Morristown is exploring whether to hire private haulers to replace municipal pickup of trash and recyclables.
“It’s really about dollars at this point,” town Administrator Michael Rogers told the town council Tuesday night.
Five haulers submitted bids last month. But the bidding must be repeated because the town posted an incorrect deadline on its website. The new deadline for bids is in December.
Mayor Tim Dougherty said bids will allow the town to ascertain whether it makes sense to scrap its own collection operation. “We will do a cost analysis to see which is cheaper,” he said.
The initial bids suggested “there are definitely some cost savings there,” Michael Rogers said.
Outsourcing trash pickups also might enable the town to eliminate its public works garage, behind Atno Avenue near Morristown High School. That would be a crucial step for the town’s Speedwell Avenue redevelopment project.
Revised plans call for apartments and a park on the garage site. A second public hearing on the revised Speedwell project is scheduled for Thursday at 7 pm at town hall.
Attempts by the prior town administration to relocate the public works garage in Hanover and Morris Township provoked opposition in those municipalities.
