RUMSON — Approval of an ordinance to regulate the hours of home construction and property maintenance work has been pushed back to the Borough Council’s Dec. 7 meeting.
The ordinance had been on the agenda for final approval at the Nov. 16 meeting, but a change to the ordinance concerning the hours work would be permitted on weekends and holidays pushed final approval to next month.
In the original version of the ordinance, weekend and holiday work would have been permitted to begin at 8 a.m. In reaction to complaints received from residents, that was changed to 9 a.m. Work on those days must cease at 5 p.m.
Weekday work can begin at 7:30 a.m. and continue until sundown or 5 p.m., whichever is later.
"There is a general noise ordinance now," Mayor Charles S. Callman said, "but the current ordinance requires citizens to sign a complaint. This allows the police to issue a summons for noise violations without a complaint being signed."
Activities that would violate the ordinance include, but are not limited to, using "hammers, saws, drills, generators, compressors, excavation and grading equipment, paving equipment, lawn mowers, trimmers, edgers, chippers and blowers."
A violator of the new ordinance "will be subject to a fine not exceeding $500, or to imprisonment for a term not to exceed 90 days, or both."
In other business, the council approved a new salary structure for the police department beginning Jan. 1.
The new contract creates the position of probationary patrolman for first-year officers and breaks the four current patrolman tiers into six.
The new tiers and the changes in the pay scale that accompany them apply to officers hired after Jan. 1, 1997.
The council also passed a resolution approving crossing guards for the 2000-2001 school year.