Franklin OKs 2 police hires

FRANKLIN — The Franklin Borough Council on Tuesday approved the hire of two new police officers to the borough police department.
Daniel Flora and David McQuesten will both join the Franklin Police Department next month, on June 1 and June 16, respectively. Each will receive a starting annual salary of $43,839.
Mayor Nicholas Giordano said the move, which will bring the total number of officers in the department to 15, is meant to help curb the excessive overtime payments the Franklin police force has had to dole out over the past several years to meet its staffing needs.
Giordano said overtime totals from years past reached levels in excess of $250,000. Part of the problem, he said, is that the department is heavy on senior officers with higher pay levels.
According to the borough's salary guide for 2016, there are 11 pay grade steps for a patrolman in the department and three each for the positions of sergeant and lieutenant. The salary for a patrolman on the highest pay tier is $95,032, while the highest salaries for sergeants and lieutenants are $104,513 and $119,009, respectively.
“By bringing younger guys in, their salary levels are lower and as a result their overtime rates will be lower because there will be more (lower paid) people available to take the shifts,” Giordano explained.
In addition to reducing overtime spending, Giordano said hiring officers now will allow time for the new policemen to gain valuable experience before senior members of the department retire in the coming years.
Though the borough police will now have 15 officers Giordano noted that figure is not the highest historical level of staffing for the department. The force previously had as many as 16 members, he said.

The council also revisited the Franklin Pond walking path project, which faced a setback at the last meeting. At the time, the council rejected two bids for completion of the project on the grounds that they far exceeded the borough engineer's estimate for the undertaking.
Inspired by a resident's suggestion during the last meeting's public comment portion, the council discussed with Borough Engineer Thomas Knutelsky whether it would be possible to have the Department of Public Works (DPW) complete the project.
Knutelsky confirmed the DPW would be capable of doing the work within the constraints of his original estimate for the project. While he said the DPW could likely complete the entire path, however, Knutelsky recommended the council only ask the DPW to complete the path's foundation and bring in outside professionals to lay the actual path pavement. Knutelsky said the DPW's schedule would likely not allow for construction of the path before late summer of this year.
With the council's consent, Giordano said he would ask DPW manager Brian Vandenbroek to prepare a plan — including timeline and costs — for the DPW to construct the path base and get estimates from professional paving companies for the surfacing. The council will review the plan at its next meeting.
The council also recognized borough attorney Thomas Prol for his appointment as president of the New Jersey State Bar Association.