Council Gives Mascaro, AFSCME 3-Year Contracts

Even starting a half hour later than usual, council made quick work Monday night of an $8 million trash contract; adopting a new three-year labor contract that provides 4 percent raises for the next two years and authorizing more than $3 million in pension plan payments.

They had it all wrapped up in about 90 minutes.

And that also included the vote to allow a liquor license to be moved from Lower Gwynedd Township to Pottstown, the step of several in what the operators of the Carousel at Pottstown hope will allow a restaurant to open at the popular attraction -- one that serves drinks.

The most discussion centered around the trash contract, which will return the weekly pick-up of bulk items.

Residents will be able to throw away one bulk item per week at no cost. Additional items can also be put out with the usual $15 sticker.

Councilman Ryan Procsal said he had heard concerns about people from other towns bringing their bulk items to Pottstown to leave in the alleys for free disposal.

Borough Manager Justin Keller said in the years since Pottstown had unlimited bulk pick-up, surrounding towns have implemented their own bulk pick-ups, lowering the incentive to bring it into Pottstown.

Also on hand were two representatives from J.P. Mascaro and Sons who pledged to continue working to improve their service in the borough, where complaints about missed pick-ups were becoming a regular feature of council meetings.

Before the contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees was approved, resident Michael Mauger highlighted suggestions from the May report on the financial challenges faced by the borough.

He pointed to items in the borough's labor contracts that should be eliminated through negotiations, concluding after looking through the new pact "either you didn't know or you don't care."

However Keller disputed that, pointing to the elimination of the defined benefit pension for new employees in the new contract which, he said after the meeting, was the borough negotiators primary goal for this year's contract.

The same evening the contract was adopted, council approved a "minimum municipal obligation" payment of $1,320,150, a $415,220 increase over the previous year, just to ensure that those "defined benefits" could be met. New employees will instead be put on a "defined contribution" plan which only outlines what the borough has to pay in, not what benefit is delivered upon retirement.

Keller said the new contract also contains a $40 per month fee on employees who have a spouse who has health insurance available through another work place, but chooses to use the borough employee health plan, the first time such a fee has been agreed to by the union.

Negotiations with the police union, whose contract expires at the end of this year, are ongoing Keller said.

Here are the Tweets from the meeting:

Two contracts, pension payments and a liquor license