OLD BRIDGE TOWNSHIP COUNCIL

An Agenda Meeting of the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge was held in the Municipal Complex on September 18, 2000. The meeting was called to order by President Maher at 8:04 p.m. who invited all to participate in a salute to the flag which was followed by a short prayer.

Deputy Clerk Stella Ward announced that this meeting is being held in conformance with the open public meetings act, notice has been given to the newspaper and notice of the meeting has been posted in public places. Next open public meeting of the council will be held on September 25th 2000 at 8:00 p.m.

Roll call by, Deputy Clerk, Stella Ward, showed the following answering present: Councilmen Butler, Greene, Hoff, Marinaccio, Redmond, Sohor, Testino, President Maher. Councilman Cucchiara was absent. Mayor Cannon, Administrator Shepler, Attorney Ruggierio and Clerk Rose-Marie Saracino were in attendance.

President Maher: I see the Board of Trustees from the library is here. They want to skip part of the agenda here and get to a session. We all have copies of Mr. Scott Smith's letter. It was federal expressed to us Friday. I got a copy and I made sure that the Clerk's office distributed copies to all the council members. Mr. Ruggierio do you have an opinion on this letter?

Councilman Hoff: Point of order. I just got this letter tonight and I don't think it's necessary. Why do we need an opinion right now? Why don't we give a weeks time so we have an opinion before the next formal meeting. I want a written opinion please. Does that make sense? I just got the notification tonight. I don't know if anybody got fed exed but I got mine in the box.

Resolution - Memorializing the Dedication of the Thomas J. English Public Library of Old Bridge and the Authorization of a Bronze Plaque with his accomplishments displayed in the Library.

President Maher: I was just going to suggest to the council members that acknowledged receipt of the letter, and as the Library Board of Trustees had asked for a face to face meeting, I was going to suggest that Mr. Ruggierio, members of the Council and the mayor meet with the Library Board over the next week or so to work this issue out. I wasn't going to take action on it tonight but I just wanted to get it on the record that we did receive this letter and we wouldn't take action on this tonight until we had the face to face meeting. Is that acceptable to everybody?

Councilman Hoff: Dennis, I still would like before this is finalized, I'd like to ask for a written opinion by the attorney. Is that fair?

Council concurred.

President Maher: We're not going to take any action on this item tonight. There's no opportunity to speak here Mr. Smith so the council will wait till Mr. Ruggierio renders his opinion. We'll be in touch with the board with a face to face meeting after Mr. Ruggierio's opinion.

Councilman Testino: So Dennis you're setting up a committee from the council to meet with them?

President Maher: I'd like to look for volunteers. Mr. Hoff, Mr. Sohor and Mr. Redmond volunteered. And Mr. Ruggierio and the Mayor I'd like you to participate.

Mayor Cannon: Well, within the next week I'm either out late or away from the building.

President Maher: That's our action plan then. We won't take any action till we have a face to face meeting and we have an opinion from our attorneys. Thanks for coming down.

Councilman Redmond: This is on the agenda. Am I to understand that we're tabling this?

President Maher: We're not going to take any action tonight.

Councilman Redmond: Do you expect that this meeting and everything will take place before the....

President Maher: No we will postpone this with the date and time.

Councilman Redmond: So you're taking it off the agenda until such time as... okay, that's all I wanted to know.

GUEST - 9/18/00

Steve Edwards - J.I.F. Contract - Renewal.

President Maher: Alayne why don't you update us on Steve Edwards.

Administrator Shepler: Yes, I had anticipated to be able to give some recommendations to council this evening so they could make a decision on our insurance carrier for the year 2001. However two of the carriers, our existing carrier Mercer J.I.F. and the Central Jersey J.I.F. that I have asked to quote prices are unable to give a quote at this time. Mercer J.I.F. , as you know we had a date of the end of September to renew. However, I've been given an extension of that time until such time as they're able to complete their numbers which they anticipate to be mid November. Both of the J.I.F.'s have had this problem, I've been told J.I.F. wide because the property lines have tightened in the private market and they're looking for the reinsurance carriers to come up with that number. So I will not have a number to council until mid-November.

President Maher: Has anybody given us any proposals to date?

Administrator Shepler: I talked to Mr. Edwards today. He said that Middlesex J.I.F., the former J.I.F. that we were in, they were going to be submitting a quotation. He was in the process of analyzing that quotation plus the coverage issues because some of the J.I.F.s provide different coverages.

President Maher: Is Mr. Edwards under a confidentiality agreement that he's gotten proposal from one J.I.F. and he's not going to be sharing with another J.I.F.?

Administrator Shepler: Oh, absolutely. That's part of his agreement.

President Maher: Has he signed a confidential...

Administrator Shepler: I haven't had him sign a separate one, no, but that was part of the proposal. And the fact that there was no commission resolved either.

Councilman Hoff: My question is to Alayne. There's no clock running out on us as of now.

Administrator Shepler: No, we are under no time constraints. I did get a verbal commitment from the Mercer J.I.F. that they will not hold us to the September 28th renewal. There will be no penalty and as you know we're just exploring the other J.I.F. So the only one I have to worry about is the Mercer J.I.F. I did in fact fax a letter to Mercer J.I.F. today. I'm waiting for a written response but I do have a verbal that they have approved the extension of time.

Councilman Hoff: The reason I asked is I don't want it to be put down and said this is the only way or place we can go two weeks from now. Thank you.

President Maher: Now when was the deadline for these proposals to be submitted?

Administrator Shepler: September 15th.

President Maher: And just for the record, again, the Middlesex J.I.F. is the only J.I.F. that has submitted the proposal to date?

Administrator Shepler: Yes.

President Maher: Has the Woodbridge J.I.F. submitted a proposal to date?

Administrator Shepler: I have not seen those numbers at this time. They're having the same problem that the Mercer J.I.F. is at the M.E.L. level because of the property coverages. Both the Central Jersey J.I.F. and the Mercer J.I.F. as well as many of the other J.I.F.'s in the State of New Jersey participate in the M.E.L. which is the Municipal Excess Liability, which is our umbrella coverages. The Middlesex J.I.F. does not participate in the M.E.L.

President Maher: Who is Mr. Edwards anyway?

Administrator Shepler: Mr. Edwards is B.G.I.A. Business Government Insurance Agents. As you know last year you had me submit written proposals. That was the gentleman who responded. This was the man we said we were going to use last year but it was too precipitous. I asked you to move the time frame up which you did.

Councilman Hoff: Does he work on a percentage basis or on a flat fee?

Administrator Shepler: No he is working on fifteen hundred dollars a month as a consultant.

Councilman Hoff: And that started when?

Administrator Shepler: Five months ago.

Councilman Hoff: And until as long as he negotiates.

Administrator Shepler: Yes.

President Maher: So we've been paying this individual fifteen hundred dollars a month.

Administrator Shepler: Not to exceed nine thousand. It was a six month deal.

President Maher: So we went through seventy-five hundred dollars of it.

Administrator Shepler: That's correct.

President Maher: So he only has one more month not to exceed nine thousand dollars, so his term expires at the end of this month.

Administrator Shepler: The term should expire at the end of this month. I will be asking that you probably extend it for one more month until such time as I have the Mercer numbers. I'm hoping before then he'll be able to do the coverage examination which is what I really need more than the numbers. I need the coverage comparisons between Mid J.I.F., Central J.I.F., Mercer J.I.F. In other words an analysis of the deductions, because as you know when we went to Mercer J.I.F. from M.I.D. J.I.F. there were substantial changes in the deductibles.

President Maher: I'm not familiar with the other firms. Mid J.I.F. is what?

Administrator Shepler: I'm sorry, Middlesex J.I.F. And there's Mercer County J.I.F. Middlesex County and the Central Jersey is now comprised of Woodbridge, Edison, Piscataway and Franklin Township.

Councilman Hoff: I'm a little confused Dennis. Are we waiting for the proposal from the mids and south J.I.F.'s or are we waiting for Mr. Edward's appraisal?

Administrator Shepler: I'm waiting for two things. Mercer J.I.F. and Central Jersey J.I.F. to give me quotations for the year 2001 and an examination of the coverage lines between the three J.I.F.'s. It appears at this point in time that there's no coverage on the outside in the private market. Most of them will not quote on us because of our workers comp experience rate.

Councilman Hoff: And you can't urge them to get their J.I.F. quotes in earlier?

Administrator Shepler: Well I have a call out to the Public Employers PEMA, which is Public Employees Managers Association which is the overseer of the Municipal Excess Liability, and I am trying to do that yes.

Councilman Hoff: I hope we can solve it by the end of September.

President Maher: But in the interim we have notified Mercer County J.I.F...

Administrator Shepler: Yes that I was looking.

President Maher: Of our letter of intent not to renew.

Administrator Shepler: No I did not say I did not intend to renew. I sent a letter to the Mercer J.I.F. that I was exploring all of my options and that I would let them know by the deadline as to whether we intended to renew or not. I didn't say we were not going to renew.

President Maher: But I thought there was an option in the contract or a clause that we had to just send a notice by the end of September to exercise that clause or option an intent possibly not to renew. Have we done that?

Administrator Shepler: No it was an intent to renew.

Mayor Cannon: We had to extend it to the end of November.

Councilman Hoff: That deadline has been extended in writing?

Administrator Shepler: I faxed it today. I have a verbal and as I said before I'm waiting for the fax to come back with a signature. But I have been told by the Chairman of the Mercer J.I.F. that we have in fact been given that extension.

President Maher: I'm a little disappointed honestly that some requests for proposals went out to I guess the Mercer J.I.F., Middlesex J.I.F. and Central Jersey J.I.F. and the Private Markets to provide us proposals by September 15th or X date and to this date we've gotten one, possibly two proposals. Has this guy Edwards done his job? Has he been in touch with them almost on a daily basis? Are the other J.I.F.'s going to bid? The point is we award contracts and there's only been one bidder on a project, two bidders even though we request at least three bidders on projects for street paving or curbing and projects like that and it's just not clicking to me why only one J.I.F. has bid on this project and we're extending it to the other two.

Administrator Shepler: Well, it's not quite a bid situation; it's a professional service. We're talking about a possibly in excess of a million dollars worth of insurance coverages for the township and it's my obligation as your administrator to bring you the best numbers and the best coverages which is what is I've been attempting to do.

President Maher: Well if I actually managed those J.I.F.'s, If I was a project manager managing those J.I.F.'s and I knew a proposal or a request for a proposal for possibly a multi million dollar contract and the deadline was X date to submit a proposal, I'd make sure my proposal was submitted in time, in a timely fashion.

Administrator Shepler: I don't disagree with you. I'm disappointed as well. I was hoping to make that recommendation to council this evening because it's a budget item to me.

Councilman Redmond: I'm not sure on Mr. Edwards part on this. Now what is his function?

Administrator Shepler: Mismanagement Consultant.

Councilman Redmond: I know what his title is, but what is his function?

Administrator Shepler: To go out to the public market and to the J.I.F.'s and to shop the best buy in insurance coverages for the Township of Old Bridge.

Councilman Redmond: So he's the person seeking these proposals.

Administrator Shepler: That's correct.

Councilman Redmond: That's all I have. I needed to get that in perspective. He's not coming tonight?

Administrator Shepler: No, I tried to call Council President Maher today to tell him he would not be coming because I did not have what I intended to have which was a spread sheet showing you the coverages, showing the total dollar amounts and being able to compare and let this council shop what they felt was the best buy for Old Bridge, so I told Mr. Edwards not to waste the Council Presidents time or the Council.

Mayor Cannon: I also, as Alayne pointed out, would like to remind it was council's suggestion that we hire such a person to do this kind of analysis so this was something that was supported by council.

Councilman Redmond: I'm not saying we shouldn't have him. I just want to know if he's doing what we paid him to do, that's all.

Administrator Shepler: He's doing his job.

President Maher: I think the point I was making, I didn't know he was on board. This was a contract that came in under the thresholds. The first time I saw Mr. Edwards name is when it appeared on our agenda sheet this weekend.

Administrator Shepler: You actually had him on your agenda about a year ago to award a contract for $35,000 to Mr. Edwards to do this coverage analysis for us. At that time I did come to council and say number one I felt the dollar amount was excessive, and number two that I felt it precipitous in the time frame. We actually had a purchase order cut so I negotiated with Mr. Edwards to what I felt was what it should be for this coverage, $1,500 a month is sufficient to do the work that I expected him to do.

President Maher: I agree but I didn't know he was on board here five months ago.

Administrator Shepler: I'm sorry if you were not aware of it.

President Maher: What's the council's pleasure?

Councilman Hoff: We have to wait for Ms. Shepler's recommendation and extend it to the next two meetings.

Administrator Shepler: If anything obviously comes up before that I will ask that it be added to an agenda.

HEARING - 9/18/00

H-1 Release/Reduction Performance Guarantee - Kinder Care Learning Center, Inc. (Attorney requests that this hearing be held off until they have completed their punch list. - No future meeting date requested at this time.)

President Maher: Kinder Care the attorney has requested this hearing be held off until after completion of a punch list. No future meeting date requested at this time. They'll have to renotice.

H-2 Substantial Change to CDBG Final Statement 1997 & 1998 (MFR)

MOTION

Moved by Councilman Hoff to approve substantial change to CDBG final statement 1997 & 1998, seconded by Councilman Butler and so ordered on the following roll call vote:

AYES: Councilmen Butler, Hoff, Marinaccio, Redmond, Sohor, Testino, President Maher.

NAYS: None.

ABSENT PODIUM: Councilman Greene.

ABSENT: Councilman Cucchiara.

Prior to the roll call vote the following comments were made.

Councilman Testino: I'm ready to roll. Good job Mike.

Councilman Redmond: Nice job Mike.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

August 14, 2000 - Combined/Executive August 28, 2000 - Executive

Moved up.

ORDINANCE FOR FIRST READING

FR-1 Amendment to Rent Stabilization Ordinance - Tax Increase Provisions

Councilman Butler: The reason why I put it back on here was it was passed by the State and correspondence from the Rent Board as well as the Rent Board Attorney, I think they changed some language to make it more clearer. I think one of the things that people weren't too familiar with was they thought that there was going to be a tax increase, the increase for that tenant, that that tax increase would be included in that and that's not so. I got a call from a couple of landlords and I think they can legally come after us because the state has passed this already.

Councilman Hoff: Do we have the paper work on this Reggie?

Councilman Butler: We have paper work and you have paper work in your packet now.

Councilman Hoff: But it's been changed.

Councilman Butler: So you can take a look at the changes between now and next Monday.

DISCUSSION ORDINANCE

DO-1 Resident Only Parking - Shoreland Circle/Bayview Drive

Councilman Hoff: Mr. Chairman, I'd like to ask one of the attorneys have we done anything on the development of that ordinance?

Attorney Ruggierio: I didn't hear the last part of what you said but ...

Councilman Hoff: I was wondering if you had done anything. I know you had worked a little bit with the Chief of Police on the resident only parking Shoreland Circle/Bayview Drive and was wondering if anything had moved in that direction.

Attorney Ruggierio: I believe that this is apparently going to be referred to the Department of Transportation for a letter that indicates that we can adopt such an ordinance and then it would come up for first reading.

Councilman Hoff: Can we activate that letter?

Attorney Ruggierio: I think the police department and the administrator are pursuing that.

Councilman Hoff: Okay, and you're still waiting for the backup work for this.

Administrator Shepler: I haven't seen a copy of the letter yet, but I have been told that it went to Mr. Anderson at D.O.T. which is the procedure. But I'll get you a copy.

Councilman Hoff: Thank you. So we can't do anything on this next week.

Attorney Ruggierio: Not until we get the letter.

President Maher: So why don't we follow this up for two weeks?

DO-2 Ordinance Designating Drug Free Park and Public Building Zones

President Maher: I see we have a model ordinance modeled after what the Township of Plainsboro has adopted here. Who can speak on that?

Administrator Shepler: This came up quite frankly as a result of a newspaper article that appeared on a prosecution on a drug case in another community, and when the assistant prosecutor went to pursue her case it was shown that they did not have a map that showed the changes that were made in state law that occurred about two years ago, and these changes amended the drug free school zones to include parks and public facilities within five hundred feet. So Rose-Marie and I did some checking, we could not find it in our ordinances, it does not have appeared to have been done so I'm taking this opportunity to have the engineer correct our maps and resubmit them so that we have maps that not only protect our children from drugs in school zones but also include public parks and public facilities.

Councilman Testino: We learn from other peoples mistakes. Very good. Move it up.

President Maher: Can we use this Plainsboro Ordinance, can we move this up for first reading?

Attorney Ruggierio: I'm fairly sure that we can draw an ordinance that will be able to be introduced on first reading, and if not I'll advise you Monday.

Councilman Redmond: When you say public buildings do you mean any building that the public uses. Could you consider that night clubs?

Administrator Shepler: I haven't seen the definition from the state. I don't believe it is public in that sense. It is public in the sense that it is municipally/state/county owned. In other words a public facility such as the Laurence Harbor Recreation Building, South Old Bridge, but not any building that the public would enter upon like a private restaurant.

Moved up.

DO-3 Ordinance Authorizing Township's Acquisition of Real Estate Interest (Block 12261, Lots 19, 20, 28, 035, 82, and 84 - Cedar Ridge II) (WSR)

Attorney Ruggierio: This is what you put on the agenda , a request to be put on the agenda at the last meeting concerning acquisition of this property and I think that it might be best if I spoke to you in executive session about some of the concerns I had about it.

Councilman Testino: Just because their attorney's here? I see him out there.

President Maher: Before we move this to executive session I have some questions here. Alayne or the Mayor, when was the last meeting that we had with the principals of Cedar Ridge II regarding expressing an interest to purchase this property from them? Have we had any recent meetings or any negotiations with them recently over the past? You were saying in January of this year?

Mayor Cannon: I don't know exactly when.

Administrator Shepler: Without my diary here Dennis I could not tell you but my memory says it's within the last six, seven months. I don't know.

President Maher: And without giving the council the number, were we pretty close to a number on these negotiations.

Administrator Shepler: Absolutely not.

President Maher: How come we haven't had recent meetings? I'm hearing the beginning of the year from the Mayor. I'm hearing possibly nine months from you Alayne. How come there hasn't been more recent meetings if we were aggressively pursuing this property? Can anybody answer that question?

Mayor Cannon: The last meeting that we had was right here and was very cut and dry until we get some more dollars to negotiate. It's been around for five years. It's been at the county sitting and going no where and frankly I was very pleased when Mr. Butler offered to get involved because so far we've been sitting out there trying to deal. We got approval for some dollars from the state. We did the appraisals and all that. We have been moving from that end trying to get the dollars together and until we had that firmed up to go back in and start talking at this number which to me is outrageous didn't make a whole lot of sense.

President Maher: What was the result of that meeting if we had that meeting with the state at the beginning of the year? How did that meeting end that we would take the developer's number, whatever the number was, let's not give the number. Did we say we would take it back think about it and get back to them in a month, two months or nine months?

Mayor Cannon: Well he made it very clear that he had this number and however we wanted to come up with it. We talked about different formats of maybe parceling out some of the land and leaving it as open space and giving them some limited development. We came up with several different scenarios and the bottom line was whatever adds up to this number he was willing to do. Well the number was something that we felt at that time was not reachable and we took the other thing to try to put together some of the dollars so that we could proceed.

President Maher: I guess the point I'm trying to pursue here is you go to a meeting...

Mayor Cannon: Dollars that he was quoting was way far in excess of what was determined to be the fair market value.

President Maher: I guess mayor the point that I'm trying to pursue here is when you go to meetings there are several take aways of a meeting. Take aways mean that you might have to do as well as the other side has to do. What were the take aways of that meeting? Was there anything that we have to do as well as the other side has to do. What were the take aways of that meeting? Was there anything that we have to do walking away from that meeting?

Mayor Cannon: You want to come up with a dollar amount. That's what he wants.

President Maher: That's all it was.

Administrator Shepler: And we've actively been pursuing as you know additional funding.

Councilman Hoff: I have a question that's supposed to be not talked about and referred to executive session. We spent twelve and a half minutes already so I may as well get it in too. Are we dealing negotiation or condemnation?

President Maher: I'm not negotiating Mr. Hoff. I was very very careful about saying we're not giving this a number.

Councilman Hoff: But I'm just saying we're talking about everything but... not clear.

President Maher: Well Mr. Hoff I'll either ask my questions now or I'll ask them in executive session. You're going to miss the Monday night football game which starts at nine o'clock anyway.

DO-4 Ordinance Authorizing Sidewalk Repair - (To be paid by a 10 year pay-out) (WSR)

Attorney Ruggierio: Council authorized a eighty thousand dollar contract which you funded and you awarded a contract to do the sidewalk repairs with the thought that these

would then be imposed as special assessments that the people would pay over time and this ordinance is the final step to authorize what the council put in motion in that connection. I should say, and I'll certainly say it to him personally, that Mr. Sumal the Assistant Township Engineer when he was told that the Mayor and Council were very interested in seeing this move forward, actually worked over the weekend and assembled the list with all the linear feet and so forth on the sidewalk repair. So I think we'll be in a position to present you with that ordinance which will then allow the program to be carried out.

Councilman Testino: Bill when this ordinance comes to fruition will there be something in it that says when the land is transferred that we get paid in full or the new owner has to agree to the special assessment someway notifying the new owner when they go to do the transaction?

Attorney Ruggierio: Well actually it will show up on a tax search because it is going to be a lien and it will show up and it was my intention not to be, unless you direct me otherwise, to just simply say that if there's a transfer that the amount would be due completely.

Councilman Testino: Yes I would like to see that. Is there a provision for the new owner to take on the burden or we'd have to address that later? Because you know somebody is going to come down here and ask us about it sooner or later.

Attorney Ruggierio: Well we have the authority to do that. I think it just really creates complications.

Councilman Testino: I think I'm preferring that we have it due when the property is transferred.

Attorney Ruggierio: I think it's complicated in the sense that you're just throwing another burden on your tax collector.

Councilman Testino: So you can see the problem. If someone enrolls in the program and picks up their property and makes the sale and runs from it, so that's why I wanted to make sure that we had some mechanism to have it due on the sale.

Attorney Ruggierio: Right. It will show up on the tax search, there's no question it's going to be a lawful special assessment. I checked the statutes and we're going to do it correctly so the tax collector will report this out just like taxes due at the time of any closing.

Councilman Testino: And you'll meet with the tax collectors branch in Mr. Shah's office?

Attorney Ruggierio: Actually I'll meet with Mr. Shah and he talks tax collector language.

Councilman Redmond: I was asking if their was a provision in there for us to get paid if the title was transferred.

Councilman Testino: Move it up.

DO-5 Ordinance Authorizing Land Swap between the Township of Old Bridge and Vaishali Patel (Block 13005 Lot 60 with Block 13005, Lot 59) (WSR)

Attorney Ruggierio: Mr. Heilbrunn some months ago came to the council and asked the council to consider a land swap and at that time I think you had an ordinance in front of you, and this involved not only the swap of the land but payment of additional compensation of $5,000. At that point I think you sent me back to do some investigation of the title and certain aspects of the proposed land swap. I've done all that. I've looked at all the required documentation and I think we're in a position to now put the ordinance on and that's why it's here. So it's kind of an item you had me do work on and I'm sending it back to you.

President Maher: My recollection of this we were swapping a piece of land that the township owns with a piece of land that I guess that Mr. Patel owns so Mr. Patel could make his building lot more attractive or he could build a home on the lot. Because right now the lot he owns he can't build a home is that it? Is that the understanding?

Attorney Ruggierio: You know to tell you the truth I don't remember why Mr. Patel wanted the swap.

President Maher: What was the business reason of this? Is the $5,000 still on the table?

Councilman Redmond: I know he gave us a whole packet.

Attorney Heilbrunn: The lot in yellow lot 60 is the lot owned by my client. It is surrounded on both sides by land owned by the Township of Old Bridge, and I put the lands of the Township of Old Bridge in orange. I've also marked in pink what is the extension of the Trans-Old Bridge Roadway which if it is ever built will curve across Dr. Patel's property and back onto the Old Bridge piece and we were hoping to acquire that from Dr. Patel if that roadway were ever to be constructed. The suggestion is that by swapping lot 60 for lot 59, and let me qualify that for a second, we really only want to swap the front of lot 59 for all of lot 60. The township's holdings which are shown in orange and pink would then become all contiguous. The oreo cookie is us. The yellow is surrounded by the orange and it serves no useful purpose for anybody. Now from a business reason why do I want to do that? The answer is simple. Lot 59 is in the R 20 residential zone. Lot 60 is in the ER environmentally restricted zone. If I were to build on lot 60 or if I wanted to I would have to go to the Zoning Board of Adjustment and get a variance which I think I would be able to sustain without too much difficulty, except it would take a whole lot of time to do it, or alternatively I would have to come back to this council to ask if you recommend a rezoning of lot 60. In either event the land swap gives you contiguous land holdings along Westley Road, it gives you the ability to extend Trans-Old Bridge Road if you seek to do so without having to acquire it and the benefit to me is it lets my client go and build a house. The lot is presently approximately about nine hundred and some odd feet. Our proposal is we really don't need it, it's something to divide. We would keep a hundred by five hundred and give the balance to the township, and when we first appeared here in November Mr. Testino suggested that we should throw in five thousand dollars to sweeten the pie and when I went to my client with the cost of variance applications, in terms of engineering and time and lawyers, he has agreed to make that contribution to the township. So I think that this is legitimately a win win for both the township and for Dr. Patel. My client agrees to it.

Councilman Testino: I do have some questions, not of Jonathan when I get a chance.

President Maher: Does anybody have any questions of Mr. Heilbrunn?

Attorney Heilbrunn: I might just add parenthetically, Ms. Shepler will correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Enright analyzed the sites in the report that he gave to her and they were comparable.

Ms. Shepler: That is correct.

Councilman Testino: I want to make sure that the administration is supporting this. Is the administration recommending that the council do this?

Mayor Cannon: I have never been involved in it.

Ms. Shepler: I looked at it and I did speak to Mr. Enright and I have no objections if the Mayor doesn't.

Councilman Testino: That's not saying you're supporting it.

Ms. Shepler: I would recommend that the Township do this.

Councilman Testino: Do you want the township to do it or not?

Ms. Shepler: I believe it would be in the Township's best interest to do this because it would eventually...

Councilman Testino: We're getting down there. Mayor do you want us to do this?

Mayor Cannon: I'd try to get additional dollars.

Councilman Testino: I'd negotiate the five thousand. I wasn't inclined to give him a building lot but if this is going help the Township I'm inclined to go with it. What about Mr. Ruggierio? Are you recommending that we do this from your vantage point?

Attorney Ruggierio: From everything I know about it it seems entirely sensible. So I would recommend something sensible. I haven't heard anything that wasn't sensible.

Mr. Shah: I want $10,000.

President Maher: That's why I asked if the $5,000 was still on the table. Make it $10,000.

Councilman Hoff: I move the deal with the $5,000 stipulation in tact, seconded by Councilman Redmond.

President Maher: We're going to move it up to first reading.

Councilman Greene: I just have a quick question of Jonathan. What is your client going to build on the property?

Attorney Heilbrunn: One single family residential dwelling unit, detached.

ORDINANCE FOR SECOND READING

ORD. #40-00 Ordinance Regulating the Storage of Water Collecting Receptacles to Prevent Mosquito Colony Formation.

Moved up.

ORD.#41-00 Ordinance Accepting Dedication of Roadways in Foxborough Village to Old Bridge Township

Attorney Ruggierio: 41-00 has to be modified with an amendment based on our discussion with the Home Owners Association tonight that it will be reintroduced for a new first reading at our next meeting.

Councilman Testino: Why is it being reintroduced?

Attorney Ruggierio: We had discussions with the Home Owners Association tonight and they're going to actually dedicate more of Schindler Drive North which I think makes our Mayor happy and it makes more sense.

President Maher: So we're going to reintroduce this next week for first reading.

CONSENT AGENDA

C-1 Parade - Laurence Harbor Democratic Halloween Parade - October 29, 2000 (Rain Date: November 5, 2000)

Moved up.

DISCUSSION RESOLUTION

DR-1 ACTION TONIGHT - Carter's Tent Sale - September 22, 23, & 24, 2000

RESOLUTION NO. 500-00

Be it Resolved, by The Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge, County of Middlesex, New Jersey, that:

WHEREAS, Carter's Children's Wear at the Market Place II has requested to hold a tent sale on September 22, 23 and 24, 2000; and

WHEREAS, the Township Council wishes to endorse and permit such a sale at Carter's Children's Wear at the Market Place II based on the following conditions:

1. Building permit and inspection must be obtained from Dept. Of Code Enforcement.

2. Sales may be conducted directly in front of the merchandiser's Store or in an area of the shopping center expressly provided for such purposes.

3. No merchandise, tables, chairs or other obstructions shall be located within 3 feet to either side of the ingress/egress doors to the tenants. The sidewalk shall be kept clear and unobstructed to allow proper pedestrian movement.

4. No merchandise, stock or combustible materials shall be stored or displayed higher than 8 feet or shall require the presence of fire department apparatus or personnel is to be on-site during the sale.

5. Portable fire extinguishers of the ABC type, 10 lb minimum be located along the sale area at a maximum of 100 feet apart.

6. No parking in front of the stores shall be permitted. Normal parking procedures are to be utilized and enforced with unobstructed fire lanes throughout the shopping center.

Moved by Councilman Redmond, seconded by Councilman Butler and so ordered on the following roll call vote:

AYES: Councilmen Butler, Greene, Hoff, Marinaccio, Redmond, Sohor, Testino, President Maher.

NAYS: None.

ABSENT: Councilman Cucchiara.

Prior to the roll call vote the following comments were made.

Councilman Testino: I can't be prohibited from voting on this.

Open to the public. Seeing no hands President Maher closed the public portion.

DR-2 Memorialization of Release of Performance Guarantee - East Coast Storage

President Maher: We need to memorialize that, we'll move that up.

DR-3 Payment of Accumulated Time - Retirement - James Carrol In the Amount of: $42,736.20 (AS)

Moved up.

DR-4 Authorizing Approval of Middlesex County Grant Agreement - Office on Aging Residential Maintenance and Assisted Transportation SHTP-2004

Moved up.

DR-5 Resolution Approving Form of Agreement between Township of Old Bridge and Rondinelli (WSR)

President Maher: Mr. Ruggierio, what are we doing here?

Attorney Ruggierio: Some time ago the township council authorized me to bring legal action against the Rondinelli Development Company relating to their failure to perform bonded improvements in Bridgepointe. As you may recall the Homeowner's Association was attending our meetings and was very vocal about their concerns about the failure of these entities to perform. Actually before we filed suit we did have fruitful negotiations with the bonding company and Mr. Rondinelli's companies and we negotiated an agreement, revised an agreement, negotiated an agreement, revised an agreement probably four or five times before we finally got Mr. Rondinelli to sign off on the agreement. However, the agreements were held in escrow because Mr. Rondinelli, as any of you have ever dealt with him know that he's somewhat difficult sometimes in terms of finally getting to the finish line, wanted to challenge Mr. Shah's numbers in terms of what he was holding in the escrow accounts. So I held them in escrow while that went on. In the meanwhile to Mr. Rondinelli's credit he went out and actually bid all of the bonded work, all the punch list items and the only thing that's left to be done in Bridgepointe is the top portion on the road. Now I was authorized then to release this agreement out of escrow which I did and I put it on the council agenda with this resolution that says everything is done except the top of the road. As an extra precaution I sent a copy to the Homeowner's Association so if they want to come in and say that that's not the case they will certainly make themselves known and I intend to actually communicate with them before the next meeting and I think we're at the finish line. Once this resolution is passed the Mayor and Clerk can sign the agreement and the top portion of the road can be put on and then at that point the council will as it does in every other case authorize the return of the money to Rondinelli's companies and I guess his bonding company is going to stand there with their hand out for a few, a little bit of that money. That's the long and short of it.

Councilman Hoff: Now the Rondinelli project is still now being recarried out by Zudi isn't it? Does the same agreement still exist? Are they working under the old Rondinelli agreements or their new agreements?

Attorney Ruggierio: The only thing we've done to do anything that would come close to even touching the approvals, because the approvals whatever they are are still in place, is that we have made arrangements to take one road that is not complete and put that under a different bond.

Councilman Redmond: Are we going to hold a maintenance bond on this now?

Attorney Ruggierio: Absolutely. Once you return the money...

Councilman Hoff: Mayor Cannon since Zudi is the builder now carrying on Rondinelli's project, I don't know exactly how many homes he has in Bridgepointe left but that's who's doing the end of it the way I'm given to understand. There is work in progress, excavation and foundation being put in for Zudi to build them. Not to confuse it with the Alfieri project, it's the balance of Bridgepointe. I don't know how many homes there are and that's why I would hope to be given a list and my first question is what type of performance guarantees will now be in place for the continuation of the Rondinelli property if you release everything but the guarantee on the original bond. Do you understand what I'm saying?

Attorney Ruggierio: I understand what you're saying. The areas that we're releasing that you will ultimately release the bonds on and return the case money are the areas that have been completed with the exception of a very short piece of street which is going to be guaranteed under a different bond. Now I will check out between now and the next meeting what areas you're talking about that Zudi is working in but to my knowledge the areas about which we have the agreement are the completed areas. The engineer and I have had innumerable discussions to satisfy me that that's the case. So I will get you an answer by...

Councilman Hoff: The request I'm making though, I would like to know is this a carry over of the existing agreements that Rondinelli had or are they new homes? How many houses are remaining in this section? That's my question. Can you find out anything for this?

Attorney Ruggierio: I can find that out. The areas we're dealing with in terms of this agreement are the failure to perform with respect to the work already done. But as to this work that you just referred to and as far as any remaining approvals that are still available to be billed out there I'll get you a report by the meeting.

Councilman Hoff: Apparently the performance bonds must be in place for all this work to go on. Am I correct? Or they should be in place.

Attorney Ruggierio: Apparently there were a couple of lots out there for which performance guarantees were posted. I don't know, I'd have to ask the engineer and he's not here for me to ask.

President Maher: Do you want to hold this back until your questions are answered Joe?

Councilman Hoff: I feel there's too much involved in it Dennis. I think we ought to know where we're at before... I'd like to know how many homes is the balance here.

President Maher: My question to you is we're either going to move it up or hold it back.

Councilman Hoff: I'd rather hold it back unless the attorney is prepared next Monday.

Attorney Ruggierio: I can be prepared. I tell you Mr. Hoff I have taken so much of my own time to get this to the finish line. Every time I get there Mr. Rondinelli comes in with a proposed modification and we consider it, we reject it, we go back to the drawing board. I would really like to get us in a position where...

Councilman Hoff: The only thing is Zudi puts a whole new spin on the thing now.

Attorney Ruggierio: I'll check that out and have a report by the meeting.

Councilman Redmond: My question was about the maintenance bond and Bill said we're going to hold off.

Moved up.

DR-6 Resolution - Memorializing the Dedication of the Thomas J. English Public Library Of Old Bridge and the Authorization of a Bronze Plaque with his accomplishments displayed in the Library.

President Maher: We postponed that.

DR-7 Reappointment of Auditor - Eugene Farrell (RB)

Moved up.

DR-8 Resolution Authorizing Agreement Between Township of Old Bridge and Lennar for Inverness Park & Ride Acquisition (WSR)

Councilman Testino: Bill have we gotten the survey? I saw some information on that?

Attorney Ruggierio: No, it's actually about a $5,000 item. The engineer is getting me quotes on it and we have an October 4th closing so it's going to be tight.

Councilman Testino: So with that quote we have tonight we can't go with, we need more? Is that what you're saying? The guy was in at $3,000?

Attorney Ruggierio: It's a professional service and typically we get three quotes.

Councilman Testino: I know some of us would like to see us buy that property.

Attorney Ruggierio: I went to that surveyor because of the fact that they had done the underlying survey work on the entire Oakwood area and I thought we could get it cheaper but it doesn't look cheap to me although the engineer tells me it's reasonably priced, so he said tomorrow he'll have a need for me to place that contract.

Councilman Testino: It looks like they're charging by the acre on that one.

Attorney Ruggierio: That's what it is I think.

Moved up.

DR-9 Resolution Requesting State Funding for Woodland Trails, a/k/a/ Cedar Ridge II, Acquisition (WSR)

Attorney Ruggierio: I think this is just for money that you're asking the state to give funding and it's certainly in the executive session we'll talk about Woodland Trails.

Councilman Redmond: I have a question about this funding. Assemblyman Thompson came and talked about the million dollars and now I'm finding out in discussions with Tom Badcock, am I to understand that that million gets deducted from the Green Acres money? That that's just a fast track? I was under the impression that this was in addition to the Green Acres money. So in other words if we ask for whatever the maximum that they give is, let's say the appraisal is some number and Green Acres I think were at seventy-five, twenty-five situation. Seventy-five grant money that million comes off of that number. The million that Sam Thompson stood up here and said that that million dollars would get deducted from any Green Acres grant thing. In other words, that's a piece of basically if we're asking the state for Green Acres money which is just what this is, that million is a portion of that, that that would be deducted from any total number that we got from Green Acres.

Mr. Shah: It isn't that we were guaranteed millions. Technically it would be deducted because they're not going to give you more than what you're going to end up paying for it. This is guaranteed that there's a million in money set aside.

Councilman Redmond: You know what I mean, so far the Green Acres thing.

Councilman Hoff: I think it should be discussed in executive session with the rest of it before you talk about action.

Moved up.

DISCUSSION

D-1 Timing/Coordination Traffic Lights (ET)

Councilman Testino: I wanted to see if there's any reason why we couldn't get the lights on Route 516 coordinated so in the morning the traffic will move a little smoother. I know the system may have cost them money but maybe you ought to put a resolution to the County or something and I would think that the same would apply to Route 34 the way the traffic's been backing up there. Route 18 is putting some kind of computer system in eventually. They've been having years and years of problems up there. There's no doubt in my mind that when one light kicks off it interrupts the flow of traffic and causes more problems than is necessary. So I don't know if you could do two different resolutions, one to the county and one to the state since they're different highways.

Ms. Shepler: If I may, on the 516 lights in particular, as you know we have three new installations going in there and three new configurations on the road, Bushnell, Owens and Gaub. We have tried very unsuccessfully to have the timing at the one at the post office. We've been working on that for probably in excess of nine months to a year to try and get that changed. Just bear in mind that any change to the timing on those signals or any modifications to them the County will in fact charge us for them. This is what happened when there was a suggestion some time ago to change the timing on the lights on Englishtown Road portion.

Councilman Testino: Isn't it an appropriate time to do it when we install the new ones?

Ms. Shepler: I think when you install the new ones is the time because they have to certify those lights but right now I don't think it's going to change. In other words why would we spend money on asking them to change the timing on something that we're going to change?

Councilman Testino: We've had people backed up all the way and causing accidents and things like that, that's why.

Ms. Shepler: Well the last discussion we had with the post office they claim the timing is correct. Correct to what I have no idea. I don't know that they've ever sat out there and been caught in it, but I can tell you certainly send a resolution to the County asking them to do that. But the response back from Mr. Reiser's office was, "we'd be happy to do that gentlemen anything you like except it will cost XYZ".

Councilman Testino: What's the cost?

Ms. Shepler: In the cost of Englishtown Road it was something in excess of $50,000.

Councilman Testino: We have to coordinate the traffic or we're going to continue to have problems on that.

Councilman Redmond: We don't disagree with you. I don't know if the same problem exists on 34 but I know we're doing building over there and I have some questions on Amboy Road that I kind of link up with 34 traffic coordination, but I want to start pushing on that intersection as well.

Ms. Shepler: We have been.

Councilman Testino: But you got a light down there for the apartments. I can't

get a light for Amboy Road and Morristown. I have all my constituents yelling at me because the light at Madison Gardens backs them up in the morning.

Ms. Shepler: Just so you know Mr. Testino and for the council, I can leave you a copy on the correspondence but just in case, the traffic warrants have been produced for D.O.T. and they have been forwarded to D.O.T. Assemblyman Thompson has sent a letter of support on Amboy Road & Route 34...

Councilman Testino: And we need a letter from our chief of police?

Ms. Shepler: Yes, a letter in support.

Councilman Redmond: I want to see if I understand this process. You mean if we call the County and we say hey the traffic is not flowing on road XYZ could you please straighten out the timing of the lights and they say sure we'll do whatever you want but it will cost you $50,000. What is our responsibility? Do we have any responsibility towards this roadway or is it a County road?

Ms. Shepler: It is a County road, however the installation of all the signals as you know is a collaborative project. The County does not install those lights without a sizeable contribution from the Township depending on how many lights...

Councilman Redmond: We already made that contribution, we buy the land or something.

Ms. Shepler: You acquire the right of way, you do some other things and you also bear fifty percent of the construction of any of those lights as well, and you pay the light bill and if the lights go out we change them. But the actual maintenance is basically, in other words to change the timing would require the County's approval.

Councilman Redmond: But does the County maintain them, repair them and that sort of thing?

Ms. Shepler: No, we do.

Councilman Redmond: That's what I wanted to know.

President Maher: To follow up on Mr. Redmond's question, every time we suggest to the County that we think that this light is outdated or antiquated or there's been an increase in volume of traffic or the life cycle of this traffic light is beyond it's life expectancy please come out and do an analysis of this, is this light functioning properly? Every time we ask them to do that they charge us for that?

Ms. Shepler: No, not to come out and do an analysis but to physically touch that light to change the timing, do engineering to change the timing...

President Maher: Suppose they come out and do the analysis and they find out that the timing of that light is outdated or antiquated will they charge us for that?

Ms. Shepler: I would hope not but with the County I can never be sure to tell you the truth. I certainly would be willing to write to Mr. Reiser, the County engineer and ask him to do an analysis of the traffic lights from the Route 18 bridge back to Bushnell.

President Maher: I think that would be a proper approach. Let's do an analysis. There's increased traffic on Route 18, there's increased traffic, I'll support Mr. Testino, on Route 34 because I'm in that traffic every morning, ask them to do an analysis of traffic counts. I don't know the terminology. When was the last time we did this analysis?

Ms. Shepler: Signal timing. The only one that we've been involved in on a regular basis quite frankly has been the light at Sherwood Lane as you know, which is in front of the post office.

President Maher: Let's ask them to do the analysis and to certify the accuracy of the timing of the lights. Is it proper to move the traffic through?

Councilwoman Marinaccio: The problem here is that there's no motivation for them to say that the timing is off because then you would have to absorb the cost.

President Maher: But the County if responsible for moving traffic of the infrastructure of all the towns in Middlesex County.

Councilwoman Marinaccio: I agree with you but I think what they'll do...

President Maher: I hear what you're saying but I would hope that that's not true to tell you the truth because the County has a whole department that I think is the transportation department, and I would hope that their mission is to make sure all the lights are functioning properly.

Mayor Cannon: I think that it was the timing of trying to do this analysis makes sense because we're getting a new light in configuration with the left hand lane turn at Bushnell, also at Gaub and a totally new light at Owens. So it seemed to me that they were going to be forced to do some kind of an analysis to get the timing of those lights to make sense with the Sherwood light. So I think we should start pushing now and we've talked to them a number of times. Also the light on 34 which there's been a lot of dialogue with. But the County is looking always to shift any dollar commitments to the Township and not take responsibility. Today I came back and the traffic from the light on Sherwood was backed up to Owens at 3:30 this afternoon. It wasn't even rush hour.

Councilman Redmond: Every afternoon it's like that when school gets out.

President Maher: So why don't we take the position that let's do the analysis that we don't think these lights are functioning properly.

Ms. Shepler: I'll send them a letter, I will copy the council and I would ask...

President Maher: They're old, they're outdated, they're antiquated.

Mrs. Shepler: I said I will send a letter, I will copy the council and I would ask this council to use your good office to perhaps exert some pressure on the County Engineer's office.

Councilman Redmond: The other thing, we have the state coming in here talking about this project now down on Route 18, I think that any changes in the improvements that are going on down there is going to have to be compliant with the County and improvements on 516. Otherwise think about how that traffic is at 3:30 in the afternoon and imagine what it's going to look like when the state starts tearing up the roadway down there to make their cloverleaf or whatever they're doing. You may as well shut 516 down and Route 9 and route them somewhere else.

Mayor Cannon: I said the same thing with Bushnell. Bushnell is the first project on the thing and if we move the traffic through Bushnell and it's going to come to a dead halt it wouldn't make it to Sherwood or long before they get to Sherwood.

Councilwoman Marinaccio: Can we have something from our Traffic & Safety and send it up to the County? In other words a report from our own monitored and watched and everything and they find it a hazard to back us up.

President Maher: Great idea.

D-2 Amboy Road Speed Limit/Truck Access (ET)

Councilman Testino: Chief can you get us a letter on Morristown and Amboy Road? Now that we have all the development going on on Amboy Road there seems to be a lot more traffic on there. The church is getting a lot of participation there and I just think that forty miles an hour is just too fast for that road. I'd like to petition the County to decrease the speed on that road and limit the truck access. It seems as though the trucks are cutting across from 34 to go down 79 which is building up. If you notice there's a lot of truck traffic going down 79 lately, not to mention the wrecking companies are going back to Morganville up Texas Road. I'd just like them to take a look at decreasing that speed. There's just too many kids on that road anymore. You know that.

Mayor Cannon: You may have seen Jonathan has written a letter because this was a thing that was brought up by the residents in regard to the proposed new storage facility that's being proposed for that fenced in area and one of their complaints was speeding and so he went ahead and wrote to the County to ask them to review it and look at reducing the speed thing and they wrote back with, basically if they review it it probably could come out worse.

Councilman Testino: If they want it higher you mean?

Mayor Cannon: In other words it could come out recommending higher and the last time we had this done was about ten years ago when they had twenty-five miles an hour signs on Amboy Road which turned out not to be legal because they hadn't gone through the appropriate processes so when people got tickets they couldn't enforce them. We had that road reviewed and that's how we ended up with the forty mile an hour because they take the average speed of what's being traveled there and I think you just have to be careful when you ask for these reviews because you could end up with...

Councilman Testino: What about the heavy truck access? Has everybody looked at that? I know it's a County road.

Mayor Cannon: We could look at possibly some kind of weight limit.

President Maher: What about sending a resolution to the County requesting that they lower the speed limit from forty to twenty-five.

Mayor Cannon: They won't do it without an evaluation and I doubt they're going to find that the average speed on that road is twenty-five or thirty miles an hour.

Councilman Testino: It's not. It's probably fifty or sixty on that road.

Mayor Cannon: It's a fifty mile an hour zone.

Councilman Testino: It's not wide enough for fifty. It's not wide enough for forty.

Ms. Shepler: Well the response to Mr. Heilbrunn was from John Reiser himself and he strongly suggested to Mr. Heilbrunn that his client not seek to have the speed limit changed on this because if they did the analysis the result would be no less than the speed limit that's posted now and could possibly be in excess of the forty miles an hour that's posted now.

Councilman Testino: May I have a copy of that letter?

Ms. Shepler: Yes absolutely. I'll share it with the entire council.

President Maher: What's the speed limit of 516 when Amboy exits out onto 516? Is it fifty?

Ms. Shepler: I believe it's fifty.

Councilman Redmond: I say slow it down to twenty-five with the park along there.

Councilman Testino: We can look into the trucks though right?

Mayor Cannon: We also did get them to put on the curve signs that they had to slow down to fifteen miles an hour or something like that. We can have Traffic & Safety take a look at it and see if they have any other recommendations.

Councilman Testino: We might be able to put "Truck Route Stay on 34".

President Maher: I like that idea, why don't we have Traffic & Safety take a look at that.

D-3 Microphone System in the Court Room (RMS)

Clerk Saracino: Whether we have the microphones on or not there's other conversations going on and there's difficulty in transcribing since we get everybody's conversations on the tape.

President Maher: So you prepared a letter to us and your recommendation is that we look at getting the same mikes that the mayor and Alayne have. This way other conversations will not interfere with our taping.

Councilman Testino: I always said they had better mikes than us.

President Maher: Do you have any cost estimates on those mikes?

Ms. Shepler: No I don't but I will get them, but if Council remembers when I proposed this microphone system about two years ago Council was adamant that they did not want this type of microphones because in order to be heard you must depress the button. You wanted on off buttons that were easier to work than this one. But I'll be happy to price these out for you.

Councilman Redmond: What do you want to go back to those with the push the buttons?

Ms. Shepler: That's what Rose-Marie is suggesting because obviously she has a very difficult time transcribing. Anybody that has listened to the headsets ...

Councilman Redmond: I think that we should show some consideration. I don't turn mine on unless I'm going to speak.

Ms. Shepler: I think Rose-Marie will agree, sometimes it isn't even the conversation it's the paper rattling. The paper rattling is the single most distracting noise in front of those things. You all take a look at your mail after a week of sitting upstairs. Suddenly everybody is shredding envelopes and doing back tosses to the basket behind you and quite frankly it does make a terrible amount of noise and in deference to the ladies who have to transcribe it and listen to it it's very difficult.

President Maher: So you're going to get us some estimates.

D-4 Cheesequake Dam

President Maher: We'll have an update on Monday.

Councilman Redmond: That's on every month. What is that about?

President Maher: We're going to get a status report.

D-5 Vacancies - Open Space Committee, Economic Development Corporation and other Committees (DMM)

President Maher: I put this on. There are several vacancies here, the Open Space Committee, we changed it by resolution and they told us here they extended that committee. It's my recollection that they didn't have any volunteers for that committee. We've gotten a letter of resignation from the Economic Development Corporation. I've asked the Clerk's Office to do some research to see if there's any vacancies on any other of our volunteer committees. The Clerk's Office has advertised for the Open Space and Economic Development Corporation and I'd just like to suggest that you hold this off. Are there any other vacancies on any of the other committees? I'm just suggesting that we need to keep track of these vacancies and we'll just hold this off. We're asking for township volunteers and individuals to submit resumes to us. The ad for the EDC and Open Space is there a deadline? I think we need to put a deadline and we need to update for the end of the month, two weeks.

Councilman Redmond: Two things, number one I gave the Clerk a resume tonight for the Economic Development. You'll probably see it next week. The other thing is are we going to get the attendance reports from these different committees. I know there was some question about the attendance of the people that are on them. I know people that want to be on committees that don't have any room and we have some people that are not showing up. Can we get attendance reports from these? Can we send out a letter for different committees in town?

Councilman Greene: I'd like to follow Mr. Redmond's suggestion. In particular the issue was raised for the Parking and Transportation Committee and I really feel it's a very important committee so I don't want that to fall between the cracks. We should definitely pursue that if there is an attendance problem we should appoint some people who are willing to work on that committee.

President Maher: Will the Clerk's Office have that report ready for Monday if there are any vacancies on the committee's as well as an attendance report?

Clerk Saracino: I'm going through each one. It may take another week or two before I have the report.

D-6 Background Record Checks for Committee Volunteers (DMM)

President Maher: I put this on. It's brought to my attention, I picked this notice up in the recent paper the Home News. As a matter of fact Sayreville recently passed an ordinance, it's an ordinance requiring criminal history or background check for all recreational volunteers providing services in the Borough of Sayreville and basically what this is the purpose of this ordinance is to require that effective at such and such a date all people who volunteer their services in the Sayreville Recreation Department and who have contact with children and teenagers as a result of such volunteers services shall be requested to consent to a background or a criminal history background check. And I think it's a good idea that we do something similar to this here in town and I just brought it to your attention. There is a copy here of the Sayreville ordinance, I thought it was a good idea. We're all aware of the activities of Megan's law and criminal acts of such with our children and teenagers and just ask you to take a look at the Sayreville ordinance if we want to move this up or move it down.

Councilwoman Marinaccio: Dennis I have two other questions with that. I think it's a good ordinance but it covered the Recreation Department only.

President Maher: It only particularly pertained to the Recreation Department correct, because they have contact with the children.

Councilwoman Marinaccio: Do we have any volunteers that interact with the children like in the library because of the reading groups? Could that be also incorporated in this? And how far can we take something like this? Could it also extend out to not just the Old Bridge Recreation Department but does it also encompass like the other activities in the township that deal with children or not?

President Maher: You mean like the Pop Warner Footballs, the Little Leagues, the Basketballs. It didn't encompass those. That's something to take a look at.

Councilwoman Marinaccio: I think we would have to ask Bill the legalities. Do we have a problem with trying to do something like that Bill?

Attorney Ruggierio: You mean impose it upon these private groups?

Councilwoman Marinaccio: Yes, would that be a problem?

Attorney Ruggierio: I don't think we have jurisdiction to do that. I think it might be the type of thing that you want to refer to a study group to figure out what parameters you want because I think you're trying to strike a fine balance between encouraging people to volunteer and legitimate issues that Mr. Maher raises to maybe finally draw an ordinance.

President Maher: It specifically deals with the Sayreville's Recreational summer type programs where it would be part time summer help. We have park supervisors, we have volunteers who work in our parks and so it was strictly geared to that but I see where you're going at. In other words imposing this type of process on our Recreational Youth Leagues.

Councilwoman Marinaccio: If you could just check into that and the library I'd be most interested and if they have volunteer groups that interact with the children.

Councilman Redmond: You said committee volunteers, I was wondering...

President Maher: I didn't say committee volunteers I said recreation.

Councilman Redmond: Don't some of these come under the auspices of our recreational programs? Don't we fund...

Ms. Shepler: We make a contribution for in kind services. In other words they sign an agreement that they will provide an in kind service in return for the allocation that's given to them by the township.

Councilman Redmond: The reason I'm asking this, I don't want to be in a situation where we're asking some parent who is coaching his son's little league team to provide us with fingerprints.

President Maher: The point of clarification is volunteers who are employed by the Recreation Department. Mrs. Marinaccio brought up the point of the many individuals who give up numerous hours, hundreds of hours coaching Pop Warner Football, wrestling, basketball, soccer, this is not geared to that. This is part time employees who would be employed by the Old Bridge Recreation Department.

Councilman Redmond: Don't we do that now?

Ms. Shepler: The way this ordinance reads it is not for any paid employee it's only for volunteers and since it is geared only to volunteers I would ask that you let me run this past the chief of police. We do in fact do this for the before and after school program. However, there's a cost associated with it. They are paid employees, I believe it's fifteen or twenty-five dollars, I don't know which. If you were to ask a counsel in training a CIT who's fifteen years old that his parents would have to provide him with $25.00 to have this particular background check run I think you should have all the facts...

Councilman Redmond: He's a juvenile anyway, you wouldn't have access to those records. So I would be senseless to call a background check on a fifteen year old.

Ms. Shepler: I don't know who this was geared to in Sayreville. I did not read the article so as I said it's specific to volunteers and says nothing of paid employees.

President Maher: Why don't you ask Tom Badcock to take a look at this ordinance.

Ms. Shepler: I'd like Tom to look at it but I'd also like the Chief of Police to review it because if we don't perform our own NCI checks here if we don't have that capability it would be another burden. But I'll check with the Chief and Tom.

President Maher: And get back to us with a report.

REPORTS

Replacement of Trees - Laurence Parkway - (Update on Insurance Claim From Administration)

Councilman Hoff: I asked Ms. Shepler to look at up a couple of weeks ago. That's an occasion where some reckless driver tore up three or four very expensive trees along Laurence Parkway and I gave you the date of the accident and I wondered is there any results?

Ms. Shepler: I have provided it to the insurance company, I have a copy of the accident report, I have the full narrative from the police department and we've also obtained a price quotation on the replacement. It's been sent to the insurance company and we're waiting for their answer.

Councilman Hoff: His insurance company, the drivers insurance company too?

Ms. Shepler: The J.I.F. will pursue it.

SET DATE

SD-1 Release/Reduction Performance Guarantee - Parks Edge (Suggested Date: Monday, October 23, 2000 at 8:00 P.M.)

SD-2 Release/Reduction Performance Guarantee - Ticetown Hills (Previously scheduled for October 2, 2000 - Request for New Date of Monday, December 4, 2000 at 8:00 P.M.)

GUEST - 9/25/00

Presentation of Laerdal Headstart FR Automated External Defibrillator to Old Bridge EMS by Bob Dinetz of the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services.

HEARING - 9/25/00

H-1 Release/Reduction Performance Guarantee - Petro Services, Inc. - Gas Station

REPORT - 9/25/00

R-1 Soden Lane Dedication (Report by Legal)

EXECUTIVE SESSION

RESOLUTION

Be it Resolved, by the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge, County of Middlesex, New Jersey, that:

BE IT RESOLVED, by the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge that the public shall be excluded from this meeting pursuant to N.J.S.A. 10:4-13 for the discussion of the following matter or matters:

1. Acquisition of Woodland Trails, AKA Cedar Ridge II

2. Acquisition of property

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this meeting shall reconvene in public session for the purpose of adjournment in approximately ten (10) minutes and that the minutes of other record of these discussions shall be available to be disclosed to the public in sixty (60) months unless a sooner date is determined by vote of the governing body at a public session.

Moved by President Maher, seconded by Councilman Butler and so ordered on the following roll call vote:

AYES: Councilmen Butler, Greene, Hoff, Marinaccio, Redmond, Sohor, President Maher.

NAYS: Councilman Testino.

ABSENT: Councilman Cucchiara.

Regular meeting reconvened @ 10:10 p.m.

MOTION TO ADJOURN

President Maher moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Redmond and so ordered on the following roll call vote: