Work area gets go ahead from Oceanside Sanitation

The Board of Commissioners of the Oceanside Sanitary District No. 7 decided to table a construction plan for the rear garage building located behind the district’s headquarters on Mott Street. The $732,620 project called for the repair of the building and constructing of an addition that was deemed necessary because the new sanitation trucks are much larger than older ones. The building is used for storage to keep the trucks out of the elements thus prolonging their useable life, and for minor repairs.

Commissioners John Mannone and Pat Doherty fired a battery of questions about the project to two representatives of the consultant company, H2M Architects and Engineers. Matthew Mohlin, manager of the municipal engineering group and Kenneth Gehringer, senior project engineer, represented the firm. Under questioning they admitted H2M had made no engineering studies of the structure of the building. Nor has there had been an investigation into other types of structures. After questioning by resident Stephen Edmondson the commissioners and representatives admitted no one had checked the building for asbestos.

The commission asked H2M to go back and investigate the cost effectiveness of other types of buildings, to investigate for asbestos and the do an engineering study on the current building to ascertain if it is structurally sound.

The proposal was tabled to allow H2M to study the physical structure of the building, to look for asbestos, and to look at other possible solutions, including other types of buildings to replace this one.

The Board did pass a resolution to fund the repaving of the area between the headquarters building and the storage building. That work area was torn up to remove old diesel fuel tanks, to comply with environmental protection agency requirements, and was never repaved. The area is used to wash the trucks, do some repair work, and will be a fueling area in the future.

While H2M recommended paving the space with asphalt, under questioning by Commissioners Thomas Lanning, John Mannone and Patrick Doherty the board learned that concrete would last longer, 10 years for asphalt compared to 25 years for concrete, with less maintenance, but would cost $100,000 more up front. After some discussion the board voted to spend the additional money, for a total of $257,300 to pave the work area with concrete. The contract was awarded to the lowest bidder, Pioneer Paving, Inc. of Kings Park.

The Commission voted to pay H2M $3500 for its work on the project. That fee does not include further investigation of the garage.

Commission Chairman Edward Scharfberg recused himself from all of the votes, because he is an employee of H2M. “I have no connection with the division of H2M that handles municipal projects he said, I was hired to investigate fires.” Scharfberg is a member of the Oceanside Fire Department.

The district serves 13,000 homes and 950 commercial businesses in Oceanside, Baldwin and East Rockaway.