Week of January 24

Putting Franklin aside for a moment, this week was big for me personally. On January 26, 6:58 PM my wife Laurie and I welcomed our second child Andrew Steven Bauman into the world. Andrew weighed in at 8 pounds, 3 ounces and measured 21 inches. Mom and baby are doing great; all of us, including our 3 year old son Ryan are adjusting as a family. Needless to say, there may be some late-night posts coming your way!

January 25 was the Environmental Commission reorganization meeting and regularly scheduled meeting. Congratulations to former Committeewoman Diane Burgess for being appointed Chairwoman of the EC for 2010. Congratulations also to Lisa Wood who won the confidence of her fellow commissioners who voted her to serve as Vice Chairwoman for 2010. I look forward to working with the EC as we continue to protect Franklin's precious environmental resources. The EC meets the last Monday of each month at 7:30 in the municipal building- the meetings are public and all are invited to attend. Copies of the meeting agenda are posted on the township website and the bulletin board in the municipal building.

I was called out of the meeting mid-stream to take my wife to the hospital so I cannot personally attest to what happened but my review of the meeting minutes show that in 2010 the EC plans to work with the Land Use Board on crafting a solar energy systems ordinance, a wind energy systems ordinance. The EC also wants to inventory / improve our trail systems, and inventorying the township conservation easements. Once the meeting minutes are approved by the EC they will be posted on the township website.

The Jan 27 Land Use Board meeting was canceled due to a lack of a meeting quorum; the next meeting is scheduled for February 10, 2010 at 730 PM in the municipal building.

January 28 was the Township Committee meeting. Good news- the State Local Finance Board extended their statutory budget deadline by making March 31 the new deadline for municipal introduction and approval of a budget, and May 11 the new deadline for municipal adoption of the budget. Our Finance Director Ron Matthews is already busy preparing the budget and the Finance subcommittee (Committeeman Steven Tarshis and myself) are preparing as well. For more information on this check out the Dept. of Community Affairs website at www.nj.gov/dca/lgs.

With regard to Committee business, we took the following actions:

1. Voted to approve the January 5 and January 14 meeting minutes.
2. Voted to authorize the Mayor to sign a Contract for professional accounting and auditing services for 2010 between Franklin Township and William M. Colantano, Jr. CPA. On a side note, if you haven't read a municipal audit, you don't know what you are missing!
3. Voted to introduce the first reading of Ordinance 2010-01- the Local Government Cap Law which allows Franklin to increase our 2010 budget by up to 3.5% over the 2009 final appropriations.
4. Adopted Resolution 2010-18 authorizing the tax collector to cancel property tax refunds or delinquent amounts of less than $10.00.
5. Approved a $945.00 bid from Clem's Ornamental Iron Works to fabricate and install 3 aluminum handrails at the front entrance of the municipal building.
6. Adopted a resolution authorizing the release of 2007 and 2008 redacted executive session minutes.
7. Heard a presentation from John DeMarrais of the Open Space Committee.
   
8. Heard a presentation from a property owner who is interested in creating two accessory apartments on his property which would help the township fulfill our affordable housing obligation.
9. Decided to not permit Union Township from using our tennis courts for their youth tennis program.

We learned of newly introduced NJ Senate bill (S-1) which proposes significant reforms to the Fair Housing Act and abolishes the Council on Affordable Housing. We also received an update on the ongoing school addition / construction. We were told that someone from the school will update the Committee on progress made on a monthly basis. I look forward to these updates.

A busy week indeed, and it is just the first month of the year!