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The New Year has brought with it a flurry of activity amongst the membership of the NJSME. In this article I’d like to highlight some of the various activities that are taking place on an ongoing basis. Past President Art Vitale is heading an ad-hoc subcommittee of the NJSME Legislative Committee in order to study the issue of utility mark-outs for design purposes. After researching the issue, the subcommittee is charged with drafting a bill that will be submitted to the legislature. The legislation would require Utility Companies to mark out utility locations when requested by design engineers. The subcommittee has already met on several occasions and has made great use of model legislation from Pennsylvania’s one-call system procedures. Once the bill is drafted, copies of the bill will be made available to the general membership of the Society for their comments prior to its submission to the Legislature. Once formally introduced, the Society and its lobbyists will work with all stakeholders to assist in the passage of good legislation for both Municipal Engineers and the public. Last month, Rich Moralle and I attended a meeting with representatives of NJSPE, ACEC of NJ, and NJSPLS to discuss resolving the issue of “engineering measurements” with respect to the State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors’ published rules. The discussion focused on the idea that while topographic and boundary surveys are considered the responsibility of Land Surveyors, professional engineers should be able to perform “engineering measurements” using the boundary information established by Land Surveyors. We will keep you informed as this issue progresses. Pursuant to our ongoing communication with the Office of Local Government Services at the DOT, Jim DeMuro, Carl Peters, and I have attended several meetings with NJDOT Local Aid staff in order to review and comment on the current Local Aid regulations. On behalf of NJSME, we recommended several changes that would update the procedures to be consistent with current practice and address timing issues with respect to the awarding and completion of the projects. Lastly, on February 22nd I represented the NJSME at a roundtable discussion at a meeting of the NJ Alliance for Action (AFA). The members of AFA discussed the importance of changing the public’s image regarding construction, contractors and engineers in the State of New Jersey. A better image of our industry will help the public be more willing to accept increased levels of funding for construction projects including the Transportation Trust Fund. I will keep the membership informed as to any of the efforts of the AFA that arise out of this discussion. I look forward to a busy Spring, and as always, I welcome your participation and input regarding any issues that affect us as Municipal Engineers.
The MEQ Has Gone Electronic! By now you have noticed that the NJSME Newsletter has stepped into the new millennium and is now transmitted to the membership via email. We are excited to make this change for a variety of reasons. First, the Society is able to take advantage of a significant cost savings – as the expense to print and mail the Quarterly is quite large. Secondly, our loyal advertisers are excited to move to an electronic format – as their ads will link directly to their web page. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the MEQ will be able to be sent out in a much more timely fashion so that its contents are able to provide you with the most relevant and up-to-date information! Because the NJSME has made this change, it is very important that we have an appropriate email address for all of our members. If anyone you know has not received a copy of this newsletter that should have, please ask them to forward their email address to Kelly Biddle . The NJSME will not publish or distribute anyone’s email address to outside parties; this info will be used for NJSME purposes only. Should you wish to receive the MEQ via fax or receive a photocopy of the electronic version via the USPS, you may also make this request with Kelly Biddle. The success of this publication is measured by you, the members. We are always looking for relevant topics to discuss and all submissions for publication all welcomed! In addition to going electronic and focusing on delivering a timely product, we are also hoping to increase our advertising. The NJSME is extremely grateful to those organizations that continue to support the organization through advertising; however we are looking to expand our advertising base. We are asking you, the members of NJSME, to help us in this effort. Please take a few minutes to forward along any contact information you have for vendors that you think would like to market themselves to our membership. Please forward this information to Kelly Biddle at the address above. We thank you in advance for your recommendations, and we look forward to making the MEQ as useful a publication as it can be!
NJ Society of Municipal Engineers 2005 Awards Luncheon On Wednesday, November 16th, the NJSME held their Annual Awards Luncheon at the Atlantic City Convention Center in conjunction with the NJ League of Municipalities Conference. Once again the event was a huge success, as the room was filled with members of the Society and distinguished guests including members of the State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, members of the State Legislature, and representatives from the Department of Transportation.
Our keynote speaker this year was Assemblyman John Wisniewski, Chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee. Assemblyman Wisniewski gave a passionate address about the need to restore adequate funding and fiscal integrity to the Transportation Trust Fund. The Annual Awards for 2005 were presented to the following winners: First Place – Management
Madison Downtown Streetscape Project Robert A. Vogel, P.E. C.M.E. – Borough of Madison
First Place – Construction
Tabernacle Road Pedestrian Bridge Richard A. Alaimo, P.E.. P.P.. PLS, DEE – Borough of Medford Lakes
Honor Place – Construction
Veterans Park Sensory Garden David J. Samuel, P.E., P.P., C.M.E - Township of South Brunswick
Elected Officials are encouraged to discuss submitting outstanding projects in their towns to the NJSME for consideration with their Municipal Engineers. All Municipalities’ receive an invitation to do so on an annual basis, typically during the month of June.
Earlier, the Officers of NJSME were sworn in for 2006 as part of the Annual Business meeting of the Society. |
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Do It Yourself Traffic Regulations Did you know that your municipality could enact the following traffic regulations on self contained municipal streets without NJDOT approval?
Many of us didn't. The February General Membership meeting of the New Jersey Society of Municipal Engineers featured an informative presentation by Mr. Douglas Bartlett, Manager of the NJDOT Bureau of Traffic Engineering and Investigations. Mr. Barlett spoke on the topic, "Do it Yourself Traffic Regulations"; and he outlined the regulations that may be enacted by a municipality upon the certification of the Municipal Engineer and the acquiescence of the NJDOT. This policy is not a new one, but it is underutilized by local governments; thus creating a greater workload for NJDOT and consequently longer waiting periods to get your traffic regulations approved. If more of us use the self-certification process, NJDOT will be able to focus on those traffic regulations which may not be approved locally. Upon receipt of this newsletter, a copy of Mr. Bartlett's presentation should be available on the NJSME web site. Please visit www.njsme.org to see for yourself! Executive Order #50 Training Requirements for Municipal Engineers On August 5th, 2005, Acting Governor Codey directed the establishment of an incident management system in New Jersey, which is the National Incident Management System (NIMS). Effective within 60 days of the order, the NIMS is the standard for all emergency incidents in the State. NIMS is based on the National Wildlife Coordination Group curriculum, which consists of procedures for controlling personnel, facilities, equipment, and communications for any size situation. Executive Order #50 requires all entry-level first responders to complete the ICS-100: Introduction to Incident Command Systems prior to December 31, 2005. Entry level first responders include firefighters, police officers, emergency medical services providers, public works personnel, public health on-scene personnel, any other on-scene personnel. Experienced agency personnel are required to complete ICS-200: Basic ICS prior to December 31, 2006. Middle management and senior level personnel must take ICS-300: Intermediate ICS level, prior to December 31, 2007. Command staff, division and department heads must take ICS-400: Advanced ICS level, prior to December 31, 2007. All elected officials and appointed officials must take ICS-402: ICS Summary for Executives Course (no deadlines specified). In addition to these courses, all personnel must take ICS-700: Introduction to NIMS. Municipal Engineers may fall into one or more of the above categories depending on their function in their local emergency management plan. Engineers who are only responsible for damage assessment will be required to take ICS-100 and ICS-700. Appointed engineers that have no roles or responsibilities in their Emergency Management Plan will be required to take ICS-402 and ICS-700. Municipal Engineers that have dual roles as Public Works Directors or Water/Sewer Operators may need to take ICS 100, 200, 300, 400, and 700. If you are not sure of your designation, check with your local and County Office’s of Emergency Management. Failure to comply with the Executive Order may affect your towns ability to obtain Federal and State preparedness grants. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has offered many of the ICS courses on-line. This training is free and qualifies for continuing education units for certified public works managers and water/sewer operator’s licenses. The typical on-line course takes 3-4 hours to complete. In addition to the on-line courses, the State and County OEM’s will be offering additional training sessions to meet the requirements of this Order. |
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