The ability to opt out of a three-year contract with the town’s current Joint Insurance Fund program proved a false hope as Mayor Dennis Elwell and the Town Council voted at its Nov. 28 meeting for another three-year contract.
“I’m voting for this reluctantly only because we had to have this done by Dec. 1,” said Councilman Robert Kickey. “Over the last few meetings, we were misinformed about our options. We wanted a one-year contract, and when we were told we couldn’t have that, we were also told we could pull out of a three-year contract if we gave 90 days’ notice. Now we’ve found out we can’t.”
The town of Secaucus has been a member of the Suburban Essex Joint Insurance Fund (JIF) since the mid-1990s to reduce the cost of insurance. Joint Insurance Funds, or JIFs, are nonprofit organizations of municipalities who share insurance. By collaborating in JIFs for their worker’s compensation, liability and property insurance, New Jersey counties, municipalities and school save in premiums for property, liability, health and worker’s compensation insurance.
Over the last three months, the Town Council has been looking around at other JIF programs to see Secaucus could save additional money by joining another JIF.
Councilman John Bueckner complained that the town’s search began as the JIF contract ended and that they should have had more time to undergo the process. Bueckner said there was some confusion. He said that the insurance JIF’s risk manager had given them information saying Secaucus would have a 90-day escape clause if they re-signed with the current JIF.
But, Bueckner said, “When we spoke with the executive director of the JIF, we learned this was not the case.”
Bueckner also said the town has done very well under the current JIF program. He said that yearly insurance premiums were much lower than projected rates through commercial insurance companies. Although the town paid $468,000 in premiums this year, the JIF will be giving back a $125,000 refund. Bueckner also noted that the variations between JIFs may not be significant enough to justify the change. According to state officials, costs to municipalities are supposed to be uniform throughout the state, and the size of the community determines which JIF the town can join.
The council opted to renew its three-year contract with the Suburban Essex JIF. Bueckner noted that despite the search, the town had received no other proposals. Iacono, who had addressed the issue last month, agreed that time had run out, and that even if the town found JIF with lower premiums, arrangements could not be made by January when the current coverage lapses.
Elwell said the town had sought to sign a one-year contract in order to investigate other options. But they changed their mind due to various factors.
“We had no other JIFs in mind,” Elwell said. “We wanted to get other quotes if possible. We were aware that another JIF might be starting up soon. As it turned out, the new JIF didn’t start up in time. I admit we saved money with the JIF, but we’ve been with this JIF six or seven years, and we thought we might save a little more money for the taxpayers if we shook the branches a little.”
Frank MacCormack, an independent insurance agent who supplied the town with insurance in the early 1990s, said that during that time, he tried to get Secaucus into a JIF started in Bergen County. Later, Secaucus joined a group of towns – led by Nutley – into forming the Suburban Essex JIF. MacCormack noted that Caldwell and Verona – originally in the Suburban Essex JIF – had left.
Elwell did not want to divulge too much about the proposed new JIF that he had heard might be starting up soon. He did hint that Verona and Caldwell may play a part.
Contracts settled with department heads and clerks
After several months of negotiations, the town has settled the last two contracts for employees giving what amounted to $1,000-per-year raises to all seven of its department heads and all 24 of its clerical staff.
While the Town Council voted to introduce the two ordinances for the salary adjustments at its Nov. 28 meeting, the final agreement was not approved with the two labor groups until Dec. 7. Iacono said the negotiations were conducted without the use of a labor attorney.
The contracts between the two groups are for three years and represent an average increase of 2.8 percent for the clerks and 2.88 percent for the department heads.
“The percentage is a little deceptive” Iacono said. “We gave $1,000 to each, so that the percentage increase for the lowest paid employee will be greater than those we gave to the highest.”
Iacono said increases in the clerical contract also included an increase in starting salary. This is the second time the town has increased this salary.
“When I came on in 1997, clerks here started at $12,000 a year, and worse, they had to co-pay for their own insurance,” Iacono said. “We understood that if we wanted to bring on qualified people, we needed to boost the base salary. We couldn’t do it all at once.”
Iacono said 1997 contract increased the base salary $1,000 per year so that the starting salary increased to $15,000 by the end of that contract. The new contract, covering the next three years, will continue the $1,000 per year increase, so that by its end in 2003, a clerk starting out can expect to receive $18,000.
“For the town, this means we will spend an extra $24,000 per year to keep those qualified employees we already have or attract qualified employees we might need,” Iacono said. “That’s a good bargain.”
Base salaries for administrative assistants – also part of the clerical union – would rise proportionately from $23,000 in the first year of this contract to $25,000 in 2003.
The Town Council also took action on numerous other actions. The council voted to:
•Introduce ordinances establishing street sweeping hours on Cedar Lane and creating a position of director or inspections.
•Passed resolution s allowing for the year-end transfers of funds, establishing a special needs coordinator, suspending fees for parking meters during the holiday season and hiring a part-time parking enforcement officer.
•Passed routine resolutions that allowed the mayor to sign a consent form for a hotel sewer hookup and amending an earlier liquor license resolution.
Committee reports
Mayor Elwell said he, Deputy Mayor John Reilly and Chief of Police Dennis Corcoran had met with railroad officials to discuss the impact of roadwork at critical train crossings on the borders of Secaucus. He said traffic has been backing up along Paterson Plank Road and Secaucus, as well as crossings on New County Road near Allied Junction.
Some of the traffic backup problems in town can also be attributed to the New Jersey Turnpike’s Easy Pass program that has more traffic accessing local streets more quickly than previously.
“In the coming year, as construction begins on bridges over some of the train crossings, we will have some problems,” Elwell said. “We have asked the people at Conrail and Norfolk Southern to come up with a plan to deal with this.”
Future meetings will include police from the Secaucus and North Bergen police departments as well as representatives from the Hudson County Sheriff’s office.
“This is going to be a similar kind of summit to the one we held for the West Nile mosquito problem last February,” Elwell said.