Fair Haven and Rumson to Share DPW Services

The neighboring boroughs of Fair Haven and Rumson will now share more than borders and a high school. The boroughs announced jointly on Wednesday that they will enter into a shared service agreement for specific engineering and public works services.

The plan will include:

• engineering services
• brush disposal, processing and recycling
• parks and grounds maintenance
• street sweeping 
• catch basin cleaning. 

According to a press releaser issued by Fair Haven Borough Administrator Theresa S. Casagrande, Fair Haven will provide specific engineering services to Rumson at an agreed upon hourly rate through its in house engineering department. Rumson Mayor John Ekdahl said his borough will continue to use T&M Associates as it's borough engineering firm for meetings and large projects, but will use Fair Haven's department for smaller projects like the resurfacing of the Department of Public Works parking lot. 

Rurnson will also use Fair Haven's state approved brush transfer facility.

In turn, Rumson would maintain Fair Haven's parks and grounds, including Fair Haven Fields, which is located directly across the street from Rumson's Meadow Ridge Park. "The two parks are the premier athletic fields for both boroughs and frequently used by the Rurnson-Fair Haven Regional High School‘s athletic programs," the release stated.

Rumson will also use it's own street sweeper, which is used only quarterly, Ekdahl said, to clean Fair Haven's roadways. 

"It's going to increase efficiency and allow us do things better in both towns," Ekdahl told Patch. "We do about 400-500 truck loads of brush a year which we take to the facility in Tinton Falls. That's an hour and a half roundtrip. We will save enormously in time and wear and tear on our vehicles and we will be efficient in picking up brush."

In the press release issued by his borough, Fair Haven Mayor Ben Lucarelli said, "This is a wonderful opportunity that will benefit the residents of both of our communities.” 

The agreement will go into effect on April 16, though the agreement won't be officially approved until a public meeting after the fact, Borough Clerk Allyson Cinquegrana said.

Ekdahl said that after a year the two boroughs will sit down together and evaluate how the agreement has worked to ensure that it is saving both towns money. At this time Ekdahl said it is difficult to project just how much the towns' will save, but that the goal is that both boroughs reep the same savings. "We know it's going to be significant."