Updated 12:30 p.m. February 24, 2015 to add information about the previous recycling contract.
Updated 12:34 a.m. February 18, 2015, to reflect that the term of the Gaeta Recycling contract is from March 1, 2015 to February 29, 2016.
The Maplewood Township Committee has awarded a contract for weekly recycling to Gaeta Recycling with pickup to begin Monday, March 2. Maplewood residents will enjoy weekly recycling pickup every Monday, and, when a holiday falls on a Monday, recycling will be picked up on Tuesdays.
Gaeta was the sole bidder for the contract, with a bid of approximately $263,000. The term of the contract is from March 1, 2015 to February 29, 2016.
Previously, F. Basso of Irvington provided recycling pickup every other week through a two-year contract (2013 and 2014) for $318,026.00.
The town had hoped to begin weekly recycling on Jan. 5; however, that plan was stalled when a losing contractor (Gaeta) filed suit against the award of the bid to Bella Cleaning and Carting, charging that Bella had not complied with the bid specifications and that Bella was not the lowest responsible bidder. In the meantime, the Township contracted with 2014 vendor Basso Recycling for continued bi-weekly recycling pickup. That contract expires at the end of February.
Maplewood Counsel Roger Desiderio reported on Feb. 3 that the suit had been decided by Superior Court Judge Thomas R. Vena who ruled that neither Gaeta nor Bella “should be awarded the bid based on the contract specifications.”
The contract was then rebid with bids being opened Feb. 10, but only Gaeta rebid. In fact, the Gaeta bid was for $20,000 more than its original bid last fall (Gaeta originally bid $243,400 and Bella bid $198,240; two other bidders came in higher than both Gaeta and Bella).
“This is not a situation that has been beneficial to the township in terms of cost,” said Desiderio at the Feb. 17 Township Committee meeting.
Despite the higher rate, Desiderio said that the Township had no choice other than to accept the bid: “In this instance we’re in a corner. We’ve got to get this awarded.”
Committeewoman India Larrier said, “It seems odd that Gaeta came in with a bid that is $20,000 more than last time. Is there anyway he knew in advance that he was the only bidder? He didn’t submit a lower bid [even though] he got beat out last time. Instead he submits a higher bid. That seems odd to me.”
Desiderio answered simply, “Yes.”
Mayor Vic DeLuca seemed to caution against speculation, “We don’t know why. We did everything we were supposed to do.”
Township Administrator Joseph Manning said that the Township did have “some ideas going forward on how to bring the cost down” that may involve changing the day of the week for pickup. He also said that the town would go out to bid much earlier for next year’s contract in order to get better rates.
