Brush disposal contract renewed

NEW LONDON – The New London Common Council approved the renewing of a contract with DTAK for brush disposal services at a cost of $12,500.
The council approved the contract when it met, Feb. 18.
At the Board of Public Works/Sewer Utility Commission meeting held Feb. 2, Robert Garske, director of Public Works for the city of New London, told the committee that if the city had a storage area for brush, the city would have more options for bringing in contractors for bulk grinding, possibly twice a year.
“All I’m saying right now is our options are limited,” Garske said.
If DTAK would haul the city’s collected brush from a collection site, the charge to the city would be $22,000, Garske said. Under this scenario, the only thing the city would need to do would be to push up the brush pile from time to time.

DTAK is willing to renew its current agreement with the city for $12,500. Under this agreement, the city would continue to haul its brush to the DTAK site.
Garske recommended that the city renew its current agreement with DTAK, and then revisit the matter in the fall.
“At the end of the year I’ll have a good idea where we stand as far as the amount of passes that we sell (to residents) to the yard site,” Garske said.
He added that at the end of the year, there will be an opportunity to renegotiate with neighboring municipalities and townships who want to use the New London’s brush site.
“That option is in the works and I’ll bring that (to you) in the fall for sure,” Garske said.
Ald. Mike Barrington said the city had considered purchasing a brush grinder so city staff could do brush grinding. He asked if that was still under consideration.
Garske said the city did purchase a used brush grinder. He said the city does use it on the street and the city does chip “quite a bit” of brush.
“The problem is, it is during the busy season when a bulk of that (brush) is coming in, the staff is so busy trying to catch up on everything else, we don’t have time to run that,” Garske said.