PARSIPPANY – Parsippany Police Chief Paul Phillips sought to explain the department’s overtime increase Tuesday night, prior to the Township Council reallocating funds to cover it. The council built $400,000 for police overtime into the $68 million municipal budget for 2016. However, as of last Friday, officers had received $711,000 in overtime for the year, township…
Parsippany police chief defends rising overtime costs
Parsippany paying $607K to 11 retired employees for unused sick and vacation time
PARSIPPANY – For a fifth consecutive year, the Township Council is set to adopt an emergency appropriation covering hefty payouts to retired police officers and other former employees. An ordinance authorizing the appropriation, totaling $607,956 paid earlier in 2016 to 11 former employees for unused sick and vacation time, is scheduled for a vote on Tuesday.…
SOS Security participates in “2016 Adopt a Family” program
PARSIPPANY — SOS Security LLC (with its corporate office located at 1915 Route 46) is proud to participate in the “2016 Adopt a Family” program, purchasing over $2,000 in gifts for two local families. As part of their expanding corporate outreach program, the security firm and it’s employees are finding ways to help local residents and families in need.
About SOS Security LLC:
Established in 1969, SOS has steadily grown to become one of the largest security companies in the U.S. SOS currently employs more than 6,000 security professionals domestically and internationally through foreign regional joint ventures. SOS’s primary business is to furnish various types of well-trained, highly qualified Security Officers that are specifically prepared to perform security services required by a variety of business sectors, including: Technology/Communications, Government, Embassies & Consulates, Public Utilities, Education Facilities/Campus Security, Hospitality/Leisure/Hotels, Retail/Shopping Centers, Media/Entertainment, Commercial/Residential Real Estate, Pharmaceutical/Healthcare/Hospitals, Manufacturing/Warehouse/Distribution and Financial/Banking. SOS also provides Close Protection Operations for Fortune 1000 corporate executives and high-profile individuals around the world, as well as Investigative, Management and Consulting and Fire & Life Safety Services. To learn more about SOS, go to http://www.sossecurity.com or call 800-SECURE-0.
Santa arrives at Lake Parsippany Firehouse
PARSIPPANY — Santa arrived at Lake Parsippany firehouse on Saturday, December 17 to greet the children, take pictures, find out their wish list and give gifts.
Santa stays in the firehouse rather than going around on the fire trucks because it’s safer for the children and gives him the opportunity to talk with each child to hear those special Christmas wishes.
Other fire districts in Parsippany drove Santa around to the neighborhoods and gave out treats.
Replica Bonsai Display at the Parsippany Library
PARSIPPANY — During the month of December Bonsai Replications, created by Parsippany resident, Warren Singer, are on display for public viewing in a display case located in the lower level of the Parsippany-Troy Hills Public Library, 449 Halsey Road.
“Bonsai is an ancient artful method of pruning and training a plant in a container to become a miniaturized replica of a tree found in nature,” said Warren Singer.
Come in and view these wonderful creative, life like replica models Mr. Singer has crafted from a variety of of obtainable materials such as cardboard, newspaper covered in Plaster of Paris, and painted.
Warren Singer, retired from teaching in 2004 and is currently active in teaching science lessons on a voluntary basis in different school districts.
Warren is also the “founding father” and currently is still President of the Hills of Troy Neighborhood Association. Much of what he has created is an outgrowth of activity from his hands-on approach to teaching science.
Three Parsippany Youths Winners in DEP’S Statewide Recycling Poetry Contest
MORRIS COUNTY — Three Parsippany youths and one Boonton Township youth in grades four to six were among twelve statewide winners in the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s 2016 State Recycling Poetry Contest.
Named as winners were:
Fourth grade: Sienna Dragone, Mount Tabor School and Gabriella Casamento, Rockaway Valley School, Boonton Township;
Fifth grade: Chris Stearns, Littleton Elementary School in Parsippany;
Sixth grade: Ami Balli, Central Middle School, also in Parsippany.
“We are very proud of these young people for their writing accomplishments and of their environmental consciousness,’’ said Morris County Freeholder Director Kathy DeFillippo. “They have represented their schools and towns and county very well.’’
The New Jersey 2016 Recycling Poetry Contest was open to young writers in all New Jersey schools, grades four through six.
Students were asked to submit a poem of 100 words or less explaining why they believe recycling is important, why all students and schools should participate in their local recycling programs, and how best to improve New Jersey’s recycling rate.
In reviewing the entries, the judges looked look for understanding of theme, originality, ability to convey a concept, and creative thinking and writing.
A review committee select the twelve winning poems.
Please, take a few minutes to read the poems written by these four Morris County youths by clicking here.
Morris County students have been successful in previous DEP recycling poetry contests. In 2015, Morris County also had four winners. They were Saanvi Vavilala, Mt. Tabor Elementary School and Gavin Jusino, Littleton Elementary School, both in Parsippany; Julia Bachman, Mountview Road School in Hanover Township; and Katrina Kloza, Rockaway Valley School in Boonton Township.
Recycling is the law in New Jersey, and while the program enjoys a certain amount of popularity, the recycling rate has remained virtually stationary over the last several years. The goal of the contest was to help encourage schools and students to recycle.
The NJDEP Bureau of Energy and Sustainability sponsored this contest as part of its ongoing public awareness and education effort.
Learn more about recycling in Morris County, click here.
Learn more about recycling in New Jersey by clicking here.
If you have questions concerning this contest or program, contact Vicki Kerekes, Contest Coordinator, at (609) 984-6906 or by e-mail by clicking here.
Freeholders Vote to Return County Jail Oversight to Sheriff
MORRIS COUNTY — The Morris County Board of Freeholders will return day-to-day management of the county jail back to the Morris County Sheriff’s Office, voting unanimously on a resolution to put jail oversight in the hands of newly elected Sheriff James Gannon as of January 1.
The county governing board’s decision followed a presentation at their Wednesday morning work session in Morristown by Sheriff-Elect Gannon, who detailed reasons why integrating corrections back under the Sheriff’s law enforcement command made logistical sense. The freeholders agreed.
“It makes great sense to have the sheriff run the jail and to return to what had been a long-time partnership of having the Sheriff and Freeholders be co-employers of corrections officers,” said Freeholder Doug Cabana, the board’s liaison on law and public safety issues. “We only took control reluctantly a little more than a year ago because of mismanagement, especially on the fiscal side, that forced our hand,” he added.
Gannon, accompanied at the freeholder meeting by Warden Chris Klein and other top county correction officers, said he has been evaluating jail operations thoroughly and plans some substantive changes.
Included are having corrections officers handle inmate pickups from local police departments for transport to the county jail, and having corrections officers take over duties in the inmate holding area at the county courthouse. Sheriff-Elect Gannon also detailed a series of potential inmate initiatives, focusing on opiate addiction, domestic abuse, and GED education and certification, that could begin at the county lockup in 2017.
The civilian County Administration took over management of the Morris County Jail on September 1, 2015, removing current Sheriff Edward Rochford as manager of jail operations. Rochford is retiring on December 31, after serving as Morris County Sheriff for 24 years, leaving an elected position he’s held since 1993. At that time Sheriff Rochford stated “This is an abuse of power by the Freeholders. They are playing with the taxpayers’ safety for their own political purposes. They are legally allowed to take over the jail but it makes no fiscal sense to do so and the taxpayers should look to Warren and Ocean Counties where the jail was taken over by their respective Freeholder Boards and then returned to the Sheriff because it was an expense and a liability they did not actually want to bear.” Rochford explains. The Freeholders spent hundreds of thousands of dollars with study after study trying to justify dismantling the Bureau of Law Enforcement and creating a county police but despite their best attempts, the public outcry shut that down. Now they are after the jail without any due diligence but rather, just because they can.”
The freeholders, in making their decision, cited ongoing fiscal differences with the sheriff, including excessive raises negotiated with corrections unions and huge overtime increases at the jail despite a marked reduction in the number of inmates.
They also cited the sheriff’s unwillingness to cooperate with the County Office of Labor Relations, which has historically negotiated all labor contracts for the county, and with a general lack of communications on many issues.
The freeholders at that time rejected four labor agreements that had been negotiated by Sheriff Rochford, including two with corrections unions. Those agreements subsequently were renegotiated by the county for substantially less money.
Sheriff-Elect Gannon has pledged to work more cooperatively with the freeholder board.
“The Sheriff elect has acknowledged that while having oversight of the Correctional Facility, he will follow all County of Morris Policies and Procedures, negotiate all Labor Agreements with the County Administrator and adhere to the most current economic package as approved by the Freeholder Board,” the freeholders stated in the resolution that passed by a 6-0 vote at a recent meeting.
Bridgegate lawmakers leading fight against Christie’s newspaper ‘revenge bill’
TRENTON — A pair of Democratic lawmakers who led the charge in the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal that damaged Gov. Chris Christie’s political ambitions are now fighting the governor’s push to pull legal ads from newspapers. State Sen. Loretta Weinberg and Assemblyman John Wisniewski say Christie’s punitive motives are behind the bill that quietly…
Valerie Fund’s ‘Hamilton Holiday Raffle’ offers two tickets to Broadway show
MORRIS COUNTY — The Valerie Fund, with a location at Morristown Medical Center, will hold a fundraiser Friday, December 23 for two tickets to see the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning musical “Hamilton” at 8:00 p.m. Friday, March 3 at the at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on 46th Street, Manhattan.
The seats are in row O, center orchestra. Only 250 tickets at $100 each will be sold. Current pricing for the show is more than $800 for a single comparable ticket and the show is sold out through June 2017.
The winner will also receive an overnight stay at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel at 50 Central Park South.
To purchase fundraiser tickets, call or email Madison Welch at (973) 761-0422 or click here to email.
Delta Dental delivered roughly 350 toys for Toys for Toys
PARSIPPANY — Delta Dental of New Jersey (DDNJ) delivered roughly 350 toys to the WDHA-FM radio station office, a local Toys for Toys drop-off location. Delta Dental is located at 1639 Route 10.
DDNJ IT Security Analyst Christopher Butzko, who is also an Operation Specialist First Class Petty Officer of the Coast Guard, oversaw the collection and drop-off, and even had members of his unit (Coast Guard Sector NY based out of Staten Island) collect toys for the drive.
