By JIM LOCKWOOD
STAR-LEDGER STAFF
In a stunning about-face, the Sparta Township Council has announced that it has not yet signed a contract for a controversial new plan for a town wide garbage collection system due to a petition drive against the plan.
Furthermore, if the petition is successful and leads to a referendum - and if residents vote the plan down - the council then would not sign the three-year, $3 million hauling contract - and the trash plan would be dead, officials said yesterday.
A Dec. 1 resolution awarding the contract is not binding, and the council could choose not to sign the contract and rescind the resolution, and the town would not face any legal or monetary ramifications, said township Attorney Thomas Ryan.
"If a referendum loses, they will choose to not sign the contract," Ryan said. "There are no consequences to the municipality if they choose not to go forward with the contract."
However, if the petition fails to garner the 578 required signatures, or even if it succeeds and residents pass the proposal, then it’s back to the original plan, and the contract would be executed.
Mayor Michael Spekhardt said the council switched gears "to recognize the petition. We're just dealing with these things as they come up. We'll just take it one step at a time." Last week, Spekhardt said that even if the petition drive was successful, it would not kill the trash plan.
Ryan said last week that the petition could only rescind an ordinance establishing a garbage "utility" that was being created as a way to pay the hauling contract by billing each household $230.
Even if the petition succeeds, the hauling contract "would still stand" and the funds to pay it would instead have to come out of taxes.
However, at its meeting Tuesday night, the council revealed that it actually has not yet signed the contract with the hauler, Blue Diamond Disposal of Mount Arlington, and the execution of the pact has been delayed due to concerns about the petition succeeding.
Instead, the council now will ask Blue Diamond for a contract extension, to perhaps around April 1, when presumably the petition and possible referendum would be over. Blue Diamond owner John Shortino Jr. said yesterday he had been waiting to receive a signed contract from the township and he was not aware of the council's new stance. But he said he would agree to extend the contract. "If they were to ask me for an extension, I'm sure I would grant one," Shortino said. "We would accommodate the township. I understand there's a lot going on and they need to sort it out."
The council reversal is the latest issue stemming from the garbage controversy that has galvanized opposition.
On Dec. 1, after two marathon hearings dominated by residents speaking out against the plan, a split council voted 3-2 on a pair of measures: an ordinance creating a garbage utility and a resolution awarding a contract to Blue Diamond.
In the aftermath, resident Jesse Wolosky and four others mounted the petition drive and began collecting signatures.
Wolosky said of the latest turn of events, "The council has no credibility anymore.
" Meanwhile, the presence of petitioners in some public retail places and at the Sparta Public Library has raised questions by some business owners and a library official who called police inquiring whether petitioners needed to receive permission or if their activities had to be allowed, Sparta Police Chief Ernie Reigstad said.
Police officers who respond are telling businesses that petitioners do not need permission and what they are doing is allowed.
