It’s hard to imagine the Town of Secaucus joining forces with Jersey City for anything. But if Councilman James Clancy’s suspicions are right, the two municipalities may have a common enemy in a new helicopter port that was recently built in Kearny.
“This may have an effect over this area,” Clancy said at the Nov. 23 council meeting, noting that Secaucus residents are already occasionally disturbed by flights from Teterboro Airport. “They haven’t given details of the flight plans yet. But I’m going to ask [Town Administrator David Drumeler] if he can find out some information on this because…[the Kearny heliport] is just over the Meadowlands here, by the Hackensack River.”
The nine-acre heliport is less than a half mile from New Jersey Turnpike Exit 15E, which is very close to Secaucus. Jersey City residents who live on the city’s western edge have protested the heliport, arguing that flights from the facility will create both excessive noise and safety problems. The facility, which would be operational year-round and would be leased by Helo Holdings Inc., would allow helicopters to fly at 300 feet or lower over Jersey City while pilots awaited clearance from Newark Airport to fly at higher altitudes.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Kearny Zoning Board have each already approved the facility, despite opposition from Jersey City.
“At this point I’m just trying to get more information so I can brief the mayor and council. I’ve reached out to the folks in Kearny to see what’s going on and to get some more information,” said Drumeler. “But at this point I don’t have a response from them yet. I’m not quite sure yet what if anything this will mean for Secaucus.”
Officials in Jersey City are now trying to get the FAA to impose flight route restrictions on copter trips from the heliport. Notably, the city wants specific guarantees that helicopters will be barred from flying over residential neighborhoods.
Still no word on town audit
It has been more than a month since the governing body received the 2009 municipal audit, a document that summarizes financial practices in the town, points out problems, and gives suggestions for improvement. The council has yet to have a promised sit-down meeting with the firm that conducted the audit or Chief Financial Officer Margaret Barkala regarding perceived financial mismanagement in the past.
Therefore, details of the report, which the council had planned to share publically by the end of November, have yet to be provided to residents and taxpayers.
This is the first general audit the town has received since last year’s general audit revealed hundreds of thousands of missing dollars from the Tax Collector’s Office. That revelation led to a separate independent audit last year, which confirmed that $777,725 was missing from the Tax Office.
This is also the first audit to be conducted since town officials uncovered millions of dollars more that was owed to the town from various entities, but was never collected – money that was somehow missed in previous audits (see cover story).
Although the council dumped longtime town auditor Suplee, Clooney & Co. earlier this year, the company conducted the 2009 audit, as was required under its professional service contract with the town.
The town’s new auditor, Bowman & Co., will conduct the annual audit starting with the 2010 fiscal year, which began Jan. 1, 2010.
“I shared this audit to our new auditors, and they gave me a list of about 10 questions that should be asked as we try to move forward,” Councilman Robert Costantino, chair of the council’s Finance Committee, said last week. “The financial management problems that have been uncovered point to a lack of internal controls. Obviously something is lacking. I have questions about the corrective actions we’re taking.”
Costantino said the council now plans to give a public report on the audit later this month.
Keystone update
First Ward Councilman Gary Jeffas gave an update on environmental engineering tests that were recently conducted on the site of the old Keystone Metal Finishing plant on Humboldt Street. Environmental tests have now been completed on all 20 monitoring wells at the site.
The former Keystone property, a 1.37-acre plot of land in a mostly residential neighborhood, has been subjected to periodic environmental testing and land remediation since the 1990s.
This past September, groundwater samples were collected and tested from 18 monitoring wells at the site, while samples from the remaining two wells could not be tested because the wells were damaged. These two wells were subsequently repaired and groundwater samples were finally collected from them on Nov. 23.
This is the first round of testing to be done at the site since 2008, when engineers found elevated levels of some hazardous substances but concluded there was no health risk to residents in the area. At that time, engineers from the PMK Group recommended further testing and monitoring of the site.
“We expect for those results to come back by December 13,” Jeffas said. “At that time they’ll be able to analyze where the plume is, if there is one, and if so how extensive it is, and if there needs to be further recommendations for air sampling from the [Department of Environmental Protection].”
The cost of the testing is being covered by a $60,000 grant from the Hudson County Economic Development Corporation that was awarded to Secaucus in August.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.