WEST AMWELL: Township topics are dogs, recycling

By John Tredrea, Special Writer
   WEST AMWELL — If you live in West Amwell Township, you’ll be visited soon — unless you have been already — by a dog census-taker appointed by township officials.
   One of the duties of the census-taker will be to find out if dogs are licensed.
   West Amwell requires dogs to be licensed annually. The license fees, township Clerk Lora Olsen said Monday, are $12 for dogs that have been spayed and neutered and $15 for dogs that have not been spayed or neutered. A $25 late fee will be applied to licensing any dog the rest of this year.
   Beginning this Saturday (Aug. 4), the township will collect recycling weekly.
   ”The switch to weekly will be on a trial basis, possibly through the end of the year,” Ms. Olsen said. “The Township Committee wants to see what kind of response we get with the weekly program.”
   West Amwell does not pick up recycling. Residents who wish to dispose of recycling for free can bring it to a truck left near the municipal building on Saturdays. Some residents hire private firms to pick up their recycling.
   Adopted by the committee at its July 25 meeting, Ms. Olsen said, was an ordinance amending the township code on renewable energy facilities.
   The amendment pertains primarily to electrical panels at those sites, she said. Some word changes to the code, for purposes of clarification, were included in the ordinance, as well, she said.
   Introduced at the meeting was an ordinance pertaining to salaries of some township employees. These employees were not covered by a 2 percent pay increase for 2012 approved by the committee in January. Their salaries had to be covered by this proposed ordinance instead, due to changes in their workload and other factors, Ms. Olsen said.
   IN OTHER BUSINESS:
   — Township officials learned recently — during an ongoing township property revaluation project — that some property owners have been doing work on their properties without obtaining required construction permits and/or paying fees required by the township.
   Clerk Olsen said the township plans to follow up on this matter — through its construction office.
   — The township is considering outsourcing — that is, hiring a private firm or individual — to do mowing and snowplowing on certain township roads and parcels of land.
   An employee of the township’s Department of Public Works recently resigned, and, as a result, officials want to investigate whether outsourcing the work would be more cost-effective than hiring a new public works employee, Ms. Olsen said.