Sussex council to explore cost of manager

SUSSEX BOROUGH — The Sussex Borough council is going to investigate the cost of appointing a utility manager to manage the borough's water and sewer utility after the system's sale was shot down by voters last November.

Gerald G. Gardner, P.E. of Houser Engineering, LLC, introduced himself as a potential water/sewer utility manager to the council on Tuesday, Jan. 20.

Gardner explained council needs to be pro-active in evaluating potential weaknesses in the Sussex Borough Water/Sewer Utility. For $52,000, he would work one year digitizing the map of the utility using “AutoCAD”, a drafting software program. Also, he would manage, categorize, and help maintain the assets: pipelines, meters, pumps, treatment, reservoir, and overflow.

He also said that in order to get grants, the borough needs to have an Asset Management Plan. With a manager's plan, the borough will be able to project possible emergencies and stop them before they happen.

Gardner said he brings to the table more than 45 years of experience in water/sewer utility work.

"It became very obvious after the water main break in November that the situation was untenable,” Mayor Jonathan Rose said.

He said he and Administrator Mark Zschack were awake for three or four straight days.

During a lengthy discussion, the council and Gardner discussed the utility manager position, possible catch basins sending unwanted rain water to the Sussex County Municipal Utilities Authority, expansion of the water/sewer system as a potential income stream, preliminarily to Wantage Plaza; and SCMUA's role in expansion because of the existing 600,000-gallon allocation.

Rose said he did not want to get people's hopes too high regarding the Wantage Plaza becoming an income stream for the borough.

“You can't do it without having your house in order,” Gardner said.

Bringing DPW back in
The council also discussed the pros and cons of bringing back the Department of Public Works in house, along with the possibility of finding on person to manage both the utility and the DPW.

The council agreed that it needed to make a change in the way the utility is being managed. Somehow they said the borough needs to get out ahead of the utility problems, although money is always another issue.

Before committing to a solution, the council agreed it needed more information: from the cost of a utility manager and DPW supervisor combined or separate, to the cost of the borough's own DPW compared to a shared agreement with Hardyston.