My first full week in the mayoral saddle. Feels good; I like this job.
Tuesday, January 11: Met with Municipal Employees
For those who do not know, Tuesday night is open house at the municipal building. Want to meet with our Tax Assessor, Zoning Officer, or Construction Official? The municipal building is open from 7:00 PM until 9:00 PM for the public. I take advantage of the time to visit our municipal employees, hear what they have to say, and get a pulse of how things are around town. Tuesday night was the night of our most recent snowstorm, so it was good timing to drive to our Public Works Garage on Locust Grove Road. I met up with our Public Works employees just as they were preparing their trucks for plowing. Alan and the guys have it down to a science; I’ll bet I could take the family to Disney World during a blizzard and know for certain that our DPW has the situation under control! Truth be told- I am not a fan of Disney World and I love snow so there’s no chance I would miss out on being in New Jersey during a snow storm.
Wednesday, January 12: Land Use Board Reorganization Meeting
Our Land Use Board met and reorganized; Jim Stryker was elected Chairman, and Ted Blew was elected Vice Chairman. The Board chose Rick Roseberry for their consulting engineer, and Carl Hintz as their consulting planner. After the formalities the Board held a brainstorming session on 2010 goals and objectives. Of the Township Committee, both myself and Vigdis Austad are members of the Land Use Board. I am looking forward to working with Chairman Stryker and the rest of the Board in 2011.
Thursday, January 13: Township Committee Meeting
My first regular meeting as Mayor, and Vigdis and Sue’s first meeting as members of the Committee; unfortunately there was only about 10 or so members of the public on hand for the occasion. Interesting, there were over 100 posts on the nj.com article about Franklin’s reorganization meeting, but only 10 people in attendance to see how we work together. I will continue to challenge our residents to attend our meetings, ask us the difficult questions, and bring to the table ideas on how we can serve them better.
This year on my blog I will still report the activities from our Committee meetings, but I might not provide as much detail as I did in 2010. If something peaks your interest, you can always reach me on this blog, or through the township clerk.
We hired William Colantano, CPA to perform our 2010 audit, and to provide accounting services for 2011.
We passed Resolution 2011-11 appointing Special Police Officers for 2011. We passed Resolution 2011-12 ensuring payment of our patrolmen for 2011 in accordance to our contract agreement. We passed Resolution 2011-13 ensuring payment of our Public Works Department for 2011 in accordance to our contract agreement.
We discussed at length a draft recycling ordinance that all Hunterdon County municipalities are required to adopt. We have additional questions and asked our attorney to contact the County.
We discussed the need for an animal control contract for 2011. We used St. Hubert’s in 2010 but before signing on again, we are doing our due diligence by seeing if there are entities that can provide us the same service for less money; it cost us in the neighborhood of $9,300 in 2010.
By responding to an inquiry sent by Hunterdon County in December, we agreed to tell them that we are interested in what they have to offer in terms of shared web site service and email hosting. We paid $3,800 for our website in 2010.
We hired Rick Roseberry of Maser Consulting, PA for Professional Engineering Services for 2011.
We accepted the resignation letter of now former Fire Subcode Official Frank Ball and we made a temporary appointment until the position is filled permanently.
We approved a salvage yard license for 2011 for Block 41, Lot 1.
We introduced by title only a solar energy ordinance; the first reading of the ordinance will take place on February 24. It is important for us to hear what you have to say about this ordinance. A copy can be found here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/45662473/Solar-Energy-Ordinance-for-Dec-23-Hearing
Those were the highlights of our meeting. As mayor I am going to make sure that the minutes from our meeting are posted on our township website in a timely manner.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
January 5, 2011: Reorganization Meeting
Tonight we had our reorganization meeting. Committeewomen Vigdis Austad and Susan Campbell were sworn into office and I was sworn in as Mayor for 2011. I am grateful for this opportunity and I thank the Committee for selecting me to be mayor. I am really looking forward to this!
Here is the speech I gave at the conclusion of our meeting:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/46366384/Jan-5-2011-Mayor-s-Message
Here is a list of all the appointments made by the Committee:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/46361921/2011-Appointments-Rev-Jan-5-2011
Look for more timely updates on this blog in 2011. Happy New Year.
Scott
Here is the speech I gave at the conclusion of our meeting:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/46366384/Jan-5-2011-Mayor-s-Message
Here is a list of all the appointments made by the Committee:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/46361921/2011-Appointments-Rev-Jan-5-2011
Look for more timely updates on this blog in 2011. Happy New Year.
Scott
Sunday, January 2, 2011
December 20 – December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 23: Township Committee
Out of respect to the two new committee members, the present committee agreed to carry ordinances 2010-09 (Recycling), 2010-10 (Solar Energy Systems), and 2010-11 (Lighting) to January 13, 2010.
The Recycling ordinance can be viewed in the township clerk’s office.
The Solar Energy Systems ordinance can be viewed here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/45662473/Solar-Energy-Ordinance-for-Dec-23-Hearing
The Lighting ordinance can be viewed here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/45686513/Lighting-Ordinance-Hearing-Dec-23
The Committee agreed to pass Ordinance 2010-12 which as of December 23, 2010 suspended COAH fees to residential structural improvements and expansions.
We received our Tax Collector’s reports for October and November 2010. In October we collected $656,341.64. In November we collected $2,366,145.36
We paid our bills checks dated 12/16 through 12/23. Big ticket items included: $282,241.51 (Transfer of tax levy into our township open space and recreation account), $93,750.00 (4th installment of the fire district tax), and $33,094 (12/17 municipal payroll). The complete check control register is always available for public view at the township clerk’s office. In 2011 I am going to work on getting the check control register posted on the township website.
The Committee approved by a vote of 4-1 a three year agreement (1/1/10 -12/31/12) for the Public Works Department union and for a one year agreement (1/1/10 – 12/31/10) for our non-union DPW supervisor. I was the lone dissenting vote because the agreement contained 3% raises each year. Our DPW does a great job… “however”… given the extremely difficult economic climate we are enduring, our increased costs, decreasing revenue, and my preference for reducing government spending, I could not vote for a contract with such a schedule of increased pay.
We passed resolution 2010-83 which cancelled several capital improvement fund accounts, specifically: $9,587.36 for the purchase of a 4x4 vehicle, $6,445.63 for the purchase and installation of an emergency generator, and $799.90 for the purchase of a sport utility vehicle.
Our CFO Ron Matthews gave us and the public a “snapshot” look at our open space funding mechanisms and suggestions on how we could use those funds to pay down past debt on previous open space purchases. I found the presentation very worthwhile and clear to understand. In the near future I will reproduce Mr. Matthew’s table he wrote on the white board in the municipal building. The bottom line is we receive about $282,000 each year in our open space tax, we have accumulated debt from past open space purchases and we need to initiate a payment plan to reduce this debt. In the short term this payment plan may hamper us from purchasing additional open space, however if the right property should become available there are still ways for us to finance the purchase of that property.
Thursday, December 30, 2010: Township Committee
Our year end meeting was only 15 minutes long and it basically served as a formal way to close the financial books on year 2010. We passed Resolution 2010-84 which transferred a total of $69,350 of funds between appropriations. We also approved payments of $2,598 in bills.
==
On December 9, three Exceptional Duty Awards and one Civilian Service Award were given to four employees of Franklin Township.
Class II Patrolman Joseph Cesare and Patrolman John Oliveira were commended for their action on July 25, 2010. While on duty they made a motor vehicle stop and arrested two individuals for possession with intent to distribute drugs. Further investigation yielded the discovery of $23,000 cash and the subsequent forfeiture of the cash and the Chevrolet Suburban.
Detective Timothy Snyder was commended for his action on June 30, 2010. While on duty Detective Snyder responded to a go-cart crash with two individuals suffering serious injuries after falling off an 80 foot cliff. Detective Snyder waded hip deep across a river in full uniform and rendered first aid and stabilized the victims until Emergency Medical Services arrived.
Marie Wedel was commended for over ten years of service to the Franklin Township Police Department.
All four individuals are exemplary employees of Franklin Township and they have much to be proud of; their commendations are well deserved, congratulations.
=======
As 2010 comes to an end I look back on my first year serving the public as a committeeman. I wouldn’t exchange the last year for anything; I have embraced my responsibilities with enthusiasm, seriousness, and honesty. I have voted my consciousness after gathering all of the facts. I have gotten to know many more people in Franklin and that to me is the best part of my job. 2011 will be full of challenges and I am looking forward to working together with the township committee, our municipal employees, our commissions and boards, and most importantly, our residents on addressing these challenges as they arise.
Out of respect to the two new committee members, the present committee agreed to carry ordinances 2010-09 (Recycling), 2010-10 (Solar Energy Systems), and 2010-11 (Lighting) to January 13, 2010.
The Recycling ordinance can be viewed in the township clerk’s office.
The Solar Energy Systems ordinance can be viewed here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/45662473/Solar-Energy-Ordinance-for-Dec-23-Hearing
The Lighting ordinance can be viewed here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/45686513/Lighting-Ordinance-Hearing-Dec-23
The Committee agreed to pass Ordinance 2010-12 which as of December 23, 2010 suspended COAH fees to residential structural improvements and expansions.
We received our Tax Collector’s reports for October and November 2010. In October we collected $656,341.64. In November we collected $2,366,145.36
We paid our bills checks dated 12/16 through 12/23. Big ticket items included: $282,241.51 (Transfer of tax levy into our township open space and recreation account), $93,750.00 (4th installment of the fire district tax), and $33,094 (12/17 municipal payroll). The complete check control register is always available for public view at the township clerk’s office. In 2011 I am going to work on getting the check control register posted on the township website.
The Committee approved by a vote of 4-1 a three year agreement (1/1/10 -12/31/12) for the Public Works Department union and for a one year agreement (1/1/10 – 12/31/10) for our non-union DPW supervisor. I was the lone dissenting vote because the agreement contained 3% raises each year. Our DPW does a great job… “however”… given the extremely difficult economic climate we are enduring, our increased costs, decreasing revenue, and my preference for reducing government spending, I could not vote for a contract with such a schedule of increased pay.
We passed resolution 2010-83 which cancelled several capital improvement fund accounts, specifically: $9,587.36 for the purchase of a 4x4 vehicle, $6,445.63 for the purchase and installation of an emergency generator, and $799.90 for the purchase of a sport utility vehicle.
Our CFO Ron Matthews gave us and the public a “snapshot” look at our open space funding mechanisms and suggestions on how we could use those funds to pay down past debt on previous open space purchases. I found the presentation very worthwhile and clear to understand. In the near future I will reproduce Mr. Matthew’s table he wrote on the white board in the municipal building. The bottom line is we receive about $282,000 each year in our open space tax, we have accumulated debt from past open space purchases and we need to initiate a payment plan to reduce this debt. In the short term this payment plan may hamper us from purchasing additional open space, however if the right property should become available there are still ways for us to finance the purchase of that property.
Thursday, December 30, 2010: Township Committee
Our year end meeting was only 15 minutes long and it basically served as a formal way to close the financial books on year 2010. We passed Resolution 2010-84 which transferred a total of $69,350 of funds between appropriations. We also approved payments of $2,598 in bills.
==
On December 9, three Exceptional Duty Awards and one Civilian Service Award were given to four employees of Franklin Township.
Class II Patrolman Joseph Cesare and Patrolman John Oliveira were commended for their action on July 25, 2010. While on duty they made a motor vehicle stop and arrested two individuals for possession with intent to distribute drugs. Further investigation yielded the discovery of $23,000 cash and the subsequent forfeiture of the cash and the Chevrolet Suburban.
Detective Timothy Snyder was commended for his action on June 30, 2010. While on duty Detective Snyder responded to a go-cart crash with two individuals suffering serious injuries after falling off an 80 foot cliff. Detective Snyder waded hip deep across a river in full uniform and rendered first aid and stabilized the victims until Emergency Medical Services arrived.
Marie Wedel was commended for over ten years of service to the Franklin Township Police Department.
All four individuals are exemplary employees of Franklin Township and they have much to be proud of; their commendations are well deserved, congratulations.
=======
As 2010 comes to an end I look back on my first year serving the public as a committeeman. I wouldn’t exchange the last year for anything; I have embraced my responsibilities with enthusiasm, seriousness, and honesty. I have voted my consciousness after gathering all of the facts. I have gotten to know many more people in Franklin and that to me is the best part of my job. 2011 will be full of challenges and I am looking forward to working together with the township committee, our municipal employees, our commissions and boards, and most importantly, our residents on addressing these challenges as they arise.
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