage is picked up. It may reduce its number of yard waste collections, and rely in part on a North Coventry PA compost vendor that says it will accept for free yard waste brought to its site. It may rethink how bulk items like stoves are collected.

Just as important, Kaiser noted, is what it probably won’t do. The township is unlikely to consider charging for garbage by the bag; a bookkeeping nightmare, commissioners said earlier. It probably also won’t limit the number of bags or cans that can be put out to the curb weekly. “The survey makes it clear people want the ability to get rid of more junk, not less,” he said in answer to a question.

His colleagues asked Kaiser to help prepare bid documents for board consideration during its Sept. 6 (Tuesday) meeting.

Related:

• 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 Aug. 18):

• Thanks To Survey Input, Township Preparing Trash Bids
• Pottstown Library Asks Township For Higher Funding
• Commissioners OK Pruss Hill Road Accidents Study
• July 2011 Warrants From Lower Pottsgrove Now Online
• Township Pays Two Attorneys In Police Discipline Case
• Road Re-Paving Is Coming; Just When Anybody’s Guess
• Township, An Unhappy Bank Customer, Goes Elsewhere
• Township May Put Money Where Authority’s Mouth Is

Illustration by The Post using Google Images

SANATOGA PA – Lower Pottsgrove officials know tons more about trash now than they did four months ago, and maybe even more than they ever wanted, following the recent release of results from a township residents’ survey. But they say they may also have gained new insight on ways to lower garbage collection costs, or at least keep them from rising too high too quickly.

Talkin’ trash – that is, answering the municipality’s March (2011) 21-question survey about refuse hauling services – turned out to be more popular among taxpayers than anyone might have guessed. More than 960 people replied, representing a 32-percent response rate. “We honestly did not expect that,” township Assistant Manager Alyson Elliott told the Board of Commissioners last week (Aug. 1).

More surprising, commissioners noted, was their depth of response. The compiled results create a booklet of 70 double-sided pages, with detailed comments on everything from the way garbage cans are handled (workers “break and we have to pay to replace them,” one author grumbled) to the size of recycling bins (“too small,” said another).

Most common, according to Elliott, were comments on cost. Respondents generally think Lower Pottsgrove’s garbage pick-up is too pricey. They seem to resent paying additional bills for the service, a change instituted in 2007.

Property owners now pay $142, or $71 semi-annually, for trash collection. A majority of those surveyed say a $100 price point is more reasonable; 24 percent are unwilling to pay more than $150; and a third want the entire cost included in their taxes even if it required a tax increase.

Beyond price:

• 65 percent of those surveyed claimed to be either satisfied or very satisfied with the service itself.
• Thirty-seven percent said they would use twice-weekly pick-up if it was offered, but most would prefer it at no added cost.
• A quarter want hauling of bulk items like appliances included in their trash service, rather than pay for it separately.
• Several supported a once-yearly bulk pick-up day, which they thought would be less costly.
• Respondents found curbside pick-up of Christmas trees and yard waste convenient, but many said they were will willing to drive five or fewer miles to a drop-off location, also if it would save money.
• Many want cardboard included as a recycling item.

The township questioned trash haulers, too, and learned it might save money by “making the waste removal day more flexible.” Haulers are uniformly busy at the start of a week – Mondays and Tuesdays, for example – but would be willing to re-examine their bids for a less worker-intensive day like Wednesday or Thursday.

Re-negotiation of Lower Pottsgrove’s five-year trash collection contract will start within the next two months, commissioners said. They survey gave them 12 different alternatives to discuss with providers.

Related:

• 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 Aug. 1):

• From Township Trash Survey, A Heap Of Interesting Ideas
• Commissioners Approve Tri-County Urologic Plans
• Five Township Corners Due For Curb, Signal Changes
• Sanatoga, Ringing Hill Busy With Volunteer Training
• Next Move On Keim Street Bridge Possible Next Week
• Several Report Interest In Township Planning Vacancy
• Army Band May Return, Thanks To Impressive Crowd
• Whack Away At Unsightly Weeds, Township Pleads
• July Tax Payments Trickle In At A Rate Of $528 Per Day
• Tax Settlements: An Awful Lot Of Paperwork To Net $677
• Lower Pottsgrove’s June 2011 Warrants Now Online
• Bridge, Guardrail Study Proposed For Pruss Hill Road
• Township 2009 Sex Offender Law ‘Might Not Stand Up’
• Commissioners OK KenCrest ‘Temporary’ Grenhouse
• Commissioners Gather For First August Meeting

SANATOGA PA -Pick-ups of garbage, recycled items, and leaf waste in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township won’t be regular or as normally scheduled during the Independence Day holiday weekend, township employee Jenifer Corley reported Tuesday (June 28, 2011) by e-mail.

Collections for all three have been moved for next week only to Tuesday (July 5), and will NOT be conducted Monday.

Trash barrels, recycling bins and appropriate leaf bags should be at curbside by 6 a.m. on Tuesday for pick up by crews of Lower Pottsgrove’s waste collection contractor, J.P. Mascaro and Sons of Norristown PA, Corley said.

The municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., and its administrative offices will be closed Monday, too. It reopens for business Tuesday at 8 a.m.

Photo from Google Images

SANATOGA PA -Pick-ups of garbage and recycled items in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township won’t be regular or as normally scheduled during the Memorial Day holiday weekend, township employee Jenifer Corley reported Friday (May 27, 2011) by e-mail.

Collections for next week only have been moved to Tuesday (May 31), and will NOT be conducted Monday.

Trash barrels and recycling bins should be at curbside by Monday night (May 30) for pick up Tuesday morning by crews of Lower Pottsgrove’s waste collection contractor, J.P. Mascaro and Sons of Norristown PA.

The municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., and its administrative offices will be closed Monday, too. It reopens for business Tuesday at 8 a.m.

Photo from Google Images

SANATOGA PA – A whole lotta Lower Pottsgrove residents seem to be talkin’ trash far more than the Board of Commissioners ever expected.

Public responses to a township survey of taxpayers’ opinions about its soon-to-expire garbage collection contract “are overwhelming,” Assistant Manager Alyson Elliott told commissioners during their Monday (May 2, 2011) meeting, and board President Jonathan Spadt readily agreed. “There’s a huge stack (of completed survey forms) in the office,” Spadt said while spreading his hands apart by about eight inches.

“It’s certainly not the quantity I expected to see,” he added.

Lower Pottsgrove circulated the survey with its March (2011) semi-annual bills for waste hauling, and asked property owners to suggest how they might “tweak” trash services as the township prepares to negotiate a new garbage collection contract. Its current five-year agreement with hauler J.P. Mascaro and Sons of Norristown PA expires this year.

Everybody, apparently, has opinions on the subject. Truth is, the township doesn’t know what they all are yet. “It’s going to take awhile to sort through the results,” and determine what trash collection features and price points people are most interested in, Elliott said.

Consequently, Spadt said, “there’s been no board conversations on the topic yet, either, but we’re certainly going to take these opinions into consideration.” One thing property owners probably should not expect: a price decrease.

If you haven’t submitted a trash survey, it’s not too late. The deadline is next Tuesday, May 10. Copies of the form are available from the municipal building 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA.

Related:

• 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 May 2):

• Township Didn’t Know You’d Have Trash On Your Mind
• Township Likely Faces Costs As Dispatch Radios Change
• Former Commissioner Seeks Warrants On Township Web
• Blue-Light Special: Tax Refund Due For Sanatoga K-Mart
• Stop Sign May Be Answer For Pruss Hill Road Crashes