4 Herald - Lantern - Dispatch 3 July '85

mLnOl Dick Alligtr COMMENDATION — Phyllis Linn, an employ of the Sea Isle City Treasurer's office, was awarded a city commendation for her life saving work with the Sea Isle City Ambulance Corps. Linn responded to a call in her neighborhood and rescued a baby who had been locked in a bathroom with scalding water running in the tub. Presenting the award at a recent Sea Isle City Commissioners meeting are left. Commissioners William H. VanArtsdalen. Jr.. and James R. lannone, and right. Mayor Michael J. Mcllale.

Contract Negotiations Stymied

(From Page 1) file them with PERC (Public Employment Relations Commission) this week to force an employe vote. Williams said he'll contest that. The union dissention is clearly benefiting county management. Williams needs a settlement fast, and told this newspaper Friday that he. alone, will sign a contract if the county will accept five proposals he sent to Pepper that day Williams said his "authority" as a special trustee" of the local "allows me ( to do that) under the constitution of our brotherhood during the trusteeship "If I get the concessions, he said. "I feel I've answered the membership's needs ." ASKED IF a one-man approval of contract negotiations was customary, he replied. "It's customary when you have turmoil like you have here. Somebody has to have some voice." Williams said his "main concern" is that "if another union would come in, these people (employes) would lose all their • retroactive money; we have a retroactive agreement." Kelly denied his efforts are hurting contract negotiations. "They would under normal circumstances." he said, "if anyone capable was negotiating a contract. But these negotiations are not progressing at all. If they go beyond impasse to fact finding, that's the end of it. There's no place to go from here. If the Painters arrive at factfinding with the kind of material they've done for negotiations, they'd get a disgraceful settlement If I were the freeholders. I'd institute in behalf of the factfinder. Kelly said he expects negotiations to be "suspended" after he files with PERC WILLIAMS LISTED these five proposals. which he mailed to Pepper last Friday. A 5 percent wage increase "for all. to be added to base pay for each year of the (three-year) contract The previous defeated contract offered about 5 percent. Williams said, but it was a "bonus" not added to base people for persons in the eighth step and beyond. That amounts to about 200 employes. Williams said, and he said "the big hangup in the defeat could have come from them " Kelly, incidentally, doesn't count a bonus as a pay hike and charged it was really a 2 percent pay hike, "the most frightening part" of the proposed contract WILLIAMS' OTHER four issues •Grievance procedures for disciplinary act ions of three-day. suspensions or more The county wants to be able to suspend for five days without grievances. Williams said •A uniform allowance for Crest Haven employes of $140 this year. $165 in 1986. and $200 in 1987 It has been $120 for several years. Williams said, and the county proposed nothing this year. $175 in 1986 and $200 in 1987 •Specific language guaranteeing that, although longevity would be ended for new employes, it would be "grandfathered" (kept) for current employes. Union officials speculated after the contract defeat that employes were concerned that new hires, without longevity, eventually would give it up totally in future negotiations Longevity amounts to a 2 percent a year for every five years service up through 12 percent for 30 years and 14 percent for 40 years. It amounts to less than $1,000 for most employes. NEGOTIATORS for both sides have met only once since the May 24 contract offer defeat, on June 7. Stated Mediator n

Theodore Gerber was present. Williams gave this account of that session: "He (Gerber) was supposed to be there as an observer, to get a feel in case we have to go to impasse. The county negotiators were in one room and ours were in another and he was running back and forth. I said. 'What are you doing? I though we were going to meet with the county." He said, 'You're at impasse.' I said. 'No, we're not at impasse. You're doing more than observing. I think we should have another session by ourselves.' He brought the county in and we discussed 15 items I listed, the gripes of every county employe. I circled four items and said those are basic." Williams said that, after the contract defeat, stewards polled members with questionaires to determine their complaints. "A LOT HAD TO DO with department rules." said Williams, "preferred treatment for one employe over another. I said with a few adjustments we could settle the contract. Pepper agreed if we gave him the problems in each department, he would have them addressed " Williams said he took a list of those problems to Pepper on June 26. "This has nothing to do with negotiations." said Williams. "But it had a lot to do with the contract being turned down. Pepper promised to address these ongoing problems about which nothing has been done for years. These problems were here when I took over." Williams said some examples of the problems were "bridge operator duties besides opening and closing the bridge, hiring practices, uniforms, safety." etc. He said problems at Crest Haven included "lack of work rules and communications. job openings not being posted, seniority not being lived up to, transfers from one floor to another." He said there was a problem at the library because it's open on some of the holidays that county employes have off. WILLIAMS SAID Kelly's labor organization "is not registered with the state Department of Labor. It's a bogus dream of his." i Kelly-told this newspaper Amalgamated Six. "an independent group." is inot registered, it has no members." he said, "—'but it is a labor organization." Kelly indicated the new group, which he said was located in Iselin. North Jersey, was his only route back into the union leadership because of organized labor opposition. "I have a no-raid clause between our international and the Teamsters." agreed Williams. "We live up to it and we respect each other " Williams charged that, while current dues are $10 a month. Keliv is proposing 3 percent of gross pay. "That would be up to the membership." said Kelly. "I would advocate 1 percent "THE PAINTERS and Allied Trades has done nothing for the membership." said Kelly. "They sat there for a year and collected their dues and achieved absolutely nothing." Williams estimated dues from county employes total about $6,500 a year Should Kelly succeed in forcing a vote, he said the employes would have a choice of Local 1983, Kelly 's group, or "no union. " The contract that expired last Dec. 31 was a two-year contract that came from a state mediator after an impasse was declared

Excluding the Public

(From Page 1) This board has released the minutes of 12 of the 24 meetings. The last were releas- • ed on April 19. 11 weeks ago. There is a $5 ' copying fee. County Counsel Harry A. Delventhal Jr. ! of Ocean City is responsible for reviewing | the minutes of closed meetings and recomI Beyond Reach (From Page 1) fire-resistant and a sprinkler system installed still gives no guarantee that the contents would not burn," Hess wrote, "and we would be without means of reaching the roof of this building for ventilation or evacuation purposes. "... The 30-foot height limitation in the Rio Grande area was intended to be 30-foot. If we allow five feet more now, in the near future requests will be made to go " a few feet higher and higher," Hess argued. "We do not want to stand in the way of progress," he added, "however, we have a commitment to the protection and safety of this fire district and, at this time, do not have or can ill afford a piece of apparatus to reach a roof over 30 feet." THEY (PLANNERS) said they were going to propose an ordinance to raise it (the height limitation) up to 35 feet anyway," noted Forsyth, "which doesn't do us any good." Firemen have been told that the proposed building is well-equipped with fire prevention measures, Forsyth said, but he hasn't seen any plans. Another firefighter said a stand pipe to which firemen connect hoses, is shown inside a locked door. "They couldn't even tell me that," Forsyth said of the planners and his question about the building size. He said he saw nothing more elaborate than landscaping plans for the building at the Planning Board meeting. But Carol Nicoletta, board secretary, said each member had a full set of plans then on the structure. REFERRING TO board approval of the height variance, Forsyth said "there's not too much we can do about it." Nicoletta, however, said planners "approved it, contingent upon satisfying all fire code requirements. "Before (Benzel ) can get a building permit — see, the state has to review his plans," she said. Forsyth didn't think the state's Uniform Fire Code had anything to do with Benzel's building, though, and neither did Harry M. Clayton Sr., Avalon's construction official who's well-versed on it. "The fire code ... is a maintenance code ." he said. "That would not control that particular building as far as height is concerned It has nothing to do with the fire code "

mending to the freeholders when he feels they can be released. TTie freeholders review the minutes §nd agree, in closed session, to release them. THE BOARD'S current procedures started in January. This newspaper published an editorial Dec. 26 charging the freeholders were violating the Open Public Meetings Act. On Jan. 8 the board amended its rules to provide that the resolutions to authorize "meetings excluding the public" state the matter to be discussed ("possible litigation," for example) and specify when the minutes will be available. Both are Open Public Meetings Act requirements which the board previously did not meet. ON THE SAME DAY. Jan. 8, according to minutes released on March 1, the board met privately with attorney Cosmo Giovinazzi for "a discussion with counsel regarding possible litigation — Herald Lantern." The county did not sue the newspapers. Giovinazzi is with the Vineland law firm, Gruccio-Pepper Lawrence. A. Pepper Jr. is the county's labor counsel. ALTHOUGH the new rules established Jan. 8 gave the public more advance information about closed meetings, they also made sure the public would learn less in the long run. Whereas previous minutes gave a rather complete account of what took place, including comments by individual freeholders, thp new format simply states when and where the meeting was held, who was there, and "subjects considered." \ Unlike some municipalities, such as Middle Township, the freeholders do not tape record their meetings. The Open Public Meeting Law states that minutes "...should be in sufficient detail to give the public a general description or outline of the subject and issues discussed..." The preamble to the Open Public Meetings Act calls open meetings "...vital to the enhancement and proper functioning of the democratic process" and states that "secrecy in public affairs undermines the faith of the public in government and the public's effectiveness in fulfilling its role in a democratic society." Fireworks (From Page 1) Middle also promises a record blast, 160 shots compared to 140 last year. Avalon Yacht Club at 7th and the bay. And Sea Isle City "bigger and better than ever." on the beach at John F. Kennedy Boulevard. It's all happening at dusk, which is about 9 p.m

Clear Court Move

(From Page 1) "We have to provide some sort of path from the parking lot. which is across the street, to the entrance, said county Planning Director Elwood Jarmer "That was the only condition." Discussing the issue with county freeholders in May. however, he told them. "Something that seemed pro forma turned out to be a can of worms. " He said then that, when township planner last considered the county's plans to convert airport Building No. 8 into temporary court facilities, they told him they wanted eight or nine matters cleared up. most of them routine. "THE TWO THAT REQUIRE some fur ther study are the sewer commitment.. ." Jarmer explained later, "and you have to show that taxes have been paid." The county rents sections of its airport buildings to businesses and one of them was "in arrears" at the time." he added. But the more difficult issue was sewage treatment capacity committed to the airport in Lower Township's MUA's Villas plant q. "I don't know if that was talked about previously.' Harry McVey. newlyappointed township planning director, said Friday "But. it wasn't brought up either at the (township Planning Board) work session or the (June 20) regular meeting " Somehow the planners and the county settled their differences or they evaporated. Jarmer. though, was concerned enough about them in May that the

freeholders told him to get the county lawyer involved. COUNTY COUNSEL Harry A Delventhal Jr. was already involved by then anyway — through the sewage commitment dispute. At the time, the county's five-year contract with the township MUA was about to expire without any money changing hands. And Township Manager James R. Stump, who also heads the MUA. was scheduled to mget with Delventhal to discuss payment X>f a $39,000 sewer bill. Stump's vowed to collect it. It still hadn't been paid by last week. Stump said, but the county notified him then that it will reduce its 160.000 gallon-a-day airport sewer commitment. Now. airport sewer bills will be based on actual daily use (9.000-20.000 gallons) Stump added. Citing an architect-client privilege. Howell, who was also commissioned by the freeholders to overhaul the court house, declined comment on when the courts would be moved to temporary quarters at the county airport. "Originally, our timetable was to be Sept 15 through Sept. 30," Freeholder James S. Kilpatrick Jr. said Thursday That's been, delayed about 30 days, he said, because the freeholders rejected bids for work on the records room They had hoped to be under construction by now. he added. Renovating and expanding the court house in Cape May Court House will take "approximately two years." Kilpatrick explained. "I don't know that we'll be able to start in November."