Vernon revises property maintenance ordinance

VERNON — The Vernon Township Council revised and adopted the recently rejected property maintenance ordinance after public resistance led to its rejection.

The amendment requires an out-of-state lien holder be required to name an in-state representative to be responsible for property maintenance. In this instance, the representative would not be a maintenance company or realtor.

The proposed ordinance requires the agent be registered with the Sussex County clerk. Failure to comply could result in daily fines as high as $1,500.

“The goal is not to make money,” Township Attorney John Ursin said. “The goal is to secure compliance.”

The original ordinance was met with public concern over its being used discriminately against homeowners. That ultimately led to its earlier

“I thank you (the council) for the revision and going back to the table,” said Rachael Hendricks. “But we are still concerned that this could be an impediment to the sale of a property.”

Many realtors in the area shared Hendricks’ concerns at the open public work session.

“I still feel the fine is prohibitive,” Councilman Dan Kadish said. “I’d like to see an escalating scale.”

Kadish was the only councilmember to vote against adopting the ordinance.