15 Pg A1 Yellow Red Blue Black

IT 0815 Pg A1 Yellow Red Blue Black Volume 115 Number 31 THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2002 60 Cents Pool gets Sun and fun at the market Contract $370,000, talks Ahold vote stalled Tuesday By Harry Trumbore of The Item By Anne L. Malyska of The Item Dual investigations continue into alleged misconduct in the Renovations to the municipal Millburn school district mainte- pool continue to email on sched- nance department. ule. While school officials in- On Monday, members of the volved would not comment pub- Township Committee appropri- licly on the matter, The Item has ated an additional $370,000 to learned that contract negotiations cover a down payment and bonds between the Board of Education to finance the project. Slated to and the Communications Work- start in September, phase two ers of America (CWA) AFL-CIO renovations to the pool facility Local 1076, the union represent- had been estimated to cost ap- ing district maintenance workers proximately $1.28 million. and custodians, apparently have The $370,000 appropriation ground to a halt. includes approximately $20,000 “We’ve been negotiating,” for the down payment and Robert Zeglarski, the district’s $350,000 for the project itself. assistant superintendent for busi- Upon opening project bids ness, said Tuesday. “There’s just July 12, however, town officials nothing right now.” found that none had come in at The two parties were sched- or below that price, and were uled to meet today. forced to consider postponing However, Jeffrey Nadler, pres- the upgrades, accepting the extra ident of the local chapter of the cost or seeking new bids. CWA, reached late Tuesday, said Citing what they felt was the Staff photos/Harry Trumbore the board is suspending all talks amount of effort spent on form- MARKET DAY—Sunshine between the two parties. ing plans and the increased pop- and cool breezes made for “I’ve been informed by my ularity of the pool complex, pleasant shopping at the union representative today that Committee members moved for- Farmers Market Friday. A our negotiations were cancelled ward in July with the added ex- wide variety of vegetables until further notice,” Mr. Nadler pense. They introduced an ordi- and fruits was available at said. nance July 16 appropriating the the Matarazzo Farms Gail Mason Massey, a CWA money, and approved it at the stand, above. Right, town- representative, is part of the team special meeting Monday morn- ship resident Connor Fell of union negotiators along with ing. shows his dad, Fred, how Mr. Nadler and two other main- The lowest bid for the project, to shuck corn. The market tenance workers. submitted by Paragon Construc- is held at the corner of Mr. Nadler said Ms. Massey tion Association Inc. of Sayre- Essex and Main Streets had received notification from ville, was nearly $1.6 million. every Friday through No- school board labor attorney Additional bids came in at $2.2 vember 1. For more pic- Philip Stern that talks were being million and $2 million tures, see Page 16. suspended after another organi- Their actions will allow the zation filed a “representation pe- Committee to award a contract tition” pertaining to the workers. for renovations at the governing Ms. Massey could not be body’s meeting at 8 p.m. Sept. 10 reached for comment, but Mr. in Town Hall. Phase two renova- Stern confirmed a letter had been sent to her early this week stating Continued on Page 27 Continued on Page 27 Skunks or snakes, Pariso’s the one to call years as an electrical inspector for PSE&G dren are being bit left and right.” By Harry Trumbore before taking a course in animal control at He urges residents to register their dogs of The Item Kean University at the suggestion of town- and cats with the township. A license costs He may not have the Aussie accent or de- ship police Capt. Greg Weber. $7.20 for a spayed or neutered animal, and in signer safari shirts to make it on The Animal “There was rabies coming up from the case of an accident, lets health officials know Planet, but Dan Pariso is the man to call south,” Mr. Pariso said. Raccoons and other a pet has been vaccinated. when township animals get out of hand. woodland creatures were suffering from the Residents call him to relieve them of stray “I’ll get 15 voice mails a day,” said the epidemic. The traditional dogcatcher needed cats and kittens they have fed, but no longer police department’s animal control officer, more than just a net; he needed education. want around. “They’re nurturing this prob- “and that’s a slow day.” Some days he gets Actually, the only real case of rabies in the lem for years,” he said. He pointed out cats 36 calls for help, the most his answering ma- township that he can recall occurred in 1990 can reproduce when only six months old and chine can handle. The calls take him any- when a rabid skunk bit a dog. When washing quickly form feral colonies. where from a living room with a frantic their pet, the owners came in contact with the He’s also called in as a referee when feud- squirrel stuck in the chimney to South saliva and had to endure a series of rabies ing neighbors try to get at each other through Mountain Reservation where an abandoned shots. their pets, by claiming a dog is barking at all Staff photo/Harry Trumbore pit bull growls at the end of a rope tied to a “There’s a new breed of people moving in hours, or a cat is soiling a garden. ANIMAL GUYS—The township’s veteran animal control offi- tree. town with multiple pets,” Mr. Pariso said. Sometimes Mr. Pariso is the only friend a cer, Dan Pariso, right, will be getting assistance in December Mr. Pariso, who works out of police head- People who are not practicing good pet own- helpless animal has. from Jimmy Berger, left, one of the township’s parking viola- quarters on Essex Street, has been on the job ership, he said, are responsible for a rise in For instance, take the skunk that raided a tion officers, who begins a course in animal control next since 1985. A longtime township resident dog bites. With dogs being allowed to run off garbage can on Jefferson Avenue and ended month. Mr. Pariso says he can get as many as 36 animal and a Vietnam veteran, he worked for 13 the leash in parks and school grounds, “chil- Continued on Page 27 emergency-related calls in one day. Officials say hot weather keeping West Nile Virus under control passed from sick birds to humans are currently stocked in pools in The back negative. away.” By Harry Trumbore through a mosquito bite. Oakey Tract and Old Short Hills Park. At the same time that authorities are He credited both County Executive of The Item Larry Ferchak, supervisor of mosqui- Where the fish cannot be maintained be- getting a handle on the house mosquito, James Treffinger and Joseph DiVincen- The West Nile Virus, first detected in to extermination for Essex County, said cause of the drought conditions, work- however, Mr. Ferchak warned there are zo, president of the Essex County Board 1999 in the New York metropolitan area, his staff patrols more than 7,000 acres ers place briquettes of organic bacteria, signs the disease can be carried by other of Chosen Freeholders, for bolstering is turning into a full-blown national epi- of county wetlands and 50- to 60,000 harmful only to the larvae. mosquitoes, such as the floodwater the program here. Mr. Ferchak’s depart- demic. storm sewer catch basins throughout all Mr. Ferchak said the dry weather, mosquito, whose eggs lay dormant in ment, he said, has jumped from four to Ironically, here in northern New roads and streets in the county. He is along with cooperative water manage- dusty soil along currently low-flowing 21 workers in one year, and he has the Jersey, the number of West Nile Virus aware of township problem spots, such ment programs with Morris County, streams and rivers. expertise of two new biologists. cases being investigated has been small, as the wetlands behind Haran Circle and means mosquito traps, including one in “They can breed 15 million per acre,” In the meantime, Dan Pariso, the with tests being conducted on only 47 ill catch basins in the South Mountain Taylor Park, are yielding as few as one said Mr. Ferchak. He added that in township’s animal control officer, is in residents statewide. Of the 384 dead neighborhood. insect a night. Last year, the same traps Essex County alone, there are 45 differ- charge of getting dead crows found in crows tested by the state, 154 tested The culprit is the culex pipien, or produced as many as 1,000 a night. ent kinds of mosquitoes. the township to the state lab for testing. positive for the virus. house mosquito, which breeds in stag- To date, he said, the state has exam- West Nile encephalitis is responsible He said he’s sent down only one crow “We’ve been fortunate. It’s been dry, nant water that collects in gutters, tires, ined more than 800 mosquitoes; all for seven deaths in Louisiana with out- a month ago and received no response that’s a good thing,” said Louis Anello, birdbaths, watering cans and wading tested negative for the virus. breaks of the virus reported from Mis- from the lab, meaning the dead bird the township’s part-time health officer.

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