Gun safety, downtown construction top Millburn Township Committee meeting

"You’re in good shape," municipal accountant Louis Mai reported to the Committee. "You have a 99 percent tax collection rate and we like to see that." He added the government is spending the money wisely. The audit shows a fund balance - cash reserves - at the end of 2015 were just over $11 million.

Mai noted that the municipality had resolved or corrected all recommendations made by him after last year’s audit.

This year, he presented eight recommendations that included reviewing internal controls over the police department’s cash fund and the fire department’s procedures for receiving and depositing money; approving resolutions for all state and cooperative contracts and putting contract numbers on all purchase orders; and making sure purchase orders are issued prior to any purchase being made.

Mai also said late fees should be charged to all individuals who are late on applying for a dog license and made the point that some pet owners have been penalized, others have not.

"That’s never a good thing," Mai said.

Mayor Ted Bourke thanked Mai for his analysis.

"My general reaction is that you had to dig deep on this," Bourke said. "On a scale of one to 10, these (recommendations) are very low. We’re sound financially, but we’re also sound procedurally."

Following Mai’s presentation, the Committee approved a corrective action plan to address the recommendations.

A number of other resolutions were also approved at the meeting, including one to install a stop sign at the intersection of The Crescent and Short Hills Avenue and an all-way stop at the intersection of Ridgewood Road, Whittingham Terrace and Parkview Drive.

Another resolution approved prohibits motorists from entering the Essex Street parking deck through the driveway on Lackawanna Place, which is already posted for "exit only." The amendment to the ordinance now allows drivers entering from Lackawanna Place to be ticketed. When Committeewoman Cheryl Burstein questioned whether or not the resolution can be enforced, resident Phil Kirsch suggested during public comments that a surveillance camera or license plate reader can be mounted outside to catch offending drivers.

The Committee approved a resolution appropriating $380,000 from the Parking Utility Capital Improvement Fund to purchase pay stations for the downtown business district and remove the existing parking meters on streets.

Gun safety

Also approved was a resolution to join other New Jersey municipalities participating in a Do Not Stand Idly Campaign requesting gun manufacturers to actively develop and child- and theft-proof safe gun technologies.

Bourke said his only concern would be that any technologies be approved or consistent with the needs of police officers, who sometimes must share a weapon. Burstein, who wrote the resolution with municipal attorney Christopher Falcon, said the concerns of local police were noted and that the technologies are still in the developmental stage.

Complete Streets

A number of issues created by Complete Streets construction downtown were raised by the public and Committee members.

Committeeman Robert Tillotson, whose wife Suzan is a lighting engineer and pro bono is reviewing the proposed downtown lighting, acknowledged the project is moving quickly, but said he has yet to see the specifications for some of the LED streetlights that are being purchased.

Purchases for lighting poles are being requested, "But," he said, "I’m not getting the information I need. Right now, I have no drawings where these (lighting location) zones are."

Township resident and owner of The Courtyard building, Cary Heller, questioned sidewalk work in front of some of his first story tenants and said at least one was getting water in the basement. Heller also criticized lower curbs and concrete portions of the roadway being installed on Main Street that may make resurfacing hard to accomplish.

Bourke, in turn, made the point that a traffic consultant had been retained to re-evalutate plans to construct a roundabout at the eastern intersection of Millburn Avenue and Essex Street. The consultant will study the impact of the proposed intersection and it’s impact on the South Mountain neighborhood.