Law updated on abandoned cars

FRANKLIN — Franklin’s borough council passed a law that will help keep the town free of unwanted, abandoned vehicles. The new law will divide responsibility for disposal of abandoned vehicles between the police department and zoning officer Pat Fisher. Under an earlier ordinance, Franklin’s police department alone had authority to deal with abandoned vehicles, which meant that after receiving complaints, the police — after checking that no crime had been involved — would deal with the matter among a list of priorities. Now, the zoning officer also gets involved. First, police must check to dismiss anything illegal. After that, police and zoning officials will have “joint authority” to deal with the problem. Fisher also serves as the borough’s property maintenance officer. “And then she (Fisher) takes it from there,” said borough administrator Richard R. Wolak. If vehicles are abandoned, owners are presented with “written notice and if they don’t respond, she takes it to the next level, which is enforcement in the municipal court. And the judge can order it removed, and assess the costs that the municipality would normally have been responsible for.” That would be the last known owner of record, the borough said. The new law takes effect within 20 days of passage, which will be within two weeks. In other business Council also gave final approval to an ordinance that will allocate money to deal with problems affecting the water and sewer system. The borough will use $850,000 from a bond ordinance “to undertake both retrofitting and refitting for the Route 23 South sewer pumping station,” Wolak said. Also involved in the work will be the installation of a municipal backup well and allocating “some funding” to help solve “our problem of sewer infrastructure infiltration,” Wolak added. The borough had already previously identified a problem of excess water making its way into the sewer system, which then goes on to bring higher costs to Franklin via the county’s Municipal Utilities Authority. The problem, however, does not involve the drinking water itself, but rather, the presence of excess water driving up borough costs by entering the sewer system, the borough has said.