Maybe third time will be a charm, but for now bids for a reverse-osmosis water filtration
system have been rejected for the second time in as many months. “Here we go again,” Mayor Adele Starrs said at the Sept. 12 Township Committee meeting.
At the August meeting, the governing body had rejected the two bids it received because the contractors looking to be awarded the work had not followed state-mandated rules for bidding on public projects.
One failed to include acknowledgement of an addendum to the proposal and the other did not provide proof that it was registered according to the state Public Works Contractor Registration Act, Starrs explained in August.
“So we told them what they did wrong, and we put it out again,” said Starrs. One still got it
wrong and the other, while submitting a corrected proposal, bid more than $1 million, which Starrs said was “ridiculously out of budget.”
According to the township’s finance officer, the million-plus bid received from A1 Water
Conditioning and solutions was complete but it exceeded the townships appropriation for the project. Portisoft, the other company, again failed to comply with state rule regarding bidding on public projects.
The installation of reverse-osmosis water filtration systems in homes is intended to mitigate issues with high salt content in water.
Joe Phalon, Contributing Writer
Joe was lured out of retirement by the opportunity to be a part of the Ridge View Echo. During a decades-long career in publishing and journalism, he has covered government on many levels from local school boards to the United States Supreme Court.
Along the way, Joe has worked at American Lawyer Magazine, The National Law Journal and The Record among other publications, and as the Press Officer of Columbia Law School. His work has been recognized with several first place awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the New Jersey Press Association.
Being part of the Ridge View Echo brings Joe back to his roots and the kind of news coverage he loves: Telling the stories of people and local communities as well as keeping an eye on how their money is spent by their government officials.
Joe lives in Blairstown with his wife Rose, the founder of Quilting for a Cause, and their two wiener dogs. He is an artist in his spare time.
