What You Missed from This Week's Committee Meeting

Cinnaminson Township Committee’s marathon meeting on Monday stretched into early Tuesday morning and produced plenty of discussion.

Committee members debated and voted on a variety of issues, including alleged maintenance violations at Paula’s Family Restaurant, plus streamlining township departments, communication problems between the committee and planning and zoning boards, and a focus on code enforcement around town.

Cinnaminson Patch will bring you coverage on those issues, but here are three other things accomplished Monday:

1. Calling it a “neighborly” gesture, Cinnaminson will allow Palmyra to use its courtroom for three sessions in coming weeks. Palmyra is facing an HVAC problem in its own courtroom, and will hold court in Cinnaminson on Nov. 26, Nov. 27 and Dec. 14. The building will already be open for other township business and Palmyra will provide its own security.

Deputy Mayor Anthony Minniti floated charging Palmyra for the usage, but the other committee members decided it should be gratis.

2. The take-home vehicle issue is … still not fully decided. But the committee made some progress. Seven employees—the zoning officer, head of public works, three police detectives, a police lieutenant (as the senior ranking sworn officer) and a K9 officer—were identified as having take-home cars, an issue that’s rankled some for months. The committee voted to allow all but the zoning officer to continue to use the cars for take-home use. Everyone still allowed has on-call duties that often necessitate or at least make it easier to respond promptly with an equipped township car. (The zoning officer previously volunteered to stop using the car for take-home use; the committee voted to codify that gesture regardless.)

Now the question remains if employees who live outside of Cinnaminson should reimburse the township for mileage. The committee will take it up at a future meeting after more research on tax implications.

3. Cinnaminson will continue to explore inspection shared services with three other towns: Delanco, Delran and Maple Shade. George Haeuber, Cinnaminson’s former interim township administrator, is representing the town in talks to create a joint shared services group. He presented a progress report, noting that it’s feasible to create the agreement if all four towns agree. Based on the number of permits issued in 2009-11 and the revenue generated, Cinnaminson would contribute 36 percent, Maple Shade 30 percent, Delran 24 percent and Delanco 10 percent toward the cost of the group.

Committee voted 3-2 (with John Rooney and Ben Young voting no) to allow Haeuber to continue talks with the other towns with the goal of creating the inspection shared services agreement.

Stay with Cinnaminson Patch for continuing coverage of this week’s special township committee meeting. And don’t miss any government news. Sign up for our daily newsletter.