February 2010
CONDO OWNERS AND RENTERS
PLEASE REVIEW THE FOLLOWING IMPORTANT NOTICES
1. The time limit for unit owners of buildings 22-85 to return the form indicating whether or not they plan to have their own electrician to do the aluminum wiring remediation has been extended to March 1 st 2010.
2. The shuttle van from the covered bridge on route #9 will be discontinued after March 22,2010.
3. Effective immediately, please put all types of paper - newspapers, magazines, and other glossy paper, junk mail, flattened corrugated boxes, and cereal boxes all together for recycling - tied and bundled. This will result in less material going into the landfill. Recycling pickup dates will remain the same.
4. FIRE AND SAFETY INSPECTIONS:
A. Manalapan Township will be inspecting Covered Bridge units for working smoke alarms. The new requirement includes working electrical smoke alarms in each bedroom.
B. Starting some time in February, the State of New Jersey will be inspecting all of our condo units for fire and safety issues, including a working smoke alarm, a 10 pound fire extinguisher ABC rated WITH A CODE OF 2-A, 10B:C, no peeling lead paint, etc. Please cooperate with inspectors seeking access to your condo unit. Inspectors will have proper identification. CBCA, Inc. will pay the basic state inspection fees. There is an additional fee of $20 per rental unit, which we will charge back to the unit owners. In addition, all unit owners will be required. to address any deficiencies found by the inspectors, and to pay any re-inspection fees. EDITOR'S NOTE: These inspections are not related to aluminum wiring, for which separate access to buildings 22 through 85 will be required.
5. The U. S. Census Bureau will be setting up a Questionnaire Assistance Center in the Clubhouse lobby to assist residents in completing the Census 2010 Questionnaire. The Center will be staffed by a member of the Census Bureau for approximately 15 hrs. per week during the period of March '19 to April 19 20 1 O. The days and hours of operation are yet to be determined.
6. Please keep thermostats set at 55 degrees when you are away. If a pipe breaks as a result of water freezing, when a unit owner is away, the unit owner is responsible for all damage, including damage to common areas and other units.
7. Smoking is banned in all of the Clubhouse. Please correct this in your Covered Bridge phone directory.
8. The office will closed on President's day, February 15th• Recyclables usually scheduled for that day will·be picked up on Wednesday, February 17th .•
9. The Clubhouse will be closed until 12:30 on Wednesday, February I ih, 2010 for cleaning.
10. The maintenance staff distributed buckets of ice melt pellets to each building for use when snow/ice arrives. Please do not use rock salt that you may purchase. Use of rock salt on concrete is destructive to the compound. Please notify the office for refill of the ice pellets.
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MANALAPAN TOWNSHIP CHANGES GARBAGE CONTRACTORS
COVERED BRIDGE RESIDENTS GET CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE
Manalapan Township's garbage and recycling contract with Central Jersey Waste and Recycling ("Central Jersey") ended at the end of 2009. The transition was a nightmare.
The last regularly scheduled garbage pick-up was on Tuesday, December 29th• At that time, many of our garbage cans were left full by Central Jersey. As a result, where residents have garbage cans behind fences, more garbage was piled on top of full cans. They also failed to make the last pick-up of recyclables, so a mountain of recyclables was building in our maintenance yard.
Our 30 buildings that are served by dumpsters found that Central Jersey removed the dumpsters on December 29th, 2 days before Waste Management put their dumpsters in place on December 31 st. Some residents whose dumpster had been removed put their loose garbage out on the pavement where dumpsters had been. The situation only got worse because, with the New Years Day holiday on Friday, our next normal garbage pick-up day, there was no scheduled garbage pick-up until Tuesday, January 5th• The large amount of garbage generated' by New Years Eve parties in some buildings made matters even worse.
Your Trustees were on the phone constantly trying to rectifY the situation.
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We eventually got Central Jersey to come on Thursday, December 31 , to
pick up loose garbage from the pavement. They only emptied a few garbage cans, saying that they did not have enough time to get more garbage to the county landfill before it closed. We reached out to the Manalapan Township Health Inspector and the Monmouth County Solid Waste Enforcement Team, but it was impossible to get a proper response just as the holiday weekend was starting.
The saga continued. - A third company, Future Sanitation, was disqualified by Manalapan Township despite their low bid, and the contract was awarded to Waste Management. Future Sanitation told the Township at a public meeting in early December that they intended to fight the decision. At 3 :00 PM on New Years Eve, an injunction was obtained that prohibited Waste Management from collecting garbage. Several towns and school districts were affected. On Saturday, January 2nd, in the middle of the holiday weekend, Waste Management had to remove their half filled dumpster from sites at our buildings, and they were stored on our property. We learned from them for the first time about the problem with Future Sanitation and the injunction.
Our 30 buildings were again without dumpsters, with garbage being left on the ground. After several phone calls by your Trustees on Saturday and help from· Manalapan Township Deputy Mayor Susan Cohen, Central Jersey promised to put out 23 dumpsters that day and the other 7 on the next day. In fact, none were put out until Sunday and the task still was incomplete on Tuesday. Moreover, only 1 of 4 large dumpsters had been provided for the maintenance yard. Central Jersey also had promised to pick up garbage on Monday, instead of waiting for the Tuesday scheduled pick-up. When they finally came on Tuesday, they did not bring enough trucks and manpower to remove all of the garbage. They did not catch up until Friday, January 8th•
With no contingency planning by Manalapan Township and no consideration of health risks by the judge who issued the injunction, only cold weather prevented a crisis.
This was how we ended a tumultuous week in which we had an emergency open Trustee meeting at 2:00 PM on New Years Eve to replace our cancelled insurance and select an electrical contractor for aluminum wiring. Weare reminded of the old Chinese curse - "May you live in interesting times."
BREAKING NEWS
New Busses along Route 9 that go through Covered Bridge are expected to be available on February 27th. Monmouth County originally planned to have them available on January 1 s1. Covered Bridge is being charged the old rate of $1 per ride until the new busses are in use. Covered Bridge residents ride free.
Garbage collection has returned to normal. Monday, January 18th marked the end of the injunction that prevented service by Waste Management, Manalapan Township's new garbage and recycling contractor. Waste Management is the largest company in the industry.