City Hall deadlock freezes Millville permit inspections

MILLVILLE - The city is unable to perform building, electrical, plumbing and fire code inspections on permit requests filed since Nov. 1 due to expiration of a contract with an inspection firm it hired last year and that firm’s subsequent and unexpected refusal to accept short-term contract extensions, according to a city official.

As a result, City Commissioner Lynne Porreca-Compari said, Millville is out of compliance with state regulations as of Nov. 22 because of that coverage gap. The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs is aware of the gap but has not gotten back to Millville on what it believes should be done, she said.

“They said they didn’t know,” Porreca-Compari said last week. “It would depend on what they felt when they looked at the case, then figured it out. So we’re in limbo on it.”

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The City Commission might have moved on possible solutions at its Nov. 16 meeting. The meeting agenda included a resolution that proposed giving Trinity Code Inspections a 60-day contract to take effect Nov. 16.

The governing body had four members present, due to the absence of Vice Mayor James Quinn, and the proposal could not get majority support.

In October 2014, Trinity was given a one-year contract that started that November. The city does not have its own staff to do those inspections.

Trinity’s contract renewal ran into a problem due to a competing proposal to reach an agreement with Upper Deerfield Township to take over inspection work. That agreement was voted down at the commission’s Oct. 29 meeting over objections by Porreca-Compari and Commissioner Joseph Sooy.

However, the commission did not make an immediate decision on how to provide the services. The cost of establishing the city’s own inspection staff is being looked at presently.

At the Oct. 29 meeting, Trinity owner Jay Dilworth spoke against the shared-services agreement. Dilworth also later told the commission he was willing to work with the city until it decided how it would proceed.

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Mayor Michael Santiago broached the subject of a contract extension. “I think this man is on our side,” he said.

Quinn then noted that Dilworth had said he would take short-term work with Millville.

Dilworth responded from the audience: “That’s correct. I would agree with that.”

Porreca-Compari said Dilworth did not inform her of his intention. She said she learned of it when someone called her to ask why they had been told the construction office was closed.

“The fact that he went back on his word, saying he would work with the city and then refuse to, I don’t like that,” she added.

Dilworth could not be reached on Friday for comments about his decision not to accept a short-term contract. The contractor currently is clearing up backlogged permit requests but is not doing new work, Porreca-Compari said.

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A DCA spokeswoman on Friday confirmed the department is working with the city “to devise an adequate solution.”

“The City Commissioner has been instructed to process and issue the construction permits reviewed by Trinity Inspections,” spokeswoman Emike Omogbai said. “Trinity Inspections must complete all inspections associated with permits they approved prior to their departure.”

Porreca-Compari this week said that she still favors reaching an agreement with Upper Deerfield but that she has talked to prospective hires for municipal positions.

“The people that I approached did not wish to do it,” she said. “So the choice in my mind is to have Upper Deerfield do it, because it would be seriously equivalent to having it in-house.”

The commissioner also said that a recent quality-assurance sampling of permits handled by Trinity shows it overcharged a number of property owners. Twenty permits for replacement heaters were pulled, and in six cases the applicants were charged too much money, she said.

Porreca-Compari said one person was charged $2,000 for what should have been a $100 billing. More permits may be examined, but that decision hasn’t been made yet, she said.

Porreca-Compari urged property owners to contact the city construction official, Jerry Goff, with questions on how to proceed with permit requests.

Joseph P. Smith: (856) 563-5252; jsmith@gannettnj.com