Cumru Township weighs new trash and recycling contract

Cumru Township’s commissioners meet Tuesday night to pick the company that will haul residents’ trash and recycling, and to decide several other items that touch household bills and property.

The Board of Commissioners meets Tuesday, August 18, at 7 p.m. at the township building, 1775 Welsh Road, Mohnton. The agenda sets aside time for in-person public comment; the township asks that each speaker give a name and address and keep remarks to three minutes.

A new trash and recycling contract

The biggest item, by dollar value, is the township’s next trash and recycling collection contract. Cumru opened bids on July 28, and the commissioners will consider awarding the work Tuesday, with staff recommendations marked on the agenda.

The township bids the job in pieces. Regular, automated trash collection across Cumru drew three bids: $908,922 from AJ Blosenski, $912,861.60 from Waste Management, and $1,390,992 from J.P. Mascaro & Sons. Recycling is bid separately, in four service options priced from about $57,000 to $650,016 depending on how it is collected and who supplies the bins. Flying Hills, a residential community in the township, is collected by hand rather than by automated truck and is bid on its own, with trash offers from $56,000 to $211,584.

The agenda lists the bid prices but does not state the length of the contract or how the cost is split among households, so what any single bill will be is not yet spelled out. Our guide to how Berks County government works explains which services a township runs itself, trash collection among them, separate from the county and the school district.

A possible rental-property program

The commissioners will also weigh advertising a request for proposals for help developing a rental-property program. No ordinance is up for a vote Tuesday; the board is considering bringing in outside help to design the program, and the agenda does not spell out what the program would require of landlords or tenants.

A permanent township manager

Cumru has been running with an interim manager, and Tuesday’s agenda introduces the township’s new manager and asks the board to consider approving a township manager employment agreement. The agenda does not name the manager or list salary terms.

Other business

Also on the agenda: authorizing tax-exempt financing for solar projects; a $10,000 payment to H.B. Frazer for the fire station under construction; and three letters from the Berks County Blighted Property Review Committee to the owners of 822 Church Road, 748 Tamarack Trail, and 1021 Freemansville Road, the last with a determination hearing set for September 15.

The board will also take up a code-of-conduct resolution, a special-events ordinance, a 2027 contract for the Ken-Grill pool, and land-development matters including a stormwater waiver for a new pavilion at Gouglersville Fire Company No. 1.

How to weigh in

The meeting is open to the public at the township building, 1775 Welsh Road, Mohnton, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, with a public comment period on the agenda; the township office phone is 610-777-1343. For meeting times across the county, see our guide to finding your township or borough meeting schedule.