Also, township to receive credit from road projects
The Tabernacle Township Committee took the first step Monday to making changes to the annual salary ranges for township employees. The committee unanimously passed on first reading an amended ordinance that would modify salary ranges for some positions. The highest proposed salary range is for the township administrator position — from $15,000 to $100,000. When Tabernacle resident Stuart Brooks asked the committee who establishes the salary ranges and how they are determined, Township Administrator Doug Cramer said he establishes them.
“The range for the administrator is to allow the committee if I leave, either by their choice or my choice, that they have the ability to hire an administrator competitively in the market now,” Cramer said. “They are not going to hire an administrator for what they pay me.”
Cramer’s position as township administrator is paid $22,563.06, according to a township ordinance.
The amended ordinance also includes the salary range for the new fire marshal-fire subcode officer, who will be paid between $3,000 and $15,000.
The public hearing for the ordinance will be held at the next committee meeting, April 24 at 7:30 p.m.
In other news:
Committee passed a resolution changing the contract awarded to Arawak Paving Company last August. The township will receive a credit of $4,519.14. Committeeman Joseph Barton asked for clarification on the “ups and downs” of the project.
“When we do a road program, the bid form is based on quantities, which is required by the New Jersey Department of Transportation for money on everything that we do, whether it is the amount of asphalt, inlet repairs, base repair, inlet rehabilitation,” Township Engineer Dante Guzzi said. “There are a lot of quantities that are set up, and they are set up based on the anticipated contract amounts. When we get to the end of the job, we make quantity adjustments to allow for field changes, so there are some things that are increased a little bit and there are some things that are decreased a little bit. Additionally, when you get to the end of the job, you have to adjust the tonnage price of the asphalt based on the asphalt-cement index, which is a state law. That adjusts the amount that we pay for asphalt and protects the contractors in case the price of asphalt goes up during construction. This year, it protects the township because the price of asphalt came down, and we realized about an $8,000 credit on the asphalt index. There was a series of ups and downs in the quantity adjustments. In the end, we had a net deduction of $4,519.14.”
