Council: We Can't Spread Our Services Too Thin

With concerns over stretching Bridgewater workers too thin, the township council acted against a resolution to authorize a shared services agreement for engineering services between the township and Millstone Borough.

Township administrator Robert Bogart said the township was approached at the beginning of this year by the Millstone Borough administration, which was recently unable to reappoint its own long-term engineer.

“They asked us to consider a shared service, at least on a trial basis,” he said. “It would be a revenue raiser for us, although we can’t fully quantify it because the services are only done if and when they are needed.”

But the idea of raising revenue, however small, was not a draw for council members, who said that although they support shared services, they believe it would not be beneficial to Bridgewater residents to spread their available services too thin.

“I am not in favor of this, and I don’t think we have additional resources at this point to help out,” said councilman Matthew Moench. “I don’t think there is a profit margin that will have any meaningful impact for us, so I don’t want to see us spending resources on projects outside of Bridgewater.”

The agreement that was drawn up for the shared services agreement outlines hourly costs for Millstone to pay when using Bridgewater resources, including $114 for the municipal engineer, $100 for the chief assistant engineer and other lower costs.

Bridgewater Township engineer Tom Forsythe said travel time is also included in the costs, but council members said they are not sure this money justifies the time it would require for Bridgewater officials.

But Bogart said that, at this point, there have been no services requested, aside from putting together an application for grant money from the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

And, Bogart said, the agreement includes information about what projects Bridgewater would not take on.

“I had explained that the most we would agree to would be to do the shared service this year as a trial,” he said. “If the amount of work was moderate, it could be handled with some exceptions, and there are certain services we cannot provide.”

Bogart said he had worked out with the Millstone administration that Bridgewater would not be able to take on any large projects.

Councilman Dan Hayes emphasized that it is important to work on Bridgewater projects first.

“I’m in favor of helping out other townships, and the notion of hourly rates covers our expenses, but is there a goal to prioritize projects for Bridgewater?” he asked.

Bogart said Bridgewater residents wouldn’t see a reduction in priorities.

“We always have a backlog of projects, and the way we have explained it to Millstone is that certain types of projects we couldn’t do,” he said. “And we have told them that if the workload becomes such that it is a burden to Bridgewater, our township comes first.”

But there was no motion on the resolution, and the agreement was not authorized.