ORADELL — The borough faces more than $200,000 in fines from the state's workplace safety agency after failing to fix multiple violations in the municipal building.
The state Public Employees Occupational Safety and Health Program issued a notice to the borough this week that it owes $232,400 in fines for 18 serious outstanding violations and one lesser violation as of Aug. 31.
Fines will continue to accrue at the rate of $150 a day for serious violations and $100 a day for the non-serious violation, the letter said.
The borough has asked to have until Sept. 30 to fix the violations, according to a letter dated Sept. 1 from Councilman Michael Harte, the chairman of the buildings and grounds committee.
Harte's letter said that the borough missed the first deadline to ask for an extension in June because a letter sent to the agency went out accidentally without an address and was returned unopened to the borough two weeks later.
On Friday afternoon, the state had not responded to the borough's latest extension request. A spokesman for PEOSH said that the agency does sometimes grant extensions and that municipalities can apply for a penalty waiver once all violations have been corrected.
"We will comply with anything the inspector feels necessary," Harte said.
Borough Clerk Laura Graham sent a letter to the agency on Friday stating that the borough has already fixed five of the 18 serious violations. In an effort to stop fines from accruing by showing signs of progress, a separate letter went out Friday requesting that the agency perform another inspection as soon as possible, Graham said.
Harte said last week that contractors have been working on the remaining violations. Electricians had also been working on some electrical problems over the summer, he said.
The borough is under contract to fix three more violations on Tuesday and is still waiting for reports and study results before it can address the remaining citations, the letter said.
The agency originally cited the borough for 35 workplace safety violations in April. Some 16 of the original issues were corrected by a June 9 deadline. Most of the problems that were fixed were electrical issues, such as overloaded outlets, permanent use of extension cords and the use of a portable power tap to feed a toaster oven, microwave and refrigerator in the police squad room.
Most of the remaining violations have to do with problems in the police department, especially in a basement area that used to serve as a shooting range but has now been turned into a storage area for many borough departments.
Police Chief Rhynie Emanuel said electricians had worked in his office and the office of a police secretary to correct some of the problems, but that the small size of the police department and other borough offices means that the storage room can get crowded.
"The problem is, we don't have the room," Emanuel said. "The town is doing what they can do."
Emanuel and Harte both said they did not feel that the violations were dangerous to the people working in the department.
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