NEWLINES ENGINEERING SEEKS TO TAKE OVER LAKEWOOD TOWNSHIP'S ENGINEERING AND AIRPORT ENGINEERING POSITIONS

As is typical in surrounding municipalities, Lakewood Township contracts out, on an annual basis, their municipal Engineering Department.

For the past number of years, the Engineering Department has been contracted to Remington and Vernick Engineers (RVE).

Under this contract, RVE provides Engineer Jeff Staiger, Assistant Engineer Bill Schwarz, Planning Board Administrator Ally Morris, and Engineering Assistant Sarah Forsyth.

According to the Township's proposal for this position, "the Engineer shall attend and participate in any meetings as directed, supervise the technical aspects of operations of the Engineering Department, answer general questions as posed by Township officials and employees and the general public, provide assistance to Public Works for various minor projects and problem resolutions as requested; review and respond to routine correspondence received by the Engineering Department, review invoices from vendors providing goods and services to the Engineering Department and verify reasonableness of the bill; and participate in the planning and preparation of the Capital Budget, including by giving recommendations and project cost estimates."

For the upcoming 2024 year, two firms including the Lakewood-based NewLines Engineering have submitted proposals for the Township Engineering position.

According to their Ownership Disclosure form, NewLines Engineering is owned by Shuie (Joshua) Shmuckler, Yehuda & Renee Ungar, Ephraim & Leah Steinberg, and Glenn Lines.

Currently located in Downtown Lakewood, NewLines has been in business for 9 years, obtaining many approvals from Lakewood's land use boards. They are a full service consulting firm which provides surveying, soils, wetlands identification, environmental permitting and civil site plans. They have over 100 employees including 8 licensed professional engineers, 3 professional planners, s licensed professional surveyor, 3 certified wetlands scientists, 6 survey crews and a full drone survey department.

Their Chief Engineer Glenn Lines was previously Lakewood Township Assistant Engineer (2000-2001) as well as Engineer (2002-2005), and he has over 30 years experience in civil engineering focusing on Municipal Engineering. Additionally, 3 of their engineers are Certified Municipal Engineers.

NewLines Engineering has also submitted a proposal for the Township's Airport Consultant and Engineer position, which has been held for the last few years by DY consultants.

According to the Proposal documents, this position includes, by contract to individual projects:

Preparing plans and/or supervising planning studies for improvements, redevelopment and expansion of the airport, public parking facilities of the airport, airport roadway systems, ground transportation systems, surveillance systems; and checking on plans submitted by architects and contractors, oversee construction, and participate in matters of real estate and zoning issues involving the airport.

Preparing plans as well as lay out the airport plus landing fields and direct construction work involved in leveling fields, laying out surface runways, and also providing drainage.

Preparing budgetary estimates and bid specifications for airport projects and participate in the bidding process.

Design runways based on weight plus size of aircraft and prepare material construction specifications.

Direct or participate in surveying to lay out installations, establish reference points, grades and elevations to guide construction.

For each of these positions, NewLines COO Shuie Schmuckler signed an affidavit solemnly affirming that there was "no collusion" involved in the application process...

The Township Committee is expected to formally award all contracted positions at their Reorganization meeting next Monday, January 1, 2024.

To join a FAA News WhatsApp Group, click here.

To join the FAA News WhatsApp Status, click here.