March 02, 2008
BY JIM LOCKWOOD Star-Ledger Staff
Sparta voters will head to the polls March 11 for a special referendum on whether the township council should create a town wide garbage collection system. The proposal has generated stiff opposition, split the five-member council and continued to boil over since a pair of raucous marathon hearings on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 that were dominated by residents speaking out against the plan.
Opponents of the plan -- many of whom prefer to take their trash themselves to the nearby county landfill -- say they can dispose of their trash at a fraction of the cost they'll pay under the new plan.
They resent being forced into a system that would sock them with a higher garbage bill.
"Why can't I opt out?" resident Ed Prol asked the council at a meeting Tuesday.
Proponents insist it's a very good deal for the vast majority of residents in town. They say a choice to opt-out doesn't exist in such town wide collection plans.
"We're looking for solutions for 20,000 people," Sparta Mayor Michael Spekhardt said. A town wide collection would cost each household $240 a year, and would represent a savings to residents of $3 million over three years -- while providing more service, Spekhardt said.
The average trash hauling bill is about $350 a year, but some residents pay upwards of $400 or $500 a year, the mayor said.
The referendum stems from the council's pair of 3-2 votes on Dec. 1 that passed an ordinance creating a garbage billing utility and a resolution awarding a three-year, $4.5 million hauling contract to Blue Diamond Disposal of Mount Arlington, the lower of the two hauling bids received. Spekhardt, Manny Goldberg and Brian Brady approved the planks, while Councilmen Scott Seelagy and Jerry Murphy voted no.
The decision led to the formation of a civic group, No on Garbage, which organized a successful petition drive in December that forced the council to either repeal the ordinance or put it before voters in a referendum.
Animosity has grown between the council majority and No on Garbage leader Jesse Wolosky.
He also heads a separate petition committee that recently filed a notice of intent to launch a petition drive to recall Spekhardt.
At Tuesday's council meeting, Spekhardt strongly denounced the recall effort and called Wolosky a hypocrite by saying he claims to champion the Democratic process, but had not even been a registered voter until Dec. 5.
Wolosky responded, "So what. I registered on Dec. 5 to vote."
Spekhardt also questioned Wolosky's residency in the township, but has since been satisfied that he is in fact a resident.
