A code enforcement officer just hired by the New Milford Borough Council has had to withdraw himself from that position because of job changes, according to a letter read Thursday night at the borough’s regular meeting.
Fred Shiptowski was hired at the council’s July 15 recessed meeting. Shiptowski was recommended by the personnel committee for a six month probation period on an as needed basis. He was one of three candidates interviewed by the personnel committee out of six applicants.
Code enforcement issues did seem to dominate the meeting, particularly in the neighborhood on Peck Hill Road, where storm run-off damage has residents seething.
A group of visitors from Peck Hill road left the council meeting Thursday night feeling that their complaints about property violations, sluice pipe removal, and ditches were finally beginning to be addressed.
Council said ditch work will start soon on Peck Hill Road, and that a sluice pipe, reportedly removed by property owner Donald Richardson, will be replaced.
At the July meeting, residents Charles and Kerin Welch said that the ditch problem had gotten out of control on the street. One resident at Thursday’s meeting, Melody Phillips, was irate about the volume of uncontrolled water pouring across her driveway and leaving behind piles of debris and borough cobblestones. She produced photos of the offending cobblestone heaps and driveway gullies.
According to several of those attending, there were no water runoff problems before the sluice pipes were removed and ditches filled in. “Actually, there were no water problems at all until Mr. Richardson moved in,” one said.
The council sent Richardson a letter asking him to clean up an eyesore next to the road, which is still there, attendees said. There are several other codes violations being addressed with Richardson, including charges that he has tapped into the borough’s water and sewer lines.
Carol Patrick said she was glad to hear that the ditches will be cleaned out by a borough worker Bob Ehm starting in the next week.
She said that when the borough workers crowned the road, they did it in such a way that the water flows down into driveways because the ditches have been filled in. The sluice pipes under driveways were removed, five or six years ago, but they need to be replaced, as well as the ditches.
Mayor Joe Taylor said that Ron Kowaleski estimated the cost for removing a giant concrete wall chunk from the creek.
Kowaleski said he would estimate the cost of removing the concrete, part of the old retaining wall from the Maple Street bridge, at $500, but that is a high estimate.
The chunk presently rests by the North Church Street bridge. The costs will be paid out of either PennDOT liquid fuels funds or as a general fund line item.
Several council members attended a recent meeting with the Bluestone Gathering System concerning a proposed pipeline which may pass through the borough.
The group asked for permission to survey for the pipeline, and are contacting property owners in the proposed path. “I urge everyone to take those contracts to a lawyer,” said councilman Ken Carey.
He said there is a five mile swath of New Milford that may be affected, and that since the borough is “not very wide,” it will affect many of the 900 residents. Several are concerned that the company may use eminent domain.
Skateboarders have been told to remove a sectional sofa from the skateboard park “by tomorrow,” Taylor said.
He said that they have been well behaved, and that the ramps and other equipment will be inspected for condition when confirming the removal of the couch.
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