August 19, 2009 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 3 Franklin Lakes Mayor appoints new construction official by Frank J. McMahon Franklin Lakes Mayor Maura DeNicola has appointed a new construction official who will be the chief administrator of the borough’s construction enforcement department on a permanent basis, and will grant or deny development permits in accordance with the provisions of the borough code. He will also act as the zoning officer on an interim basis. DeNicola announced the appointment of Kevin R. Burnette at the council’s last public meeting, although it was not on that night’s agenda for consideration. She explained that the current term of the construction official was expiring in the middle of August, and she felt it was important to have someone in that position when the term expired because of the workload in that department. The council discussed the appointment in closed session after Councilman Michael Friscia said he had some questions about it. Following the closed session meeting, the four members of the council present at that meeting, Friscia, Brian Trava, Leslie Greer and Nathalie Lota, all voted to confirm the appointment. Franklin Lakes Borough Administrator Gregory Hart advised that Burnette’s term is for four years, but that a committee has been formed to determine how to fill the zoning official’s position on a permanent basis. Most recently, Burnette volunteered as the clerk of the works for the major renovation of the borough’s ambulance corps headquarters on Bender Court where he oversaw the project from concept to completion. A clerk of the works represents the interests of the client to ensure the quality of both materials and workmanship are in accordance with the design specifications, engineering drawings, and recognized quality standards. From 1992 until the present, Burnette has been the self-employed owner of Foremost Property Inspections, LLC, where he performed residential and commercial building inspections and triple net commercial lease inspections for law firms, and phased new construction inspections for buyers. Since 1989, he has also been the selfemployed owner of MC General Con- tracting, LLC, with office responsibilities for sales, estimates, negotiation, contract administration, purchasing, accounts receivable and payable; and field responsibilities for scheduling and dispatching, hiring and training of field personnel, hiring of subcontractors, and interaction with owners, tenants, architects, engineers and subcode officials. He previously worked as site supervisor with responsibilities that included directing and supervising all union work crews, coordination with all trades, interaction with project managers, union representatives, subcode officials, state officials, time logs, and daily progress reports. He also worked as construction and maintenance coordinator in the Morrow Restaurant Corporation in Hackensack, and for Airflow Systems, Inc. in Paramus, where he installed and repaired various air conditioning and heating systems for commercial, industrial, and residential customers. He began his career as a plumber’s apprentice and he achieved the journeyman level within three years. Burnette is a 1978 graduate of the Lincoln Technical Institute in Union and he was educated at Bergen Community College and at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he received a Construction Management Technology Certificate in 1986. He also completed the Rutgers New Jersey Educational Facility Management Program in 2008. He is licensed as a building inspector, (continued on page 6)