Week of Feb 7 & Feb 14

It's a two-for one special this time. Have you ever felt so lucky?

Our February 10 Land Use Board meeting was canceled due to the blizzard. Once again great job by our public works department for keeping the roads safe. I heard a certain public works employee was plowing snow for 25 hours straight. Forget the overtime cost, I really don't want to see the coffee bill! As much as I like snow, now that I am on the town committee, all this white means more green .. in the form of overtime, road salt, equipment expense, etc. so hurry up Spring!

The weather wasn't so bad of February 11 so the Town Committee met- no one from the public was present.. not even our ever reliable season ticket holders... we missed you guys! Here are the highlights from the meeting:

1. Adopted meeting minutes from 11/24/09, and 1/28/10 (including Executive Session minutes).
2. Land Use Board Chairman Jim Stryker gave a presentation to the Committee on the township's status with the Council on Affordable Housing. He gave a Powerpoint presentation similar to the one the Land Use Board Affordable Housing subcommittee (which I am on) gave to COAH in December 2009. If anyone is interested in the content of the presentation please contact me; I can get you a paper copy or perhaps the actual Powerpoint presentation. Chairman Stryker's presentation was informative and the Committee (myself included) was appreciative that he is keeping us "in the loop". Communication and transparency is key. Granted right now no one knows what is going to happen to COAH but I've got a sneaking suspicion that NJ municipalities will not be 100% off the hook.
   
3. The Committee adopted Resolution 2010-20 appointing Michael C. Balough to the position of Chief Municipal Finance Officer at a cost of $2,000.00.
4. The Committee reviewed the Public Works January 2010 monthly report.
   
5. Police Director Ken Mandoli provided us with his January 2010 monthly report including the department activities: 178 motor vehicle summons issued, 148 motor vehicle warnings, 12 investigations conducted, and 70 incidents investigated. There were 5 adult arrests and 2 juvenile arrests. Director Mandoli's monthly reports are helpful but I want to come up with some ways they can be more helpful for the good of the town (ie trends, etc.). I want to thank an unnamed citizen for giving me some ideas which I plan to work on in the coming weeks.
6. We received a copy of the proposed 2010 budget for the Fire District to the tune of $395,000. I just heard word that on Feb 20 the voters rejected the budget so on the 25 the town committee needs to discuss this with the Fire District.
   
7. Our Zoning Officer reported the zoning permit activity for 2010 (3 permits) and he informed us on a property violation that he is investigating.
8. We approved a resolution (reso # not known) to authorizing a memorandum of understanding in the amount of $3,000 with the Hunterdon Land Trust Alliance to assist the township with the completion of the Farmland Preservation Plan.
9. The Committee then "switched hats" and became the Board of Health at which time we approved meeting minutes from January 14, 2010. We also memorialized resolution 2010-01B (which was approved on 1/14/10) for waiver of Board of Health regulations for 371 Pittstown Road (the subject of our Jan 14 meeting).
   
10. Resolution 2010-21 cane before the Committee which was worded to adopt the salaries of all police officers for year 2010 as per Article X Salary Guide in the contract agreement between the Township and the police department. The resolution was worded to include the names and salaries of all police officers; a discussion ensued and the resolution was defeated. Those opposed felt that since the contract agreement was approved by resolution, why should there be a separate resolution. Our finance director commented that the auditors found it helpful to have these salary figures adopted separately and part of the public meeting minutes. Upon further discussion, a new resolution was introduced to adopt salaries cited in the contract agreement and then named all of the police officers. This resolution was adopted 4-1 with one "nay"- me. Why? First, if our Finance Director felt the first resolution would help our auditor, I approve. Second, I feel that the public should be afforded the opportunity to review and comment on resolutions that come before the Committee- reading a resolution "from the floor" without giving the public an opportunity to review and comment is a practice that I cannot approve and will most likely vote to disapprove such resolutions that are brought before me in such a manner.

Overall, a fine meeting; can't wait for the 25th.

Tuesday February 16 the Mayor and I met with the Construction Official to discuss budget matters. We had a productive conversation, came up with some ideas on how to cut costs and I look forward to our CO to get back to us with some actual dollar figures.

February 17 the Land Use Board met and the meeting comprised of reviewing the school addition with the President of the Board of Education, the Superintendent of Schools, and the school's general contractor. Our review ranged from drainage issues, traffic circulation, landscaping, safety concerns, lighting, and staging/phasing the project. There were a good number of members of the public present and I'll bet you most felt it was a productive meeting. The Board is following up with a formal letter to the Board of Education, and they will consider our recommendations and respond to our letter accordingly.


This concludes my "two for one" special blogspot. Lesson learned: do not fall behind on blog entries!