03-11-2011 - englewood cliffs may not reappoint construction official

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Englewood Cliffs maynot reappoint

construction code official

Friday, March 11, 2011BY AMANDA BASKIND Northern Valley Suburbanite Staff Writer

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS - The borough councilvoted on March 9 to give 30 days notice of

non-reappointment to the construction code

official.

The council majority said the decision wasmade to save the borough money, not in

response to recent issues that have come up

in the Building Department.

"We're not making the change, we're simply

giving notice and taking the time to discuss,"

said Council President Robert Agresta, a

Republican, on March 10. "They [the

Democrats] thought we were actually

terminating the guy."

Agresta, who heads the council's Finance

Committee, said the measure was taken to

explore the possibility of shared services

with neighboring municipalities to save

money. "It's really important when we have a

chance to save money," said Agresta."Personnel is the biggest part of the budget."

In addition to serving as the construction

code official, Paul Renaud is the building

inspector and zoning officer. Renaud is also

Norwood's construction code official.

Mayor Joseph C. Parisi, Jr., said, on March 10,

Renaud makes approximately $34,000 as

construction code official and a combined

$15,000 as building inspector and zoning

officer. According to Parisi, Renaud was

willing to take a pay cut of $15,000 in order

to maintain all three positions.

"That's a pretty big chunk," Parisi said.

"We could save money by retaining Paul," said

Councilman Ilan Plawker, a Democrat, on

March 10. "My major objection was there's

no rhyme or reason for their actions."

Renaud's four-year term as the construction

code official expires on April 2. If

reappointed, Renaud would become a

tenured official and could only lose his job

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on a causal basis.

Since Renaud's appointment is expiring next

month, Agresta thought it was an "opportune

time" to consider shared services in this area.

Since the council took action after the 30-

day window, if Renaud chooses, he will serve

as construction code official in an acting

capacity for no more than 60 days, once his

term expires on April 2.

The decision not to reappoint Renaud was

not the only recent discussion involving the

Building Department.

At the Feb. 21 budget meeting, concerns

about the timeliness of the borough's fire

inspector, Steve Curry, were raised.

Plawker said Curry "... He comes after 6 [p.m.]

with no other appointments on two

occasions." On March 10, Plawker clarified

his statement from Feb. 21 saying that it

"came from someone who was surprised

they had to wait as long as they did and that

person was surprised as well that Paul

Renaud could to do the fire inspection at the

same time."

Renaud offered to pick up the slack by being

appointed as a "secondary inspector" for $1.

He said the experience will help him gather

credit for his subcode license.According to the borough's Uniform

Construction Code, "Inspections shall be

performed within three business days of the

time for which it was requested."

"We would never create a situation that

would cause any inconvenience for the

residents of Englewood Cliffs. I am outragedthat elected and appointed officials are

attempting to malign the reputation of a

respected professional like Mr. Curry and

one can only wonder what self-serving

political motivation is behind Councilman

Plawker's false allegations," said

Councilwoman Carrol McMorrow, a

Republican, who also serves as the council

liaison to the Building Department.

At the time of the budget meeting, Curry wasonly scheduled to do inspections on

Wednesday afternoons from 4-6 p.m. He said

he was hired as a fire inspector the day after

his resume was sent in and without being

interviewed.

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"I didn't even apply to be a fire inspector, I

applied to be a subcode official," said Curry.

According to Curry, when he was hired he

said he could work any afternoon after 4 p.m., come during his lunch hour and work on

weekends. He served as a fire subcode and

fire official in both Fort Lee and Edgewater

and as a fire subcode in Palisades Park. On

March 4, two more hours were added to

Curry's inspection schedule.

Curry said the allegations that he was late are

false. "I've been on time for every single

inspection," said Curry on March 3.

At the March 9 meeting, Curry said he has

completed five inspections to date and he

has been on time for all of the inspections.

"I just want to do my job the way its

supposed to be done," said Curry.E-mail:

[email protected]

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03-11-2011 - englewood cliffs may not reappoint construction official

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