{"id":3180,"date":"2019-08-11T19:13:55","date_gmt":"2019-08-11T19:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fairnessintaxes.com\/?p=3180"},"modified":"2021-09-01T17:29:00","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T17:29:00","slug":"talking-trash-in-ocean-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fairnessintaxes.com\/talking-trash-in-ocean-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking Trash in Ocean City"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FIT was well represented at the July 18, 2019 City Council Meeting, with Dave Breeden addressing the garbage collections. Dave Hayes pushed back on the City’s criticism of Mr. Breeden and stressed the importance of encouraging, rather than discouraging public discourse.<\/p>\n

Here’s an article from the Cape May Herald that covers the meeting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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OCEAN CITY \u2013 A packed holiday weekend in a seashore resort is usually seen as great news, but the huge crowds were cited as a reason for delays in trash and recycling collection.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Throughout the city, collection was delayed by days or more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThey are still not caught up as of today,\u201d City Administrator George Savastano said at the July 11 City Council meeting. Savastano does not typically offer reports to council at the meeting, but in this instance, he addressed the issue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s entirely unacceptable. We have provisions in our contract to assess damages. We are considering all of those things and others,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I want to assure the council that we are doing everything that we can do to compel compliance with the contract.\u00a0Quite frankly, today, it\u2019s the largest issue that we are dealing with as a municipality.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Trash collection is taken for granted, he said, until it is not collected.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mayor Jay Gillian reached out to residents through email and on the city\u2019s website. He stated the city was taking steps to ensure a similar situation does not happen again. He said the company, Gold Medal Environmental of Sewell, would double the size of the fleet of trash and recycling trucks to catch up with collections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ocean City collects trash twice a week from June 10 until Sept. 7, with the island divided into zones. According to Gillian\u2019s statement, the contractor had staff for the routes consistent with other years but was not able to keep up with the dramatic increase in trash and recycling.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Savastano said city officials have spoken to the contractor at length.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThey have offered their apologies and whatever. Again, no excuses. We don\u2019t accept those excuses and we\u2019re going to continue to do what we can to compel compliance with the contract,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The company is in the second year of a five-year contract to collect trash and recycling, at\u00a0$720,000 a year, according to city spokesman Doug Bergen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The city seemed close to maximum capacity over the four-day holiday. The next weekend, more crowds poured in for the Night in Venice boat parade over an exceptionally hot and sunny weekend.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Councilman Robert Barr raised concern over whether there would be new problems over the crowded weekend. Savastano said the company would double its staff to handle the increased demand.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cAnd they\u2019ve assured you that they will be adequately staffed this week?\u201d Barr asked.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThey\u2019ve assured us, but we also have our own resources. If necessary, we\u2019ll also put our own resources out too. If we have to, we\u2019ll enter into a shared service agreement and we\u2019ll get more trucks than we need from somewhere else. I\u2019m not saying where,\u201d Savastano said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He is also the administrator for Sea Isle City.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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No problems with trash collection were reported over the weekend of July 13 and 14.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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No one from Gold Medal Environmental immediately responded to a request for comment on this story.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Councilman Keith Hartzell also questioned how trash containers are handled after the trash is collected. He indicated they are thrown down in the street or alley.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s another complaint, that they throw things willy-nilly. We will deal with that as well. That is another issue. We have many issues that we are dealing with, with this contractor,\u201d Savastano said. He said the city has not been satisfied with the contractor for some time and is looking at legal remedies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cListen, they don\u2019t want to get in our crosshairs and now they are,\u201d Savastano said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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During public comment, resident Dave Breeden addressed the issue. Now the vice president of the organization, Fairness in Taxes, Breeden used to work for Ocean City\u2019s Public Works Department when Savastano led that department. Breeden also worked as the business administrator for Barnegat Township.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He questioned whether the city would seek damages under the contract.\u00a0He described trash collection as a basic municipal function.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI do know a little bit about solid waste,\u201d he said. He indicated that he had raised concerns with the contract before it was approved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Later in the meeting, Savastano said he had already made clear the city was looking at seeking damages.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI could have sworn I indicated to you guys, without saying that, without tipping our hand, we\u2019re looking at that. I thought I was pretty clear about that,\u201d he said. Without mentioning his name, Savastano seemed to criticize Breeden during comments at the meeting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cPeople come to these chambers and they purport to know all kinds of things about local government, purport to represent the taxpayers. I\u2019ve never been contacted by them. Not a question, not a suggestion. Nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He said he is usually content to listen to comments, even though he said many of the matters could be brought directly to the city administration rather than to council. Savastano said staff members are available to members of the public interested in learning or critiquing how operations are handled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0\u201cWe know what we\u2019re doing,\u201d Savastano said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Members of council lent their support to Savastano, including Hartzell, who praised the work Savastano has done and Councilman Mike DeVlieger.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI love you,\u201d said DeVlieger, drawing a laugh from Councilwoman Karen Bergen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cMe or George?\u201d asked Council President Pete Madden.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cGeorge,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Savastano said he spoke on behalf of his staff.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At the end of the meeting, FIT president David Hayes said the local government should welcome comment, calling the First Amendment a vital part of government. He said the city needs the free and open exchange of ideas, not just when it\u2019s convenient.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FIT was well represented at the July 18, 2019 City Council Meeting, with Dave Breeden addressing the garbage collections. Dave Hayes pushed back on the City’s criticism of Mr. Breeden and stressed the importance of encouraging, rather than discouraging public discourse. Here’s an article from the Cape May Herald that covers the meeting. OCEAN CITY …<\/p>\n

Talking Trash in Ocean City<\/span> Read More \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[87],"spectra_custom_meta":{"_edit_lock":["1568941796:6"],"_edit_last":["6"],"_wp_page_template":["default"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["80"],"site-sidebar-layout":["default"],"site-content-layout":["default"],"theme-transparent-header-meta":["default"],"stick-header-meta":["default"],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["30"],"_uag_page_assets":["a:9:{s:3:\"css\";s:263:\".uag-blocks-common-selector{z-index:var(--z-index-desktop) !important}@media (max-width: 976px){.uag-blocks-common-selector{z-index:var(--z-index-tablet) !important}}@media (max-width: 767px){.uag-blocks-common-selector{z-index:var(--z-index-mobile) !important}}\n\";s:2:\"js\";s:0:\"\";s:18:\"current_block_list\";a:2:{i:0;s:14:\"core\/tag-cloud\";i:1;s:11:\"core\/search\";}s:8:\"uag_flag\";b:0;s:11:\"uag_version\";s:10:\"1706048605\";s:6:\"gfonts\";a:0:{}s:10:\"gfonts_url\";s:0:\"\";s:12:\"gfonts_files\";a:0:{}s:14:\"uag_faq_layout\";b:0;}"],"rank_math_primary_category":["80"],"rank_math_news_sitemap_robots":["index"],"rank_math_robots":["a:1:{i:0;s:5:\"index\";}"],"rank_math_analytic_object_id":["55"],"rank_math_internal_links_processed":["1"],"_uag_css_file_name":["uag-css-3180.css"]},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"OC FIT GUY","author_link":"https:\/\/fairnessintaxes.com\/author\/meltaylor\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"FIT was well represented at the July 18, 2019 City Council Meeting, with Dave Breeden addressing the garbage collections. Dave Hayes pushed back on the City’s criticism of Mr. Breeden and stressed the importance of encouraging, rather than discouraging public discourse. Here’s an article from the Cape May Herald that covers the meeting. OCEAN CITY…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fairnessintaxes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3180"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fairnessintaxes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fairnessintaxes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fairnessintaxes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fairnessintaxes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fairnessintaxes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fairnessintaxes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fairnessintaxes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fairnessintaxes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}