Politics & Government

Cinnaminson Wants to Streamline with New Department

A job audit was performed to analyze how the township is run and officials are looking to create a department of community development.

This story was updated at 3 p.m.

Cinnaminson officials are looking to streamline some governmental offices into a department of community development after findings from a recent job audit showed code enforcement was “somewhat fragmented,” according to the official who performed the audit.

The job audit—performed by Arch Liston with New Jersey Municipal Assistance—was performed over the summer and some of his findings were presented at Monday’s committee meeting.

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Liston suggested the township unify departments that deal with land use under one control.

“We’re on the ground floor as we begin to develop this concept,” said Frank Locantore, township administrator, of a department of community development.

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The department would oversee engineering, code enforcement, planning/zoning, construction and public works.

“We could consolidate them all under one umbrella,” Locantore said.

There is more than one township official who enforces codes—the part-time code enforcement officer, the zoning officer and the police department. A director of a community development office would take the lead in land use matters.

The idea of a job audit has been talked about among township committee members for several years, Deputy Mayor Anthony Minniti said.

“We’ve never really gone through with it for budget reasons and there wasn’t a pressing need,” Minniti said. “We’ve gone through a lot of reorganization and we felt that an analyst would look at what we’re doing—and see if we can provide services better and at a cost savings.”

George Haeuber, interim administrator before Locantore was hired full-time, suggested the audit.

“Potentially what a department of community development would do is create a central point of contact,” Minniti said further. “There is no one central point [now].”

If such department is created within the township, there would be no hires or fires; the director of the department would come from within, Minniti said.

The township allocated $5,200 for the audit, Locantore said, and to date, about $4,600 has been spent.

Liston met with employees and department heads for feedback in other areas too. Other findings include the changing of job titles to better fit positions.

One finding of the audit that Cinnaminson already excels in, Locantore said, is shared services.

“We have a number of shared service agreements and [it was recommended] to continue to explore and expand where possible,” Locantore said.

The township and school board share IT services, the township and Moorestown share a tax assessor and the township has a shared services agreement with Riverton for its leaf-pickup.

Another recommendation Liston found was the township having a qualified purchasing agent. Locantore is already in the process of adding that qualification to his duties.

Commiteemen Ben Young and John Rooney were two dissenting votes to move forward with the audit findings. 

Young said he thinks the audit went "a little too far." 

"The township is 90 percent developed," he said. "Why do we need to create a whole new department for the last 10 percent?"

Locantore will explore the possibility of a department of community development and present his findings to township committee during a November meeting.


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