Call the Mayor to voice your dissent. Is this part of the "We want to shrink government until it fits in a bathtub" campaign? DPW provides most of the important services that make a society liveable - trash, snow plowing, leave pickup, recycling. I for one intend to contact the Mayor's office, or stop in at his gas station, to voice my concern for this proposal and my dissent. I encourage all who value the quality of life we enjoy in Mahwah to join me in this effort.

I have to give credit to mayor Laforet............he has successfully failed as Mayor of Mahwah

Mahwah works! Why would the Mayor and Council change something that we know works? I hope the residents turn out on Thursday (7/12/12) @ 8 Pm to voice their concerns. Don't fix something that isn't broken.

From what I understand hiring outside private contractors is cheaper than full time crew with sick days, paid holidays and vacation, health care, pension.
If we want our taxes to stay at current level it seems to be a logical move.
I have nothing against people working for DPW but there is a cheaper alternative.

Ed Sinclair...Mahwah needs you!!

@Ira.... You are correct. However, if the mayor wants to save, then save across the board. Rough figures show, that removing the recycling dept. would roughly save, 200 - 300 k......Great numbers IF NEEDED..... During our previous mayors stint in office, an order came down from the state, saying that Police overtime in court, FOR FIRST APPEARANCES, was no longer needed, in an attempt to save the towns money. "FIRST APPEARANCES ONLY" This saved our town almost 200 - 300 k in overtime costs. This was eliminated. OUR TOWN WAS SAVING MONEY. HOWEVER, the new mayor gets in, and the head of the police dept is now calling the shots,and GUESS WHAT....THE POLICE OVERTIME IS GIVEN BACK !!!! NOT ONE TOWN AROUND US DOES THIS. Mahwah does.......So Ira, ....i ask you......why pay 300k in OVERTIME costs to guys making 125k. That the state says is not needed,and ELIMINATE 7 employees that make around 50k ??? Is there any FAIRNESS in that ???? Is it worth you having your services cut back to cover overtime costs ??? The DPW employees are daytime firemen and ambulance personal. There are MANY other ways to save money in this township. The mayor is trying to sneak this past the public next Thursday. Nice guy. By the way, here are a few exact numbers for you. Police payroll w/out overtime 8.1 M. DPW Payroll 2.7 M But the DPW is where you want to cut ??? The Police do a great job, and there are great people there, but if you can cut overtime, to save jobs.... Its a no brainer.

@ Ira...whether the dpw workers stay or they contract the work out my understanding is there will be not a dime difference in your taxes. Point being sounds like Laforet is attacking the hard working dpw workers because of his personal agenda and nothing more

You are correct Jimmy John. I bet, if we get rid of the DPW personal, we won't even notice it in our taxes. I voted for this Mayor before. My husband and I will not vote for him this year. Thank god it was only for a 1 year term. We are tired of him attacking our volunteers, taking credit for things he doesn't derserve and now trying to lay off our township employees. I know alot of them, and am aware that most of them grew up in our township. This is no way to run a town. Hopefully things change in November.

DPW to suffer because the king has some stiff competition that knows more about this town and how its run than the present person who thinks he is GOD,thats not the way its done mayor laforet.

Amen ref

Let's save some money by not lighting the ballfield on East Ramapo Ave when it's daylight and not in use. There are some major lights on that field.

My only comcern is Laforet already sent the contract out to bid....his mind is already made unless there is a public out cry

Can't we leave well enough alone? Let's keep the small town feel of Mahwah, by having our neighbors be the ones that work in Mahwah. Do you really think people that work for another company are going to care what kind of job they do? No - it's when it's your town that you are 'in charge of' that you take pride. If anything, it would be nice to have the sanitation workers be from Mahwah again!

Thats what I dont understand you have mahwah people working in mahwah......why would you want some company from paterson in mahwah...who knows what could go on

It is my understanding that the "mayor" cannot award any type of contracts without the approval of the council. Come on ED Sinclair we need you to save our town from this type of nonsense.

I'm sorry I missed the cutoff for filing to run . This town cant afford to get screwed up too much more .

If the mayor really wants to make an impact on the budget, he should be concentrating his efforts on the biggest expenses. Every township service is run on a mere 23.4% of our tax bills. The School system takes 60.7% nearly 3 times as much. A better strategy for cost cutting would be to concentrate on the schools exclusively, or at least make cuts across the board and at comparable rates. For every dollar of cuts to town services three should be made to the schools.

The School Board is the body that is responsible for the local school taxes. The mayor has no control over that process.

Maybe you should find out the real facts Mr. Schmidt unless you believe everything your told

@ Andy the mayor wanted to disban the ambulance because mister blank of mpd thought it would bring money to the town, from his vast experience with oem in Paramus now look back last year the ambulance corps gave back 200k for there budget to help the town out and was also told to look at a program to bill the people for there services. All at mister blanks suggestion and trying to run the town, and so you know this isn't being pulled out of anyone's hat just ask any ambulance member and they will tell you the same stuff

Mr. Schmidt, you obviously like to state facts by posting links on patch. Please be aware that you are only posting, and quoting the END RESULT. What you don't include about the ambulance , is the Mayor tried to break them apart. The mayor, just like recycling saw dollar signs. He always states that he's a business man. The town obviously doesn't want a business man to turn a profit, they want a leader who will keep services where they are, and keep taxes level. The main issue at the heart of the ambulance, was CHARGING RESIDENTS FOR SOMETHING THAT IS FREE NOW....the mayor then ( being sneaky as normal ) tried to say that only third part billing would be used.. he tried to tell little old ladies that it would be ok to "not to pay the bill ...it would simply go away. The ambulance fought back....and he caved as well.

Please also be aware....THE MAYOR RAN ON TRANSPARENCY ....if the mayor is so transparent, then why is the DPW telling the residents about the possibility of outsourcing, something as important as recycling... SHOULDN'T THE MAN YOU ELECTED AS YOUR MAYOR ASK FOR THE PEOPLES INPUT ??? There is the possibility of 7 town employees being fired.....do you think mayor has told any of his employees ???? The DPW part of your tax bill is tiny...when he gets rid of recycling it equates to less than one "tax point" of savings....THERE WILL BE NO CHANGE IN YOUR BILL......so I ask you,...WHY...and the reason is simple.... He is not the one calling the shots....there is a man who sits in a corner office in town and despises the DPW and volunteers.....When the mayor took office, he wasn't even aware of how many ambulance squads we had in town....he couldn't put a budget together...I.e the blue ribbon panel...and he sure as heck doesn't know the long term disaster the town will have by letting an already skeleton crew at the DPW lose more men. ..The mayor has not sat on the council one day...he is lost....in his short term he has tried to change things that never should have been changed...you want to save money...go line item by line item....

Running a business is about profit. Running a Government is about providing services. If you cut local staff, you will cut services. There is no such thing as getting more for less. You get less for less. Think about candy bars. They charged the same, but the contents inside the wrapper was more cardboard than candy. Now, you can buy the same size candy but it costs more. They call it the "super size". Its a trick to keep you buying into their Bull*#@!,

Why not sell or rent out the empty house across from Winters pond (which the township owns).

@SaveYourDPW
"7 DPW staff being let go...That is 7 Firemen"

Since you are on the inside and have access to the exact employee count and even their volunteering - you obviously know each of these persons and can help us understand the gravity of the situation.

How many of these 7 employees will be reaching retirement within the year? Obviously, those persons would be "lost" to the DPW anyway, regardless of any privatizing - and their decision to volunteer upon retirement would still be the same.

@ ANDY....we all know that you are a supporter of Laforet.....We have seen your name in his ads.....So we know whos team your on....and thats fine..... We will not debate you on here.....Come Thursday. But i will say....the people being laid off...NOT ONE IS NEAR RETIREMENT AGE....You dont know how layoffs work in town.....CALL BILL....HE DOES HIS HOMEWORK !!!

I believe the 7 are the last 7 hired so none are close to retirement

And the 7 doesnt count the ones who will retire and those spots prob wont be filled either thanks to mr cant run a town

It's common practice to low-ball a bid to win a contract. Once you're in, you just keep raising your prices. I think that 200-300k savings would shrink to nothing in short order. Meanwhile, when the next hurricane hits, or when the snow starts piling up because the DPW no longer has the manpower or ability to call in the reserves, how important do you think that estimated savings of $2 per month, per taxpaying household is going to be? I don't know about you, but if I had to pay someone to pick up and haul away all the brush at my house after Irene, it likely would have cost me a thousand dollars or more.

The mayor just announced this morning that as part of his proposal...

"...just ONE employee MAY lose their job, while others will assume duties in other departments in the Township."

Also, Council President John Spiech said “This had been in the air, back as far as Mayor Martel”.

So - now that the FACTS about the ACTUAL proposal are out, will anyone be man/woman enough to retract their false claims?

The mayor caved to a public outcry that he was not expecting. Exactly what an elected official should do (in most cases). Good for him. Now, my curiosity is truly piqued as to how he plans to privatize recycling AND retain 6 out of 7 DPW employees and still save us money. Stay tuned.......

Put it in perspective with what we pay annually to retirees:

Mahwah’s $100,000 Club – Retired Public Employees

http://newjersey.watchdog.org/2012/04/03/100k-sidebar/

Name Pension/Yr Employer at Retirement
MONTESANO, CHARLES V $131,190 MAHWAH BD OF ED
KOYAK, WILLIAM $115,077 MAHWAH TOWNSHIP
VANECK, ALLAN $108,206 MAHWAH BD OF ED
OKEEFE, DENNIS J $103,931 MAHWAH TOWNSHIP
HANRATTY, PATRICIA A $101,970 MAHWAH BD OF ED
ALDERISIO, SAMU $100,056 MAHWAH TOWNSHIP

Have they contributed to their pension plans through salary deductions?

WOW!!! and all those named above did their time when Mahwah twp. was considered a sleepy bedroom community in North Jersey. I wonder what the property tax scenario would be like, if there had been responsible and just financial administrtion. Does the Blue Ribbon Panel have any suggestions for reforming the retirement structure for this Mahwah Metropolis.

I'm so glad we get another chance to vote for a mayor in November. Hopefully
we have a choice that's good. Not one that will take away our services. They are
important to the every day working person. I don't want less street clean up or
to get rid of my own leaves or pay to have them picked up by a landscaper, I have
to get to work early even in bad weather as a nurse. I don't want this town to become like some of the others around here.