Consolidation Commission To Make Final Decisions Regarding Consultants

Dilshanie Perera

Having whittled down the list of consultant applications to five, the Joint Consolidation and Shared Service Study Commission decided to invite two groups of consultants for interviews on Monday evening. Final decisions regarding to whom to award the contract will be made in a special public session on Wednesday, September 29, at 5:30 p.m. in Meeting Room A of the Township Municipal Building.

Summit Collaborative Advisors and the Center for Government Research (CGR) are up for consideration as the consultants who will research the viability of municipal consolidation between the Borough and the Township.

During the monthly meeting of the commission last week, members discussed each of the five final proposals at length and chose the two mentioned above as those to invite back.

Pricing and scheduling were cited as two main challenges, with Township Mayor Bernie Miller emphasizing the need to make clear that “a fixed price is a fixed price, and we need to be cautious about extending the schedule.”

Best and final offers from the firms are due on Wednesday ahead of the meeting to discuss the awarding of the contract.

Commission members acknowledged that there was virtually no time for delay if they wanted to get the study done, the public consulted, and the issue up for consideration by referendum on the ballot in November 2011.

William Metro noted that “some of these proposals strike me as a confederation of individuals … and eventually that will show in the quality of the deliverable.” He pointed out that Summit is experienced, and has local knowledge expertise “that would help them meet the timeline,” and that CGR “comes off as being very professional” and that their project manager is a former mayor.

Commission Chair Anton Lahnston said that dialogue would be of crucial importance.

“Both of these firms can do the job. This is about comfort level, goals, and schedules that need to be met,” Borough Administrator Robert Bruschi suggested. “I’d like to see this thing be very interactive. It’s one date and then get married.”

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