The Berlin
Cit itiz ize en Volume 13, Number 29
Berlin’s Only Hometown Newspaper
Now it really is automatic By Olivia L. Lawrence Associate Editor Last week, residents had their choice of automated or manual trash pick-up — but no more. Town officials said they received no bids for manual service and from now on the town will be automated. “As of today, we are fully automated,” said Town Manager Denise McNair, adding, “I know some people are unhappy and I sympathize.” While there are a few kinks to work out of the new system and there will be some transition issues, she said “We’ll get through all this, too, and become a better town.” In a referendum vote June 23, voters said they wanted manual collection although the town already had an automated collection contract in place with Trash-Away. The referendum said that the town must seek out bids for
manual collection and if it received a bid that was not more expensive than automated, then it would go to manual. However, if there were no bids or if the bids were more expensive, it would go to automated. Town officials said they received no bids as of the 10 a.m. July 9 deadline. The Town Council held a meeting July 9 to discuss the status of the trash situation, but as there were no bids, Mayor Adam Salina said no action was necessary and that the town will proceed with the automated collection. “I feel bad for the people in Berlin because it confused a lot of people and it’s making it more difficult to implement the system,” said Peter Lombardo, president of Trash-Away. “It really wasn’t necessary, but in a short time everything will iron out and
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The home stretch
Citizen photo by Robert Mayer
Taylor Luciani, right, stomps on home plate after hitting a grand slam homerun in the Berlin Little League 12-year old All-Stars’ 12-5 victory over Yalesville in a championship round game played Monday night at Petit Field. For coverage of the baseball team and District 5 champion softball team, turn to the sports section on page 23.
See Trash, page 8
Proposal submitted by local builder came in too late By Olivia L. Lawrence Associate Editor Tom Coccomo says on behalf of himself and his brothers he put in a proposal to do manual trash collection for the town. While the proposal was flawed — and late — and thus not accepted, he believes it illustrates that manual collection is a viable option for the town. Town officials said Berlin has a structured formal bidding process and cannot deviate from the rules. “We thought maybe there’s an opportunity here
to do something,” said Coccomo who, in partnership with his brothers, has worked on real estate and development projects in town for many years. The legal notice seeking bids for manual trash collection went in The Hartford Courant June 29 and bids were due in the public works department by 10 a.m. July 9. “We have a standardized bidding form that all bidders are required to fill out so that every one plays on the same level field,” said Assistant Public Works Director Jim Horbal. He said the
town’s typical procedure is for potential bidders to record their interest on a sign-in sheet and to get a copy of the bid packet from the town manager’s office or from public works. The town needs to have contact information on the firm and its representative in case there are any addendums to the project. The bids are stamped by a time clock and “we’re not going to open up a bid past the deadline for obvious reasons,” Horbal said. At times, potential bidders are not familiar with the town’s bidding process,
Horbal said. He said the town only received one inquiry on the manual trash collection and that was from Dainty Rubbish Co. Middletown. One source close to the situation said Coccomo’s interest in providing the service cannot be considered a true “bid” as it does not meet the criteria set out by the town to ensure that the process is fair and valid. “There is no gray area,” when it comes to putting in a bid, said Deputy Mayor Steve Morelli. “I pulled it all together,
but not in the format (required by) the bid package — it was not perfect,” Coccomo said. He did not realize the deadline was 10 a.m. and had his wife hand-deliver the bid to town hall, at 6:30 p.m. July 9, thinking the bids were to be opened and reviewed when the Town Council met that night. But public works did not accept the documents she brought in. In the meantime, Coccomo said he e-mailed the information to Horbal, Corporation Coun-
See Proposal, page 7