Council targets owners of loose shopping carts
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer

FREEHOLD - Municipal officials have had enough with abandoned supermarket shopping carts scattered about the streets of Freehold Borough.

With that in mind, council members voted 4-2 on Aug. 13 to amend the town's shopping cart ordinance.

The public hearing about the shopping carts brought Gerard Norkus, the owner of Foodtown, Park Avenue (Route 33), to the meeting to state his objection to the ordinance which attaches penalties and fines to supermarket owners for shopping carts their employees do not round up.

Calling the ordinance "draconian" in nature, Norkus proposed other solutions to the problem that has vexed residents and officials in recent years.

The amended ordinance states that Freehold officials have, over the course of several years, been working with local business operators that supply shopping carts for use by patrons. "Despite these efforts, the problem has been prevalent, is unsightly and creates impediments to pedestrians and vehicular traffic," the document states.

According to the amended ordinance, business operators who supply shopping carts for customers are responsible for keeping the carts contained on the business property and in an orderly manner, and they are responsible for routinely going around town to retrieve any abandoned carts that have been left on public streets, sidewalks, or public or private property. Abandoned carts found by municipal employees on public streets, or public or private property will be seized and impounded by the borough.

The owner of the carts, according to the ordinance, can claim the carts from the borough by paying $20 per cart. In addition, the owner must pay $1 per day for the storage of each abandoned cart brought to the borough yard. Carts not claimed in six months will be sold at a public auction as unclaimed property.

According to the ordinance, anyone in violation of this ordinance can be fined up to $2,000 and can also be imprisoned for 90 days, or both.

Norkus addressed council members during the public hearing and presented the following options: installing more signs in English and Spanish warning patrons that it is illegal to remove carts from the supermarket premises (there are currently signs posted warning patrons not to remove the carts); a toll-free telephone number for residents to call Foodtown to report abandoned carts; and retrieval of the carts by Foodtown employees within 48 hours of the phone call.

Norkus said he would continue to visit Freehold to stay on top of the situation. He said Foodtown employees currently go around town regularly to retrieve the shopping carts.

Norkus, who also operates supermarkets in Long Branch, Freehold Township Point Pleasant and Neptune, said he has never had a problem with the governing body in those towns.

"The idea of paying a fine and $1 a day for storage is crazy," Norkus said. "I understand that the amount of carts is unacceptable. They tell me the amount ranges from 12 to 20 per week. We do go out once a week to round them up and we also respond to people who call us and we pick up the shopping carts."

He said he cannot control people who do not have a vehicle to take home their packages.

"As a service we pick up the carts. If you give us several months to show you we can do it, we will take care of this," he told the council.

Resident Patrick McCobb asked the council to "go after the people who are taking the carts. That's theft (taking the carts) isn't it? Why go after the stores?"

Mayor Michael Wilson acknowledged Norkus and said he has known the supermarket owner his entire life. He said he could not speak for the whole council in saying that he was "a little disappointed" to see Norkus at the meeting.

"We have contacted you several times over the last few years in regard to this issue. And now, at the 11th hour, you come here tonight," the mayor said. "We are not in the business to make our town look like the South Bronx. It is not our responsibility to take care of the carts. That's the cost to you to do business in the town, not the town's. Now you come here with new ground rules."

Norkus said he had spoken with Borough Attorney Kerry Higgins and Borough Administrator Joseph Bellina about the issue. He said he never received any letter on borough letterhead explaining the problem with the carts.

Bellina insisted that he had sent a letter to Norkus and was prepared to produce the letter.

"You know me," Norkus told Wilson. "Do you think I would have ignored this if I had known?"

Higgins said that was all water under the bridge and said there were obvious communication lapses over the last several years between the parties.

She said she and Bellina met with the manger of Foodtown in November 2005 to discuss ways of addressing the situation.

"Freehold Borough is very frustrated with this situation," Higgins said. "We did meet with your manager and here we are today, and shopping carts are still all over."

"No one knows Foodtown better than I do," Councilwoman Sharon Shutzer said, stating that she has shopped at the store for more than 30 years. "The clientele has changed and there are many more abandoned carts. They end up all over town. This is a quality of life issue. If there was a shopping cart in front of my house for 48 hours I'd have a nervous breakdown. This is not the borough's problem. There is no reason why the borough should have to pay someone to collect carts every day and to leave them for 48 hours is unacceptable."

Councilman Marc Le Vine said the responsibility of collecting the carts should not lie with public works employees. He worried about injuries, time out, worker's compensation and danger to children from the carts.

"It also looks bad," he said. "This is exposure that the borough does not need."

Councilman Robert Crawford suggested that Norkus could hire someone for under $10 an hour to monitor the carts so they would not disappear from the parking lot.

Councilman Michael DiBenedetto agreed that the carts are not a pretty sight around town, but said he would be willing to give Norkus' plan a six-month trial period.

In a subsequent conversation with Norkus, the supermarket owner said he will come up with a plan to satisfy the council and residents

When asked, Norkus did say he received a letter from Bellina in 2002.

"But that was five years ago," he said.

He said he was made aware of the situation with the carts and after communication with officials, realized something needed to be done and that he has been doing what he could all along. Norkus said he will implement his solutions in good faith.

"We are aware of the problem and we are going to address it," he said.

Bellina said he was glad that Norkus was giving serious attention to a problem he called "a major annoyance."

"The ordinance is effective immediately and we are duty-bound to carry out the laws that the governing body has issued," he said.

Shutzer, Le Vine, Councilman Jaye Sims and council President Kevin Kane voted in favor of the ordinance. Crawford and DiBenedetto voted no on the ordinance amendment.