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BLOOMINGDALE - Shared construction services with K'lon working
(by Deborah Walsh - Staff Writer - October 15, 2008)
BLOOMINGDALE/KINNELON — Officials from both towns are happy about the smooth transition from Kinnelon providing its residents with construction and building inspection services to Bloomingdale providing Kinnelon residents with these services.
Bloomingdale Borough Administrator Ted Ehrenburg said the switch in service providers has gone smoothly. Bloomingdale hired a part-time secretary for its building department to handle the additional workload now that Kinnelon has been added. Bloomingdale also provides Butler with some building department services and Ehrenburg indicated that Bloomingdale might add more towns to its roster for construction services.
“This will be like Home Depot – one-stop shopping when people come to our construction office. We will be a model for other communities," said Ehrenburg when the interlocal services agreement was approved between Bloomingdale and Kinnelon.
Kinnelon Mayor Glenn Sisco agreed that the transition has been successful. Sisco said the borough has not received complaints from residents, which sometimes follows a change in services. Currently, Bloomingdale is making the routine inspections and catching up on plan reviews, he said.
“So far so good. Bloomingdale is able to give us more service because they have more manpower. It’s better services at a reduced cost,” said Sisco. “Residents might have to drive a little further. When we discussed it, we knew there were advantages and disadvantages, but we felt the advantages outweighed the disadvantages. We thought we would try it.”
At the Aug. 26 Bloomingdale Borough Council meeting, the contract was approved with Kinnelon. Kinnelon’s Borough Council had OK'd the joint services agreement at its Aug. 21 meeting. Bloomingdale has been supplying neighboring Butler with construction services since April of 2007.
Kinnelon officials were prompted to seek construction/inspection services after receiving the resignation of Construction Code Official Russ Heiney. Heiney had resigned in order to take another part-time construction code position in Mendham Township. He had already been the construction code official in neighboring Mendham Borough.
Mayor Sisco said Bloomingdale will be providing Kinnelon with services 35 hours a week and will offer Kinnelon the identical services it provides its residents. Bloomingdale’s Building Department, located on Hamburg Turnpike, is open Monday through Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sisco said the shared services agreement allows the borough to save money and provide more hours of service. When Kinnelon provided its own services, Heiney was available to the public four days a week from 7:30 to 9:15 a.m. and the sub code officials had hours on Tuesday and Thursdays. Sisco estimated that the borough could save as much as $70,000 in its first year with Bloomingdale.
According to the shared services agreement, Kinnelon will pay Bloomingdale $39,500 from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31. Kinnelon will pay Bloomingdale $163,530 in 2009, $169, 254 in 2010, $175,177 in 2011, $181,309 in 2012 and $187,655 in 2013.
On April 3, 2007 the Butler Borough Council approved an interlocal agreement with Bloomingdale, which called for Bloomingdale providing Butler with a construction official and other subcode official services. In addition to building inspections, Bloomingdale provides electrical, plumbing and fire inspections. Bloomingdale does not provide zoning and property maintenance inspections, which continues to be done by Butler’s zoning officer, William Budesheim.
Back in April of 2007 Butler Borough Administrator James Lampmann said the retirement of the borough’s construction code official, Joseph Montemarano prompted the borough to look elsewhere for services. Lampmann said the borough expected to save a minimum of $25,000 annually by going to Bloomingdale. Butler was scheduled to pay Bloomingdale $75,000 for the services in 2007 plus a startup fee of $6,000 in 2007. The $75,000 base fee is subject to a 3.5 percent increase annually through the life of the four-year contract. Additionally, Butler pays Bloomingdale administrative fees equaling 5 percent of the total annual permit fees up to the amount of $100,000 and 25-percent of the total annual permit fees over $100,000.
Lampmann said the permit fee percentage increases when permit fees exceed $100,000 takes into consideration a large scale project, like the Lowe’s project or redevelopment zone project, that requires numerous inspections and could require the hiring of additional inspectors.
The Corzine administration is pressing towns to combine services and is withholding grant money from small towns, which are not showing an effort to initiate joint agreements for services.
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