Wantage Public Notices

2020

911 Dispatch Change
Wantage Township has switched to the Sussex County 911 Dispatch. Your alarm company must change the emergency number to 973-940-5560. The old system no longer works. ~ Township of Wantage

Sheriff Warns of New Phone Scam
Some Sussex County residents have reported receiving telephone calls stating the call is from the Sussex County Sheriff's Office. The caller states that you will be arrested if you do not satisfy a particular debt. You are given a case number and a callback number. Do not fall for this latest scam. The Sussex County Sheriff's Office is not making these calls. If you have received a call threatening arrest by the Sussex County Sheriff's Office and you feel it is a scam, please call the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office at 973-383-1570 ext 4526. Read warning on the Sussex County website.

Dognapping Alert
It has been reported that there have been attempts to steal dogs and other pets in our area. It is suspected that the stolen pets would be sold in the black market. Click here to see notice (posted on Facebook.)

Mailbox Theft / Postal Fraud
A resident has recently reported an issue of postal fraud and mailbox theft. She reports that a package had been delivered to her mailbox, attached to the mailbox flag. She noticed that the flag had been damaged and there were bits of plastic attached to the flag. She found the empty package a half mile down the road. She later learned that someone had used her husband's name and address for a purchase and then appeared to be watching the mailbox for the delivery so that this person could grab the package as soon as it was delivered. It was also reported that a truck appeared to be following a mail truck and had stopped by a resident's mailbox, but quickly left when the resident called out to him. The truck picked up a man seen walking along the road. The resident believes that the truck was following the mail truck to see if packages were delivered and to steal them. The holiday season with its many package deliveries may be over, but this type of scam may continute and residents are urged to remain vigilant.

Older, Useful Notices

Coyotes Are in the Wantage Area
Please be aware of your surroundings and potential wildlife around you. Click here for some coyote precautions to remember.

Who Owns What? Ownership Guidelines for Your Home's Electrical System
Click here to download flier.

Help with Energy Bills
New Jersey residents who need help paying their energy bills can call 1-800-510-3102 to find out if they qualify for assistance and how to apply.

Gypsy Moth Notice
Is your property experiencing heavy infestation of gypsy moth caterpillars? Do you see heavy infestation in property near you? The NJ State Department of Agriculture provides the following phone number for local residents to report heavy infestations: 609-406-6939 (Dept of Agriculture, Division of Plant Industry.)

Beware of Telephone Scams
A Wantage resident reports that he recently received a telephone call from someone who claimed to be from "Windows Support", and informed that there was a problem on his computer. The caller then attempted to have the resident give remote access for his computer to the caller so the problem could be "fixed". THIS IS A SCAM. NEVER GIVE REMOTE ACCESS CONTROL TO YOUR COMPUTER OUT TO AN UNKNOWN PARTY! Several other Scams are also being attempted in the area, which were reported recently in the NJ Herald. Please heed Police Warnings: Never give personal identifying information such as Social Security numbers, credit card data or banking information to any person which cannot be identified with absolute certainty. If you are contacted by someone identifying themselves as a police officer, federal agent, IRS representative or any other governmental entity over the telephone, or as a Computer Support Individual who you did not contact, extreme caution should be used and no information should be given to that person over the telephone.

Military Families Survey
The Center for Prevention and Counseling would like to support the active and veteran military families in Sussex County. Our goal is to create an advisory board to aide in identifying military families in our area and gather information to help address the needs of those who have served and sacrificed for our Country. This includes not just our service members, but their spouses, children, and other loved ones as well. In our recent interaction with local military families it has been brought to our attention that finding and accessing services can be very challenging. This is especially due to our remote location.

In achieving this, we are asking that you please complete this anonymous survey to aide us in compiling a local resource list that can help guide those in need towards easily obtainable and helpful services. The online link is https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2TV3DY6. For more information please contact Natalie Yanoff-Smith at the Center for Prevention and Counseling, 973-383-4787.

Snowplows and Mailboxes
It's an unfortunate fact that, in rural towns with lots of snowfall, snow plow operators may hit your mailbox and cause damage to the mailbox and/or post. It happens all over Sussex County and, in fact, all over rural USA.

Please accept our promise: we are not aiming for it. We didn't want to damage it. The last thing we want is to do something that will anger the public and cause possible criticism toward us. There is no upside to annoying the public.

More times than not, in a heavy snowfall, it is not actually the case that the snow plow hit the mailbox, but instead the displacement of large volumes of snow will push over the mailbox and post. Snow is a solid, and two solid objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. When large amounts of snow need to be pushed off the public road, the mailbox will sometimes lose out.

Other times the plow itself may, in fact, directly hit a mailbox. Again, this is not on purpose, but an accident. If you ever have any doubts about this, please contact the Township Administrator or the DPW Supervisor at town hall. Jim and Bob will make arrangements after the snow emergency has been dealt with for your snow plow operator to speak directly with you, and offer you his promise that it was not personal or malicious. Our DPW workers are dedicated and caring people, Wantage citizens themselves, many of whom have deep roots and all of whom have strong pride in our community. We are accountable to you and we want you to be proud of us.

If we do damage your mailbox, please do not attempt to flag down the snow plow operator in the middle of the storm to report it or express your disappointment. While that may be your immediate inclination, please understand that doing this is neither safe nor productive. Please instead call Wantage Town Hall at 973-875-7192. Even if no one is present, you can leave a voice mail message that we will receive. Tell us your name, address, and a daytime phone number where we can follow up with you.

We at town hall will create a master list of people and addresses who call in regarding damaged mailboxes. As time permits after the storm has ended, Bob Wagner and his crew will contact you from that list in the order the calls were received and find out what we can do to make it right for you. Sometimes, all that is needed is to put the post and mailbox back up, which we will do if the ground is not frozen. Other times, the post and/or mailbox may have been damaged beyond salvage.

If we cannot fix it for you permanently right away, we will provide you with a temporary mailbox that can be used for the remainder of the winter. When the snow season is over, you can buy a new mailbox and post, comparable to your old one, and submit the receipt along with the old mailbox to us at town hall. We will reimburse you the cost of the mailbox. This is a courtesy service Wantage provides, but is not an opportunity to upgrade a mailbox at taxpayer expense, so that is why we ask you to submit the old mailbox, for comparison purposes. We will also use the old mailbox to supply our inventory of future temporary mailboxes (unless it is beyond use, of course).

Sometimes, a mailbox has been placed too close to the edge of the road, which will increase the likelihood of it being hit by a plow. Our DPW Supervisor will work with you to make sure the new mailbox is placed a safe distance from the road - not too far for the mail delivery person, not too close for the plow. While this won't guarantee anything, it will do everything in our power to avoid having this happen in the future.

People and Bobcats and Bears, Oh My!"
Living in Northwest New Jersey is a wonderful experience, full of exciting opportunities for communing with Nature. It also carries with it a responsibility to stay fully informed about wildlife that you may come into contact with. See below public information provided from the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife:
http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/bobcat.pdf
http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/bearfacts.htm

Berry Road Bridge Closed
The Sussex County Engineer has stated that the Berry Road Bridge has been determined by the County to be unsafe, to the point that it requires closure. As of Friday, February 15, the bridge is officially closed. While repair projects on this bridge were undertaken in the recent past several years, those repairs did not take as hoped, and the entire bridge needs to be replaced, at an estimated cost to the County of $600,000. It is going to take three to four years before this project works its way up through the already-existing backlog of county bridge repair and replacement projects scheduled on the County priority lists. The bottom line is that a vehicle will not be able to travel from Armstrong Road to Sherman Ridge Road, or vice verse, via Berry Road. If a car gets to the end of Sherman Ridge and wants to get to Armstrong, they will have to turn left onto Berry instead of right, and then turn right onto CR 628 to get to the other end of Berry, from there proceeding to Armstrong. It adds about a 3/4 mile +/- roundabout trip onto the course instead of just being able to get to Armstrong directly off Berry. The same holds true in reverse if some one on Armstrong wants to get to Sherman Ridge. A public notice with more details from the County will be posted when received.

New Jersey Phone Kidnapping Scams
Various sources in law enforcement and media outlets have been reporting phone kidnapping scams occurring in Central and Northern New Jersey and New York. View notice.

Foreclosure Assistance
The Department of Community Affairs and New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency recognize that many New Jersey families are currently going through or facing foreclosure. The State of New Jersey and the federal government provide a variety of programs to assist homeowners. Information about these programs is free.
About Foreclosure, First Steps:
Foreclosure Fast Facts in English | Foreclosure Fast Facts in Spanish
For more information on foreclosure relief programs, please call 1-800-NJ-HOUSE.

Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) Provides Assistance to Homeless and At-Risk Veterans and Their Families
This program, funded by a US Department of Veteran Affairs grant, aims to keep veteran families from losing their homes and to rapidly re-house homeless veterans and their families. SSVF services include temporary financial assistance and case management services ranging from assistance in finding jobs and child care to linking the veteran to health care services. The confidential hotline number is 1-855-483-8466.

Low Energy Assistance Program
The Department of Community Affairs recently announced that supplemental benefits are available through the federally-funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Eligible households do not need to reapply for the program to receive supplemental benefits. The benefits are available because LIHEAP funding for the year increased beyond the original projection provided by the federal government. For more information on LIHEAP, or to find the nearest agency participating in the program, please log on to energyassistance.nj.gov or call 1-800-510-3102 (LIHEAP).

HomeKeeper Program
Worried about losing your home? Click here for the flier from the NJ HomeKeeper program.

Motorists Urged to be Cautious for Deer on Roads
The Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Fish and Wildlife is urging motorists to be alert for white-tailed deer on roads across the state during the fall breeding season, especially during morning and evening commutes when visibility may be poor and deer are more active. press release

Public Service Announcement: Grill Safety
The Department of Community Affairs' Division of Fire Safety recently reminded residents to review fire safety grilling tips to avoid injury this summer.
Click here for Safe Summer Cooking Tips

Woodstoves - A Note from the Building Department

With the rising cost of home heating fuels, many homeowners are deciding to install solid fuel appliances such as wood and pellet stoves to lower their heating bills.

Please be advised that permits are needed to install one in your home or business. Depending on type of unit to be installed, a fire, building or plumbing permit maybe required.

If you have installed or you have purchased a home with an appliance without permits, You may contact our department to apply for a permit and have your stove inspected.

Our main objective is to protect the public from a loss of life or the potential of having Insurance compensation being reduced or eliminated.

Thank you,
Patrick Stefanelli, Construction Official

Warning of Scams
At the Organization meeting of the Wantage Governing Body, Sussex County Clerk Jeff Parrott warned citizens of several on-going scams being pursued throughout the county. Senior citizens are particularly asked to take notice and warning of these scams, as quite often it is the elderly who are targeted.

One scam involves receiving a telephone call from some one who will try to convince you that it is necessary for you to have a certified copy of the deed of ownership for your property, and will offer to provide you with that document for a fee which could be $25 or more. Do not be fooled by this scam! If you do ever need to obtain a certified copy of your deed, you can obtain one at any time directly from the County Clerk's office, whenever you need one, and the average fee is in the range of $16 or less.

Another attempted Scam involves a telephone contact from a person claiming to be from an agency dealing with Medicaid or Medicare, and they will ask you to confirm information over the telephone. They will read you a fictional social security number, in the hope that you will realize it is wrong and provide them with the correct information. Social security numbers can be used to perpetrate Identify Fraud against you! Several other variations on this Scam can be attempted, but they all involve an effort to trick you into telling them private information that they, in turn, can use against you. Never tell some one your social security number or any other private information over the telephone!

Warning - Do Not Do Business With Unlicensed Peddlers
A young man driving a white Van, advertising the company "US Beef", knocked on my door last evening, saying that he had completed his deliveries for the day and had some extra produce, and wanted to know if I wanted to buy it. I explained to this young man that such a solicitation is not permitted in Wantage Township. Please do the same if any person attempts to make a similar unsolicited sale to you.

While the purchase of food products through the Internet represents a valid and private business transaction, the act of knocking on some one's door in Wantage Township and offering to sell them something that they did not order represents an act of Peddling. There are currently no licensed peddlers in Wantage Township other than a hot dog cart on Route 23 and a Snack/Refreshment Cart that operates in the Township public parks.

If any one knocks on your door and offers to sell you something, ask to see their Peddler's Permit. If they do not have a Wantage Township Peddler Permit, these individuals have not paid their fees to Wantage; they may not be registered with the State of New Jersey for Sales Tax compliance; they have not obtained a Food Handling Permit so there is no protection for you regarding the safety or quality of the food they sell you; and, they are taking commerce away from the legitimate local Wantage Township businesses and farmers who pay their taxes in Wantage and rely on us to stay in business.

Please remember that you are not obliged to open your door to an unknown person, and you should take care to act with caution whenever some one offers to sell you food, fix your driveway, clean your gutters, or any other service which you have not requested. If they are a legitimate business person, they will be willing to send you their contact information in the mail and do business with you another day, if you choose to contact them. Do not accept suggestions of "good deals if you act now". Any such representations should raise a yellow flag of caution. If the offer seems too good to be true, then it probably is.

Suspicious activity involving the offering of such services should be reported to the New Jersey State Police at 973-383-1515.
posted 7/8/11

POSTING SIGNS & BANNERS ON UTILITY POLES IS ILLEGAL!
New Jersey State Statue 27:5-9, prohibits the placing of signs (political or otherwise) on public utility poles. A sign may not be painted, drawn, or maintained upon public utility poles. Penalties range from $50 to $500 for each offense. Each day of the violation may be deemed to be a separate offense. Aside from being illegal, these signs pose a safety hazard to utility workers. Not only do the signs often prevent them from being able to physically climb the pole, but nails, staples, etc. could cause injury to utility workers or could jeopardize the integrity of safety equipment (gloves) that may unknowingly be punctured by these staples and-nails. Please obey the law! 3/24/11

WANTAGE TOWNSHIP SHELTER ACTIVATION PROCEDURES, Effective January, 2011
To Find Out if A Shelter Has Been Opened in Wantage Township in response to a prolonged "no electricity, no heat" situation during a winter storm:

The person in need of emergency shelter should call the County Office of Emergency Management, to see if the County or the Red Cross has opened a warming shelter anywhere in the county. County OEM Telephone number: 973-579-0888. If the answer is no, or if the County's shelter cannot be reached by the local resident(s):
The person in need of an emergency shelter should call the State Police non-emergency number at 973-383-1515 (Do NOT call 911).
State Police will then contact Wantage Township Emergency Management Coordinator Joe Konopinski, who will try to find out how long the power outage will continue.
The Wantage Emergency Management Coordinator or his desingee will take appropriate steps, if deemed necessary, to open a local warming shelter.
The Wantage Public Works Supervisor and Township Administrator will coordinate any needed transportation to the shelter, open up the shelter, and handle public information regarding the shelter.
If it becomes necessary to make arrangements for food and overnight accommodations, the County Office of Emergency Management will make appropriate arrangements through the Red Cross. The County OEM will make contact with Red Cross.