Maplewood Township is on track to award a contract for weekly recycling that would begin on Monday, March 2.
Maplewood Assistant Township Administrator Cesar Correa reported that the bid was advertised last Friday with the opening of bids set for Tuesday, Feb. 10. A resolution for the award of the contract would be presented to the Township Committee at its Tuesday, Feb. 17 meeting.
The town had hoped to begin weekly recycling on Jan. 5; however, that plan was stalled when a losing contractor filed suit against the award of the bid to another contractor.
Maplewood Counsel Roger Desiderio reported tonight that the suit had been decided by Superior Court Judge Thomas R. Vena who ruled at a Jan. 23 hearing that neither Gaeta Recycling, which made the objection to the award of the contract, nor Bella Cleaning and Carting, which had been awarded the contract, “should be awarded the bid based on the contract specifications.”
The Township Committee held a hearing on December 16 on an objection made by Gaeta Recycling to the award of the 2015 Maplewood Recycling Pickup contract to Bella Cleaning and Carting. However, Township Committee members voted 3-2 to award the contract to Bella. Afterward, Gaeta filed an Order to Show Cause seeking to stop the award of contract to Bella, 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 extension ends at the beginning of March.
