Residents packed City Hall to speak out against the plan. Watch video
HACKENSACK -- City officials insisted their meeting Tuesday night was just about gathering information about a plan to privatize solid waste removal in Hackensack.
They ended up getting an earful.
Residents packed City Hall in opposition to the plan, which officials hope will help the city save on the nearly $2 million cost of replacing six aging garbage trucks. Mayor John LaBrosse told NJ Advance Media on Wednesday that officials have not made a decision either way on the plan and that they would take residents' views into account.
"That's the way it's supposed to work in municipal government and everything that was said last night will definitely be taken into consideration," LaBrosse said.
The city has issued a request for proposals from private companies. Under the bid specifications, a private company would take over solid waste disposal, while the city Department of Public Works would continue to handle recycling, leaf collection, snow plowing and street sweeping.
City officials must weigh the cost of replacing and maintaining its trucks against the possibility of laying off some of its 30 sanitation workers if a private company takes over. Hackensack has spent upwards of $350,000 a year to maintain its fleet, LaBrosse said.
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The bid specifications require any company that takes over to offer full-time jobs to workers who lose their positions due to privatization, James Mangin, chief financial officer for the city, said Tuesday night.
The Rev. Gregory Jackson, pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church, raised the racial implications of privatization at the meeting. Most of the minorities employed by the city work in the sanitation department and would be most affected by the plan, he said.
"If you privatize the sanitation department, you literally destroy any kind of equity in terms of racial equity in our community," he said.
Mark McCart, a labor representative for United Public Service Employees Union, which represents Hackensack sanitation workers, said the community would continue to be a presence at council meetings until bids are opened Aug. 17. The workers, meanwhile, must cope with the uncertainty of their situation.
"These guys have no idea if they have a future or if they don't have a future," he said Wednesday.
McCart also spoke at the council meeting. He noted that private sector workers, unlike public workers, have the right to strike. Sanitation workers have had no contract with the city for two and a half years, he said.
"Your trash still gets picked up," he said.
LaBrosse said the city would continue to be transparent, even suggesting that officials might open the bid envelopes in public if necessary.
Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.