Over the years, Morristown’s permit process has left people scratching their heads.
Building and zoning regulations, health codes and property maintenance rules are enforced by different divisions that do not always appear to be on the same page, according to a recent study.
Confusion about the status of planning approvals prompted a legal showdown between the town and developers of the 40 Park luxury condos during the prior administration. For the last two years, town Administrator Michael Rogers has had to call a meeting every Monday morning with all his code enforcement officials to ensure that they know what their colleagues are working on.
“One of my main challenges on a daily basis is trying to coordinate these activities in the various departments,” Michael said.
That is about to change, if the town council next week approves Mayor Tim Dougherty’s request to create a new Department of Code Enforcement.
The move was recommended in a $15,000 report completed in the spring by consultants from Jersey Professional Management.
Michael said the Mayor wants to hire an outsider with management experience and a “new perspective” to run the new department, which would absorb the town’s departments of building and construction, and human services, along with the zoning portion of the public works department.
Presently, the town Department of Human Services includes divisions on health; aging; housing and property maintenance; recreation, and rent leveling.
Those divisions would become part of the new Department of Code Enforcement, with the exception of aging, which would become the Office of Senior Services as part of Michael Rogers’ portfolio, and recreation, which would move to public works under the supervision of town Engineer Jeff Hartke.
Two officials would lose their designations as department heads when their departments are phased out: Fritz Reuss of the building and construction department, and Tommy Alexander of human services.
Fritz would continue as the town’s construction official, and Tommy would remain as chief housing inspector, the duties for which they are paid today. They are not paid extra as directors, so no pay cuts are involved, Michael Rogers said.
“It’s not a cost-savings study,” the Administrator said of the consultants’ recommendations. “It’s about management efficiency and effectiveness.”
Michael said the moves are unrelated to Tommy Alexander’s court battle with the health division he oversees.
That division has pressed animal cruelty charges against Tommy in a case pending before a judge in Rockaway Township. Tommy has denied neglecting his dog, which a veterinarian described as “chronically underfed” and emaciated when she examined it last December.
Tommy testified last week that he had given away the animal, which was unlicensed, because he was moving to an apartment that did not allow pets.
“I wish I lived in a perfect world where everybody got along,” Michael Rogers said. “But that’s not why we are doing this.”
