Passaic County in talks with West Milford to lease space, bring more services north
WEST MILFORD — Township officials are offering Passaic County's commissioners office space for a new up-county hub.
Local officials recently confirmed they are in negotiations with the county for space in the municipally owned Johner Building off Edgar Drive. Purchased by the township three decades ago, the building has been used by municipal officials for archive storage and as an office for the Fire Department and Office of Emergency Management. However, its purpose is expected to shift when the ongoing conversion of the former public library into a town hall annex wraps up.
County officials in August provided township officials with a letter of intent to continue providing health services and lease space in the Johner Building.
In recent years, Passaic County Health Department employees have worked as the township's local unit as part of a shared service agreement. County employees have provided registered environmental health inspection services, clinics, inoculations, and education and outreach programs. Still, Charlene Gungil, the health officer for Passaic County and West Milford, said there is a desire to do more in the county's northwest.
"We're trying to bring more and more programs up to this part of the county so that we can meet the needs of our residents," she said during an August presentation for West Milford's governing body.
Passaic County's public information officer said a statement from county officials will come once the resolution to lease the space has been passed.
About 15 years ago, West Milford officials discussed using the Johner Building to house some municipal offices, including the health, tax and engineering departments. Though supported, the concept was abandoned when town officials teamed with the library board on the construction of an expanded library. The project freed up the former library, which town officials have preferred over the Johner Building for the pending office relocation.
Before becoming a town-owned office, the Johner Building was home to the Johner Manufacturing Co., a producer of precision metal parts.
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Construction on the original 8,000-square-foot building started in October 1970. Within a decade, the company gained approval for an addition to double its size. John Nervetti, the company founder and president, said in 1979 that company officials were having second thoughts about the project due to issues over the town's acceptance of Edgar Drive as a public road. By October 1986, the company had nonetheless completed the 7,000-square-foot expansion.
Two months earlier, a 2,000-gallon gasoline tank burst at the township's nearby public works depot, contaminating soil on the Johner property. Then, in 1992, tests conducted by a lab that happened to be based on site found methylene chloride contamination in the soil. Though the source of that contamination was unknown, township officials subsequently agreed to pay $580,000 for the property and fund its cleanup.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Passaic County to lease West Milford space, bring more services north
