NEWTON — The City Council on Monday approved an $80,000 upgrade to City Hall’s air conditioning, but postponed implementation of a plan to build its own auto shop for municipal vehicles.
The approval followed a heat wave that caused temperatures in North Jersey to soar above 90 degrees this weekend. At the municipal building, officials said, the building became so hot that workers would have been excused if they were on duty.
Before the council’s unanimous vote, Ludmilla Mecaj, a former council candidate, called the upgrade a “luxury” and said the city needed to “put up shades” and take other measures to control indoor temperatures.
In response to Mecaj’s comment, Councillor Helen Le Frois said: “I don’t believe our staff can work efficiently in a building without proper air conditioning.”
City Manager Thomas Russo said the building is currently served by two AC systems, one of which serves the council chambers and is newer.
Russo said the system being replaced is old “and we’ve gotten as much out of it as we can.”
Who pays for the replacement of lead water pipes?
Mecaj, and her running mate in the 2022 election, Margaret Baldini, also spoke at the public hearing about a local ordinance requiring property owners to cooperate with the city in checking all water pipes for lead or galvanized metal. State law requires that such pipes be replaced to prevent contamination of drinking water.
The two objected to articles in the ordinance that provide for fines and possible imprisonment for non-compliance. The city’s attorney, Eric M. Bernstein, responded that the penalties are state mandates and that the ordinance allows property owners to do the work themselves and provide the city with a certified statement of compliance.
Mayor John-Paul Couce said the state is already suing Trenton for its compliance with the law. Newton is investigating whether grants are available to cover the costs of replacing pipes from the service box to a property’s internal water meter, work the city is now doing.
The city owns the water system up to the service box. The remainder of the delivery is the responsibility of the property owner.
Two seats in the five-member council, currently occupied by Couce and council member Michelle Teets, are up for election this year. The period in which candidates can submit a nomination request has opened. The petitions are available from the municipal secretary. The deadline for submission is August 22.
Should Newton open its own auto shop?
The municipality postponed until July 15 for action to establish its own municipal auto mechanic shop at an initial cost of just under $52,000 for equipment.
Currently, the city sends its municipal fleet, including police vehicles, to a private company that has been doing vehicle work for the city for decades. However, that owner sold the company and the new owner raised prices.
Police Chief Steven VanNieuwland said the cost of tires has increased 40% and there was a recent incident where the battery cables in a police vehicle were installed backwards. The car suffered damage worth 6,000 euros and was out of service for some time.
He also noted that transferring to an out-of-town garage would require two officers and two vehicles for each trip to drop off and then pick up a vehicle.
Council members had been invited to submit detailed questions to staff, but on Monday they said they needed to study the matter further before making a decision.
The council, which normally meets on the second and fourth Monday of each month, has scheduled meetings on July 15 and August 19.
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Changes to waste collection discussed
Following the business portion of the meeting, the council also heard from solid waste expert Wayne DeFeo of DeFeo Associates on the general topic of municipal waste and recyclable waste collection.
Currently the city has a regular collection of recyclables, with a recycling collection point near Memory Park where people can bring their own bulk of recyclables. Residents are responsible for their own regular waste collection, known as a “subscription service”.
Russo invited DeFeo to the meeting because there was discussion about whether the city should consider changing a system that has been in use for years. He noted that individual property owners pay an average of about $35 per month for one of several private operators to collect their trash.
The other two options are for the city to take over those payments and hire a collector through a bidding process, or for the city to equip and hire people to run a municipal waste collection operation. DeFeo said the cost of just one modern dual-stream collection vehicle would be about $1 million with a “waiting list of many months.”
He also noted that in addition to the cost of specialized vehicles, there is also a need for a fleet of at least two rolling carts per stop in the city.
“No matter how you do it, someone has to pay for it,” DeFeo said,
While there were several questions from council members, there did not appear to be a strong interest in changing the current system and members also noted that the calls they receive about trash service are from new residents asking what services are available.
The city is “blessed that the model you’ve had all these years is working,” Russo said. Email: bscruton@njherald.com Twitter/X: @brucescrutonNJH
This article originally appeared in the New Jersey Herald: Newton approves $80,000 air conditioner repair at City Hall as temperatures rise
