By DEBORAH HIRSCH- COURIER-POST STAFF- JULY 29, 2010

Mayor Dave Mayer is poised to privatize building inspections after laying off all six of the township's inspectors.

With construction taking a nose dive in the economic slowdown, Mayer said the township fell roughly $400,000 short of anticipated permit fees.

"The economy is what it is; the revenue is just not there to sustain it," he explained.

The construction office was projected to generate a little more than $700,000 in permit fees in the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to budget documents. That would have easily covered the $642,300 department budget. But the fees only added up to about $300,000, Mayer said.

That kind of shortfall could "continue indefinitely," Business Administrator Tom Cardis wrote in a letter to the state Civil Service Commission.

Mayer said he considered just cutting the existing employees' hours, but it made more sense to go with a third-party provider because there would be no cost to the town.

Instead of paying an employee's salary and wages, the township would pay a percentage of the permit fees to hire an outside inspector.

The construction office currently includes nine employees -- three clerks, a code official, a plumbing subcode, an electrical subcode, a building subcode, two building inspectors and a part-time fire inspector.

Everyone but the clerks and code official would be laid off under the plan approved July 19 by the Civil Service Commission. Official notice will be given this week, Mayer said, and the layoffs would take effect 45 days after that. Mayer said he couldn't cut the construction code official because that position is required by law and the clerks are needed to manage the office.

"When people come into the office there will still need to be someone there to serve them," Mayer said.

The proposed layoffs would be the first in recent years. The fact they wouldn't affect Bernard Shepherd -- who will have his construction official license temporarily suspended after an investigation into alleged ethics violations -- irritates building inspector Sal Giambri.

"If you don't have the income, why would you keep a construction official at his wage -- after everything he's gone through?" Giambri asked.

Shepherd's construction official license will be suspended for six months starting Sept. 1, but four months of that will be forgiven if he completes an ethics course. Mayer said the township would hire a temporary employee or contract with a third party to replace Shepherd during that time.

Giambri -- who has been working for the department for six years -- said state law requires a construction official but doesn't mandate how many hours that person works.

Giambri said he came up with a plan that would save $416,000 by eliminating only two employees -- him and one other building inspector -- and reducing everyone else's hours by 20 to 50 percent. That way, Giambri said, the town can hang on to all of the permit fees, which will eventually rise, and save jobs for those who really need them.

"This is the best way to hurt the least amount of people," Giambri said. "I don't know how (the mayor) wouldn't want to be seen as the good guy here -- save a couple of township residents' jobs and the township money."

Mayer said he's open to negotiation and will hear out Giambri's plan Monday. But, he cautioned, "I don't know how we would be able to save the amount of money to save their jobs.

"It's not just salary, it's benefits, pension and health care that you have to pay," he added. "With a third party, we would not be experiencing that."