Foster: Public Works Trucks In Bad Shape

The fleet of trucks in the Public Works Department is old and beginning to fail, according to Committeeman Jeffrey Foster.

In the past month, six trucks were taken off the road for major repairs, Foster said during the Township Committee’s workshop session on Wednesday.

For example: A 1999 Volvo truck with 308,000 miles blew a transmission and rear end, keeping it out for two weeks; an exhaust problem sidelined for two days another 1999 Volvo with 290,000 miles. Another truck had to have its frame re-welded because of the wear and tear, Foster said.

“These are the things we’re going to have to worry about in the future,’’ Foster said.

A number of the trucks are coming to the end of their useful lives, Foster said, and may not be worth repairing.

“It’s going to cost us more money to fix them than it would be to replace them, in the long run,’’ he said.

Foster is a proponent of a plan floated last year to re-structure the Public Works Department.

As part of that $3.3 million plan, the township would buy a new fleet of garbage trucks for estimated $1.925 million. The new trucks use machinery, not human workers, to collect household garbage. The ‘one-armed bandits’ as they’re called, also require an investment of about $1 million to buy and distribute specific garbage cans to each resident in town that the new trucks require.

“With the new modern technology I recommend,’’ Foster said, “it’s going to be more efficient, better fuel economy and its cleaner for us.”