Council Operates Fairly and Efficiently at Latest Meeting

The Mountainside Borough Council meeting held on Tuesday, September 6, 2011 lasted just under an hour.  The meeting served as another reminder of how this Council strives to operate efficiently and fairly. Councilman Glenn Mortimer reminded Patch that Mountainside is one of the last towns that manually reviews expenditures so that they can “see where all the money is going,” Mortimer said.   

Construction Official Jerry Eger came to the Council meeting hoping that the Council would seriously consider his recommendations regarding roofing fees so that Karl Kaimer, a commercial business owner in Mountainside would be charged a fair and reasonable permit fee for the re-roofing of his business on Globe Avenue.

“Because of the size of the job, he was going to pay a very large fee. I went to the Council to try and reduce the fees because I thought they were outrageous. Apparently the council didn’t agree with me,” Eger said. The Council votes on all permit fees for residential and commercial businesses. 

Mr. Eger explained that because a residential roofing job doesn’t usually exceed four or five hundred dollars, the permit fee is a set fee. For commercial businesses, the Borough follows an alterations fee schedule meaning that, the cost of the permit is set at rate of 26 dollars per thousand.  If the job exceeds 100,000 dollars, the cost of the permit drops to 10 dollars per thousand. “In my book, there should also be a set fee for those projects,” Mr. Eger said.  He proposed that the permit fee for commercial residents be set to ten dollars per thousand for roofing jobs only. “I told [Mr. Kaimer] that I would talk to the Council and see what I could do.  I tried my best and apparently it didn’t work,” he said. 

However, before Tuesday night, the council was not charging commercial businesses 26 cost per thousand for a permit fee.  Mr. Kaimer fell victim to a clerical error. Instead of 26 cost per thousand, Kaimer was being charged 30 cost per thousand. Mr. Eger assured Patch that no other commercial business has been subjected to the incorrect permit fee in the two and half years he has held his position.  The council determines the permit fees by investigating what other neighboring towns charge. Towns such as Warren and Scotch Plains charge as much as 60 to 75 cost per thousand according to a Borough document.        

Upon hearing Mr. Eger’s proposal, Councilman Robert Messler stated “one complaint shouldn’t force us to drop the price; we don’t need to be the lowest in the county.”  Although Mr. Kaimer will receive a refund from the Borough for the amount he has overpaid, the council made no further changes to the current permit fees. The Council will pass a resolution on this at the next meeting after Mr. Kaimer has received his refund.

The Council approved a number of resolutions on Tuesday evening. The resurfacing of Pembrook Road was approved and will be paid for in part by a grant for 190,000 dollars. The council also approved the use of the Union County facility located near the quarry for leaf disposal.  In addition, the renewal of the Morris County price agreement which will have a five year contract beginning October 2011 was approved.

The Council also passed a resolution stating that three residents and three business owners who overpaid their taxes will be issued a refund.  In addition, the Council approved an on premise raffle which will be held by the Clark school, Frank K. Hehnly Elementary School at L’Affaire Fine Catering in Mountainside.  Moreover, the council also passed a resolution to waive the Temporary Food Vendor Food License Application fee for PAL Micro Soccer.  JerseyWide will donate 50 percent of all profits to the Mountainside PAL.  200 children have registered for PAL Soccer. Currently there are 26 teams made up of children grades Pre-Kindergarten through second grade.

One of the most crucial resolutions passed at the meeting dealt with traffic light repairs.  “During the course of preventative maintenance, the contractor discovered safety related defects in the lights at two locations on Summit Road and Summit Lane,” said Ron Romak, Director of Public Works.  Romak noted that the lights have cracked housings that develop over time because unlike the traffic lights of yesteryear which were made of cast iron, these lights are made out of plastic.  “There is about $5,500 dollars of work that needs to be done. It is our recommendation that because this poses a potential liability that the council moves on this.” 

Several council members were very concerned about whether the traffic light repairs should be paid by the Borough of Mountainside because the traffic lights were on a county road. 

“The county did the design and installation but the Borough absorbs all future responsibility because of a signed contract,” Romak explained.

Living up to their reputation for closely monitoring all expenditures, Council members then expressed that these same lights had recently undergone repairs.  Romak assured the Council that they were not “doing the same job twice;” this was a separate problem that needed to be solved.  The council approved the repairs and noted that the cost will come out of the town’s capital.

The council also passed a resolution approving the Drunk Driving Enforcement Fund which was an insertion of special item of revenue for 2011 that the Council just received last week. 

Police Chief Debbie explained that Mountainside will now receive 100 dollars back from the state for each bottle tax, stop, and arrest made for drunk driving. As part of this new fund, the money the state earns will help pay for overtime for police officers on patrol, and will help cover the cost of the intoxilizer, an object that the state has mandated police officers use.

Police Chief Debbie noted that the intoxilizer cost the Borough $13,000 dollars.  After passing this resolution, the council also granted Borough Engineer Mike Disko authorization to apply for a DOT state aid grant for Wyoming Drive.  A few council members were hesitant to grant authorization; Councilman Lane noted that “there are other roads in the town that are in need.” Ultimately, the council determined that although other roads may need resurfacing, Wyoming Drive is heavily traveled which makes the road eligible for DOT Aid. 

There was only one member of the public present at the meeting.  In the months prior to the meeting, the resident who recently purchased a house in Mountainside found herself in a distressing predicament.

When she had purchased her home last September, there had been a garage on the property which had been converted to a studio apartment, complete with utilities.  The resident assumed that because the property came with the make-shift studio apartment, it was hers to rent.

She attempted to rent out the property on Craigslist but had to withdraw the ad after it was spotted by Ron Romak. The resident pleaded with the council to give her more time to complete the variance to renovate the garage; she is a single mom who doesn’t have the money right now to make major changes to the property. The council advised her to cut the utilities and power to the garage while the township attorney is contacted to help develop a solution.

Several upcoming events were announced at the meeting. 

There will be a memorial services on September 11 at Echo Lake Park at 1 p.m. 

Governor Livingston High School will also have a memorial service before the football game, Friday September 9 at 7 p.m. The tenth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center will be commemorated by honoring local residents who were first responders on 9/11.