West Deptford Committee Dishes Out Contracts, Refunds At Work Session

The township committee approved a number of contracts on everything from catering to a new garbage truck at Thursday night’s work session.

The biggest, a pair of five-year lease-purchase agreements, were for a new trash truck, which was for $170,448 to H.A. DeHart & Son, Inc., and a new recycling truck, which was $127,406 to Robert H. Hoover & Sons, Inc. Both lease-purchase agreements were for the total cost, versus an annual lease cost.

Deputy Mayor Len Daws was quick to point out that both agreements represented a savings of about $30,000 versus financing the trucks’ purchase outright.

The committee also approved at $58,000 contract to Art Anderson, Inc., for repairs to the concession stand at West Deptford Park, after settling in the concrete base lead to flooding at the stand. Municipal engineer Ed Steck said the repairs, which include correcting the pitch of the concrete apron at the front of the building, should alleviate the flooding, and the repairs could start within about three weeks–well ahead of the fall season, a concern Daws raised.

Another pair of contract extensions went to Botto’s Italian Line Restaurant, for the right to cater inside RiverWinds Community Center and at the annual Street Fest concert series, which Daws said represented a savings of about $10,000. Botto’s had been award those contracts last year, Mayor Anna Docimo said, and were the only interested bidders.

The committee also voted to continue a lease agreement between the Thorofare Fire Department and the county for use of the fire hall as one of six locations for the nutrition program run by the Division of Senior Services, which Docimo heads.

They also voted to credit the water bills, and send refund checks to those who had since moved, for residents who were overcharged last year. Docimo said that the third quarter meter readings in 2010 were made beyond the normal 91-day period, which caused some residents to get charged at a higher tier than they would’ve been, had the readings taken place on time.

Finally, acting clerk Amy Leso was also reappointed by the committee for her second of three years, as part of state requirements governing acting municipal clerks.