BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

MILLSTONE — As a way to reduce taxes, Gov. Jon Corzine advocates shared services agreements among municipal entities, and the township is currently embarking on those endeavors.

At the Feb. 13 Board of Education meeting, the board approved an interlocal agreement with the township to share certain maintenance services.

According to Mayor Nancy Grbelja, the township has discussed sharing services with the Board of Education for several years. The conversations predated Corzine’s suggestion, she said.

“Currently, we have an interlocal agreement with the Board of Education for custodial and maintenance service,” Grbelja said.

Under the provisions of the agreement, according to Grbelja, the board will provide manpower to maintain the municipal building, the community center and the building at Wagner Farm Park on Baird Road.

The cost of the maintenance services the board will provide during the remainder of the 2005-06 fiscal year is estimated at $8,000. The cost of custodial services for the 2006 calendar year is estimated at $17,000.

The agreement stipulates that Board of Education employees will provide custodial services for several township facilities including the code officials’ offices, which are temporarily located in mobile units.

The contract also denotes that it will still apply when the code officials’ offices relocate to the former Clarksburg School on Stagecoach Road. The code officials and other township offices will move to the former school building in the spring, as the facility will become Millstone’s new municipal building.

The board will also have to supply the township with services such as painting, minor wall patching, minor carpentry, and minor electrical and plumbing repairs, such as correcting clogged sinks or toilets and mending sink fixtures, according to the agreement.

Under the provisions of the agreement, the board will have to provide custodial services for township buildings three days a week for a total work period of 12 hours per week.

The agreement states that the board’s building and grounds supervisor, Hershey Mayeux, will consult with the township’s buildings and grounds supervisor to determine when the services will be rendered.

According to Township Clerk Maria Dellasala, the township does not currently have a buildings and grounds supervisor so Township Administrator James Pickering would be responsible for the consultation.

The board will maintain workers’ compensation insurance coverage on all custodians and maintenance personnel, and the township will maintain liability insurance coverage and agree to hold the board harmless for any tort claims that may be filed based on allegations of negligence, according to the agreement.

In addition, the agreement states that either party can terminate the agreement with 60 days’ written notice.

With regard to other shared services, Grbelja noted that in the past, the township purchased property for the school district. She said the township bought the land for the new middle school, which is currently under construction, as well as the land known as the “triangle property” for the expanded parking facilities at Millstone Township Elementary School.

The township will also share the cost of the latter project with the board, according to Grbelja. The project will entail reconfiguring a road and constructing a parking lot and a drainage basin.

Grbelja said both entities are investigating the many opportunities available to share services.

“We have also been talking about the future possibility of jointly purchasing land and building a transportation and public works site,” Superintendent of Schools William Setaro said, “so we can share fuel costs, maintenance and the washing of vehicles.”