October 7, 2014
Katherine Burger, Interim Manager
Township of Medford
17 North Main Street
Medford, NJ 08055
via e-mail only to [email protected]
Dear Ms. Burger:
Thank you for your recent response to my Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request and for providing me with the contract between Medford Township and Casworth (the Township’s trash hauler) and copies of some logs of calls for service relating to trash pick-up and other issues.
For your ready reference, the contract is on-line here and a representative sample of the call logs is on-line here.
Paragraph 2 of the contract states:
The Contractor will establish a phone number and a primary point of contact to receive and return calls relating to general information, questions or complaints about the solid waste collection.
Yet the call logs appear to indicate that the calls for service were handled by a Township employee. As I stated in my records request, I was informed that employee Judy A. Scherf took those calls and my information is apparently proven correct by virtue of the logs you provided.
Do I understand this issue correctly? If so, why did Medford taxpayers pay a Township employee to field phone calls for trash collection when that task was undertaken by Casworth under the contract?
I am making this letter public so that Medford taxpayers may be informed of this issue. I invite the taxpayers to direct any questions regarding this matter to you or the Township Council.
Very truly yours,
John Paff, Chairman
New Jersey Libertarian Party’s
Open Government Advocacy Project
P.O. Box 5424
Somerset, NJ 08875
Voice: 732-873-1251
Fax: 908-325-0129
e-mail: [email protected]
