Costs Mount for Storm Cleanup

The municipality is about 75 percent complete with a job to pick up storm debris left from the unusual Oct. 29 snowstorm, but costs are mounting, Township Administrator Bruce McArthur reported at Wednesday night's Township Committee meeting.

The township already has allocated about $450,000 to spend for clean-up, including extra labor costs, hiring contractors and related expenses to remove damaged trees from the town right-of-way and also to remove damaged trees that present a hazard to the public, McArthur said.

Of that amount, the township will need to raise $150,000 for an emergency allocation to cover the cost, he said. The township's Department of Public Works employees — in a department that already is understaffed — worked 31 days straight into Thanksgiving, with some injuries reported as a result of dangerous debris removal, McArthur reported.

McArthur estimated the township will need to spend about another $100,000 to continute removing hazardous trees and tree limbs, he said.

That amount, and the emergency allocation, will need to be funded through local taxes, since the entire snow removal budget for 2011 has been depleted, according to McArthur.

The October snowstorm, in which trees and limbs collapsed or split as wet, heavy snow weighted down branches that still had leaves, is the costliest cleanup event the township has ever had, with the most tree damage in recorded municipal history, said the report listed on the Bernards Township website.

After hearing McArthur's report, the Township Committee members agreed the municipality will not be able to afford to offer residents extra assistance such as grinding tree stumps left from fallen trees, or planting replacement trees at this time.

Township Committeewoman Carolyn Gaziano thanked the shade tree commission for a wide-ranging report on a response to the township's tree devastation. She suggest that residents check a section on proper pruning procedures to save as many possible injured trees.

However, she said she was not sure she was in favor of even allowing trees to be replanted in right-of-way property along streets. "That was part of the problem when trees came down in the storm," Gaziano said.

Randy Santoro, chairman of the township Shade Tree Commission, said he was impressed with McArthur's report and the efforts of the DPW — but he asked the township to look long-term when planning what trees might be allowed alongside streets in future years.

"What would downtown Basking Ridge look like with no trees?" Santoro asked.

The Shade Tree Commission recommended planting 300 new trees at the cost of about $180,000. However, considering costs, township officials did not agree to that proposal on Monday.

The township only has agreed to clean out tree debris in the property right of ways — a distance that widely varies and is difficult for workers to assess when they're out with a truck — but the DPW trucks have been picking up storm debris alongside streets and in rights of way when in doubt, McArthur said.

However, "Some residents moved their debris into the right of way," McArthur said.

"We have had cases of illegal dumping," he said. "We have cleaned streets, and then had piles appear [after] in the right of way," McArthur said. The task of removing tree debris from alongside roads likely will continue into mid-December, he said.

McArthur said hazardous tree removals likely will continue into January.

In the future, Township Committeeman John Carpenter said he would like the Township Committee to come up with a formal policy regarding trees and right of way property.