Proposals to renew a risk-management consulting contract with Fairview Insurance, reconsider a failed resolution to investigate procurement of police weapons and ammunition, and award snow-removal contracts head the agenda for the January 28, 2014, council meeting.
The meeting agendas and related materials are here.
The administration is asking the council to approve the renewal of the risk-management consulting contract with Fairview Insurance of Verona relating the town’s participation in the Garden State Municipal Joint Insurance Fund. It provides property & casualty insurance for municipalities around the state.
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The one-year no-bid contract awards Fairview, the town’s long-time insurance broker and consultant, with a commission equal to 7% of the town’s GSMJIF assessment. The assessment isn’t specified in the contract. The 2013 budget line for the JIF was $810,000, which would indicate a fee to Fairview of about $56,000. The town has paid Fairview approximately $1.1 million in fees in the last three years. I’ve asked the administration for more information on these fees.
My proposed ordinance to regulate insurance procurement and broker/consultant compensation failed at the January 14 council meeting for lack of a second to my motion to introduce.
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The council will reconsider the administration’s request for council approval for a two-step research project to investigate the vendors and market for police firearms and ammunition to update the specifications and standards for procurement. Areas of study include “smart gun” technology, the capability of vendors to have efficient buyback campaigns to minimize second-hand sales in the private market, vendors that equip all their firearms with trigger locks and vendor commitment to “minimizing the ‘arms race’ between law enforcement and civilians.”
The resolution, submitted to the administration by Rabbi Elliot Tepperman of Bnai Keshet Synagogue in Montclair, was considered at the January 14 meeting. He and West Orange resident and firearms instructor Alexander Roubian engaged in a spirited debate during Public Comment and later when the council considered the resolution. Council President Susan McCartney’s motion to introduce the resolution did not receive a second and thus failed.
Mr. Roubian e-mailed the council today to say that he was on vacation and unable to attend the meeting. He asked the council to table consideration until its next meeting when he could attend.
The administration is asking the council to award two contracts for snow removal. Grabowski Construction of West Orange would provide snow plowing and salting for $225 per hour in the eastern part of town. Elite Snow Removal of Clifton would provide equipment to haul snow ranging from $90 per hour to $145 per hour. The proposed resolution does not indicate a not-to-exceed cost.
The administration is requesting approval of a salary ordinance on first reading to raise the maximum pay for a mechanic’s helper in the Public Works department from $49,372 to $58,141, or 17.8%. The ordinance will require a second reading and majority vote in favor to pass.
Other matters on the agenda include:
- A resolution to padlock the Select-O Flash building at 18 Central Avenue as abandoned and unfit for occupancy. The administration pulled the resolution at the January 14 meeting to await the costs that it would include in a lien on the property. The resolution does not include the costs; I I’ve asked the administration for this.
- Plans to create an ordinance making Hazel Avenue one-way west-bound between Rollinson Street and Oak Ridge Road to improve safety at the Hazel Avenue School.
- A $7,404 assessment from Joint Meeting, which handles most of the town’s sewerage, for its share of a settlement in the Occidental Chemical litigation in which the state is seeking compensation for the environmental contamination of Newark Bay. The total settlement is $95,000.
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.
