Sussex close to outsourcing DPW

Hardyston pitches its services to borough, By Terry Ann Zander Sussex — In a move that could save Sussex Borough as much as $80,000 a year, the borough is considering outsourcing DPW services to Hardyston Township. Robert Schultz, Director of Public Works for Hardyston, made his pitch to provide Department of Public Works (DPW) services to Sussex Borough at the March 16 council meeting. Sussex Borough currently employs three full-time and one part-time DPW employees. With the recent announcement of longtime DPW supervisor Hank Hotalin’s retirement in June, borough officials began to explore outsourcing the services or hiring a replacement for Hotalin. Wantage and Vernon DPW departments were contacted for proposals. Hardyston was called after both proposals “came back very high,” said Borough Clerk Catherine Gleason. The proposed services are meant to “enhance the services of your DPW and to make it more efficient,” Hardyston’s Schultz said. “We want to look at what you do currently and do it more wisely. We need to learn what you need and address it as we go along,” he said. If approved, the borough’s existing full-time DPW employees would become employees of Hardyston. Sussex’s Mayor Chris Parrott said he considered Sussex Borough to be more of an “urban” community with a main street and business area with sidewalks. “We do not offer a lot of services to our town except for our police department. We do offer excellent DPW services; that (is) one service we do offer,” said Parrott. When listing what the community wanted from a such services, he noted that clear access to St. Clare’s Hospital in town, “is a top priority.” Going over the details Parrott had a prepared list of questions he asked Schultz to address in his presentation. He asked whether the Hardyston proposal would include: clearing snow from fire hydrants bulk garbage pickup the installation of holiday decorations on Main Street Schultz answered many of those questions in the same way: “We will look at it. It’s a learning process to see how things are done here.” Council members asked Schultz to explain some of the reports his department generates and respond to questions about the “efficiencies” he spoke of during his presentation and in the written proposal. Schultz described technology his department uses that leads to efficiencies. For instance, Hardyston’s DPW uses a GPS system to gather data on snow removal routes including average speed to and from the DPW garage. He also spoke about a software device that controls the spread of snow melting materials on the road depending on the conditions. “All of this data helps us to plan and budget our expenditures and in the long run makes us more efficient,” he said. Other cost-cutting and efficiency measures mentioned by Schultz included fuel and materials purchasing agreements, waiving administrative fees generally associated with purchases and use of Hardyston’s DPW equipment. “Hardyston has a lot of equipment we don’t have here,” commented Sussex Borough Clerk Gleason. “We will be able to use their equipment and resources with this agreement.” The proposal is currently being reviewed and an agreement could be inked by May 1.