Preview of April 8 Town Council Meeting

Proposals to increase the cost of the wading pool renovation project another $30,000 to approximately $300,000, award a total of $62,000 for two engineering contracts, and incorporate the results of an arbitrator’s award to the police patrolmen union that the administration had estimated at approximately $900,000 head the agenda for the April 8, 2014, council meeting.

The meeting agendas and related materials are here.

The township will also formally introduce the 2014 budget of approximately $73.3 million.

At the March 25 council meeting, a council majority voted 4-1 (me voting no) to approve a construction contract for renovation of the wading pool at Ginny Duenkel pool for $227,723. At the meeting, Bill Kehoe, head of recreation, told the council that the winning competitive bidder, Cypreco Industries of Neptune, had offered earlier that day to reduce its alternate bid for a full reconstruction from $39,723 to $30,000, which would make a combined bid of $257,723. He said he would be able to obtain a $15,000 grant from the Colgate Foundation that would reduce that cost to the town to $15,000.

Cypreco was awarded the base bid as the lowest competitive bidder. But when the alternate bid for a full reconstruction is included, All State Technology of Oak Ridge offered a lower combined bid of $253,000. All State had also bid to reduce the cost another $4,000 if proposed tile was replaced by plaster, where Cypreco had offered no discount. However, All State was disqualified for not listing a plumbing sub-contractor.

The administration is asking council approval for a change order to the approved contract of $30,000. I’ve asked the administration for the status of the promised $15,000 grant from the Colgate Foundation, which Mr. Kehoe said was also paying the $19,352 for six water toys that are part of the project.

If the change order is approved, the total cost of the project will be approximately $300,000 including the construction contract and water toys, as well as $12,800 for design fees, approximately $2,500 for a 50-foot retaining wall as well as unspecified costs for a railing and previous town work to clear the site. The project cost is partially paid by a county open space trust grant of $150,000 (which is essentially a partial return of the county open space tax paid by town property owners). The town had last year had proposed to fund $143,201 of the cost from the capital budget, which would largely be borrowed.

The administration is asking council approval for two engineering contracts, obtained through competitive proposals, to:

-  T&M Associates of Middletown, for $39,300, to provide investigative and remediation services at the Public Works building on Lakeside Avenue. The town removed a leaking gasoline tank a decade ago, according to a letter to the council from Town Engineer Leonard Lepore. The letter said PMK Group of Cranford has previously provided investigative services. PMK was acquired by Birdsall Services before it entered bankruptcy proceedings and went out of business in a political-contribution scandal. T&M was pulled into that scandal when it was sued last year alleging that a Birdsall executive had joined T&M and took confidential documents that helped win business for his new employer http://bit.ly/1e3koKT. Council awarded T&M a contract in January for $226,850 for investigative and remediation services at the old town garage on Lindsley Avenue and firehouse on Pleasant Valley Way.

-  Hatch Mott MacDonald of Iselin, for $22,700, to prepare an asbestos management plan and HVAC preventive-maintenance plan for the town’s four firehouses and the First Aid Squad building.  The work is the result of multi-agency health and safety inspections.

The administration is also proposing an ordinance on first reading to update the salary ranges of the police force to reflect a February 8, 2014, interest arbitration decision of the labor contract between the town and its patrolmen’s union. In general, the decision awards annual pay increases similar to those of the other town unions in the last round of contract negotiations -- zero in 2010 and 2011, and 2% increases in 2012 and 2013. The top salary for patrolmen rises to $87,870 and for new officers in training of $43,065. The union had asked for 3% raises in each of the four years of the contract.

The decision also directs all patrolmen to receive stipends of $625 for 2012 and another $625 for 2013, which the arbitrator wrote reflected the labor agreement with the firefighter’s union that provided $3,000 stipends (a change from 2% of base pay) to those who have Emergency Medical Technician certification.

The stipend for detectives was increased from $1,000 to 1,250 for 2012 and $1,500 for 2013. The decision is here. The administration had previously estimated the cost related to the arbitration decision at $900,000. (I’ve asked for an updated cost.)

The ordinance also would also set top pay for the police chief at $160,571, deputy police chief at $142,157, captain at $125,743, lieutenant at $111,277, and sergeant at $98,480.

The other proposed ordinance on first reading would allow the town to potentially exceed the state cap on annual appropriation increases to 3.5% from 2.5%. The law allows the municipality to “bank” the unused portion of that potential increase, estimated in the ordinance at $1.725 million in additional potential spending. That “bank” would be available to offset appropriation increases that would otherwise exceed the cap in the following two years.

The administration will formally introduce the 2014 budget of approximately $73.3 million. The administration’s proposal exactly matched the 2013 adopted budget to the penny. The council majority added spending at the March 1 statutory budget hearing, so at this point it’s unclear where exactly the budget stands. The mayor said at the last council meeting that he projects no increase in the tax levy from $51.97 million last year, when municipal property taxes rose 2.3%. The budget will be subject to change over the next several months as the picture for revenues and spending become clearer. Initial 2014 budget materials are here.

In other legislation of interest, the administration is asking council approval to:

- Renew a contract with Montclair YMCA to rent time at the pool.

- Authorize temporary budget appropriations pending adoption of the 2014 budget.

- Calculate the 2014 property tax collection rate by taking into account $506,809 in successful property tax appeals in 2013. This would lower the 2014 reserve for uncollected property taxes by the same amount. The net effect of this action would be to lower 2014 total appropriations and reduce the tax levy. If tax appeals turn out to be higher than expected, this action could potentially reduce future surplus by reversing the effect and requiring additional reserves.

If you’d like to contact the council with your thoughts on any of these issues, please send an e-mail to council@westorange.org or call 973.325.4155 to leave a message.

I’m a West Orange Township councilman since 2010, reachable at jkrakoviak@westorange.org. I'm a business communications consultant in my spare time.