Township code book is now available online BY COLLEEN LUTOLF Staff Writer BRICK - It's 10:30 p.m. Your neighbors are partying and you're wondering how long you have to wait before you can call the cops. You heard your neighbor wants to open an adult bookstore next to a church, but you're not quite sure that's legal and you want to plot his downfall. You want to protest hot dog vendors but are not sure how many people can assemble in one place without a permit. Now you don't have to stumble through an awkward conversation with the township clerk to get these questions answered, you can go online. The entire Brick Township code book can be found on the Web at www.generalcode.com. Right now you have to navigate your way through a couple of Web pages to get to Brick's municipal code, but once you get there, it's all there - from housing standards to hydrants, from junk yards to flea markets. The beginnings of Brick's online code book has its roots in the 2003 election. "It actually started right after I was elected to the council in 2003," said Township Councilwoman Ruthanne Scaturro. "I got the old code book and I was going through it. It said the reorganization meeting was in July, there was a lot of conflicting information. I was a little discouraged." While attending the League of Municipalities in Atlantic City in 2003, Scaturro learned about "e-code," a company that helps municipalities get their administrative and legislative codes on the Internet. "I said wow what a really cool idea," she said. "I saw all the different towns that already had the service, and as soon as I got on the council I started investigating it." Brick joins Bay Head, Beach Haven, Dover, Jackson and other towns throughout the county, state and nation who have already listed their municipal codes online. Aside from getting the code on the Internet, a council committee was formed to go through the code book to find which laws were outdated or redundant, Scaturro said. The committee met six to eight times to find ways to streamline the township code. "We went through it code by code by code by code," said Councilman Michael Thulen last November, when the committee brought some issues before the whole council to be discussed. "The first step was breaking up the code by different department heads," Scaturro said. "We asked them to look at things and make suggestions." Scaturro said the online code book would benefit not only residents. "Very often ... engineers need to come in and get information, our particular land-use laws. Even simple things like dog licenses or a business saying what is the sign ordinance." Municipal Clerk Virginia Lampman also played a large role in recodifying the township's ordinances. Former Business Administrator Scott MacFadden acknowledged her undertaking of a such "Herculean effort" last year. "Ginny got involved and got it to this point ... Others tried to get it this far and didn't," he said. Getting the code book online is one of several goals Scaturro said she had when she got on the council. Televising regular council meetings, revising the township's Web site and taking the township's accounts out of ledger books and into a computer were also on Republican's list, she said. The council is expected to introduce an ordinance defining the recodification at the Oct. 25 council meeting. Once adopted, a direct link to Brick's municipal code will be available on the township's Web site.