RIVER VALE —The Township Council approved a bid for $51,360 for the yearly leasing of ground space for cell tower use at 640 Rivervale Road — including annual increases — at its Feb. 13 meeting.
The winning bid — one of five bids received — was from Gaelic Communications LLC, Red Bank. The contract with Gaelic allows a 2.75% annual increase in the lease payment. The contract was for a 10-year lease, with automatic renewals of two additional 10-year extensions, said town administrator and chief financial officer Gennaro Rotella.
The cell tower lease set a minimum bid of $40,000 yearly, according to municipal specs.
Gaelic Communications CEO is Declan O’Scanlon of Little Silver, whose firm has been in business for two decades. Gaelic’s subcontractor to construct a cellular tower on the site is Ascendtek, LLC of Kenilworth.
Rotella said the cell tower is necessary to improve cellular coverage in the township, and will also be able to hold municipal communications systems from the new public safety complex.
“The beginning date is flexible at this point due to the other construction projects on the site. We will work together for a mutually beneficial construction timeline,” said Rotella.
The “experience statement” included with the contract notes that O’Scanlon is “a recognized wireless communications expert in the state of New Jersey.”
It says that Gaelic had handled “well over 100 wireless telecommunications equipment siting programs” and also states that Gaelic “has built, own and manage” several of its own cell towers in New Jersey. It does not state a start and end date for the cell tower project.
O’Scanlon, the CEO, is also a Republican state senator whose 13th Legislative district covers parts of Monmouth County, including 16 towns. He also served in the General Assembly from 2007 to 2017 and as Little Silver councilman from 1994 to 2007.
At the Feb. 27 meeting, council also approved 3-0 a resolution for $25,000 for Settembrino Architects for revisions to the information technology/security infrastructure plan on the new Public Safety Complex.
Last year, officials said bid specs on the new estimated $14 million safety complex would likely go out in late 2022 or early 2023.
Asked for a project update, Rotella told Pascack Press on Feb. 28, “The front end bid specs are still being reviewed by the state comptroller’s office. Once approved we can move forward with getting the bid on the street, after the changes Settembrino needs to make.”
Rotella said projects over $10 million must be reviewed by the state and that Settembrino needed to make some changes to building interior specs to arrange for IT infrastructure. He said he anticipated going out for bid on the project by spring or early summer at the latest.
In July 2021, the Township Council approved a $13.3 million, 40-year bond issue to construct a new 18,000-square-foot public safety complex on 3.25 acres at the corner of Rivervale Road and Prospect Avenue at an annual tax increase yet to be determined.
The total project cost was about $14 million, including a $700,000 down payment on the bonds. Council approved the bonding, 4-0, with then-council vice president Paul J. Criscuolo absent.
Rotella told Pascack Press then that no bonds had yet been issued and so no annual impact on taxpayers could be estimated. He said the bonds would be sold after the project bids are reviewed and a contractor is selected.
Rotella said though the township will be bonding for $13.3 million, actual construction costs for the new public safety building were closer to $12 million, plus “soft costs” such as engineering and construction management.
A couple years ago, then-mayor Glen Jasionowski estimated that a $7 million public safety complex might cost an average taxpayer about $175 extra in annual taxes, while a $10 million complex might cost a taxpayer over $200 annually for a 30-year bond.
However, due to the approved $13.3 million bond’s 40-year life, and current bonding rates, said Rotella previously, it was too early to estimate what the cost might be on local taxpayers.
In addition, he said, the addition of property tax revenues from 225 not-yet-completed market rate townhomes in the Fairways at Edgewood development might reduce the overall property tax impact.
That multifamily development also includes 24 affordable housing units, which were built first and occupied.