The borough will continue to look for the best approach when it comes to removing a number of oak trees throughout the Haddonfield after a resolution was passed to reject all bids for tree removal services at the Nov. 12 borough commissioners meeting.
Out of the three bids that were submitted to the borough on Oct. 31 as sealed bids, both Friendly Tree Service and Stanch’s Tree Service were rejected for being over the borough’s budget, with bids of $46,300 and $66,470, respectively.
In addition, the lowest bidder, Lyon & Son Tree Service, LLC, was withdrawn.
“Because of the circumstances, we could not accept their bid,” Mayor Jeff Kasko said in regards to Lyon & Son Tree Service, LLC.
Kasko explained that the borough could not accept their bid, following a tragic accident that resulted in the death of one of the company’s employees. The accident, he said, occurred within the borough around the time of the bidding.
“It was a horrible accident and he fell a number of feet,” Kasko said.
He explained that the employee had died while hospitalized after accidentally falling while working on a private job in Haddonfield.
“We’re looking at a couple different options,” Kasko said.
For now, Kasko said the borough would look at possibly using borough services to do part of the work that is involved to remove the diseased oak trees or putting out r request for proposals for smaller amounts of work.
Since the diseased trees, some of which are more than 75 years old, sit on borough property, Kasko said that it is the borough’s responsibility to uproot the trees and take them down.
“Our borough public works department takes down trees that they can handle,” Kasko said.
He also added that while, the borough’s public works department does remove other trees throughout the borough, and the age and size of these particular oak trees would demand a greater undertaking than the public works department could provide.
