No, not that one!
I don’t think the proposed $2.6 million contract with cAshBritt is going anywhere tomorrow night. I could be wrong, but I think in light of all the dirt that has come to light about cAshBritt’s “marketing” practices, that job will now have to be bid out. At least I hope so.
But what I’m talking about has nothing to do with the current clean up. I’m saying to prepare for the next storm by bidding out every year, or every two years, a contract with one or more companies to cart away storm wreckage at a set rate for the life of the contract. This way we wouldn’t need to negotiate under duress with great pressure to get anyone here, at any price, to get the mess cleaned up right away.
There’s all sorts of state and local laws designed to prevent hanky-panky with the way our local officials spend our money. But in an emergency many of those protections are suspended. And with the massive amount of storm-related spending, numbers that probably come to half a normal year’s budget, that’s when we need those protections the most!
Bid out the clean up for the next storm now. And give the contract to the lowest bidder or bidders. Let cAshBritt and Ferriera do their “marketing” someplace else.
* I see there’s a story in the Asbury Park Press today about Sweeney chiding Chris Christie for not having clean-up contracts in place before the storm. Well Sweeney’s been in the Senate for a number of years. He never said anything. Corzine never said anything. And I won’t criticize Matt Doherty for it because I never thought of it either. Let’s just do the right thing now going forward.
One Comment
I do not agree with the concept of bidding out contracts prior to something happening.I think this would restrict the number of companies who would or could bid on such unknown situations. Any smart business person would have to make a higher bid so as to safeguard his business.It potentially could cost a company to always be prepared for an emergency. Then there is the problems with who, and for how long emergencies are called for. Apparently Belmar is still in an emergency. What are the criteria? To me it is simple to see that a pre bid contract would be dangerous for all concerned.
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