Hunterdon County will continue using a janitorial service to clean county buildings, a service it outsourced in 2011 instead of using county employees to do the work.

The Freeholders at their meeting Tuesday night voted to hire Maverick Building Services of Rutherford. It submitted the low bid of $516,384 to do the work for two years. A total of seven firms put in proposals.

Also the Freeholders OK'd the purchase of snow plows for dump trucks they'd bought earlier for the Road Department.

A Mercer County company, All Clean Building Services, has provided the janitors for the past four years. The Freeholders twice voted to extend the initial two-year contract; it now runs through until Feb. 28. It is being paid $269,934 for its final year.

When the county initially hired All Clean in February 2011, it eliminated the jobs of 15 people who had cleaned the various buildings. The Freeholders said then that the annual cost was about a third of the $791,000 the county was spending in wages and benefits to have its custodians do the work each year.

Freeholder Rob Walton remarked on the savings of at least $400,000 a year. While union leaders and a few other county employees have periodically complained that the buildings are not being cleaned as well as when their colleagues did the work, no objections have been voiced at recent Freeholder meetings.

The board approved a $188,888 contract for 10 Gledhill plows and six Gledhill patrol wings, with Henderson Products, Inc. The wings go on the right side of the truck, allowing snow on road-side banks to be pushed back.

More at source: NJ.com

Find a janitorial service here.