An Agenda meeting of the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge was held on June 4, 2001 in the Municipal Complex. The meeting was called to order at 8:05 p.m. by President Maher.

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.

Roll call by Deputy Clerk, Stella Ward, showed the following answering present: Councilmen Butler, Greene, Hoff, Redmond, President Maher. Councilmen Cucchiara, Testino were late. Councilwoman Hegarty and Councilman Sohor were absent.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

April 23, 2001 - Combined Meeting and May 7, 2001 - Agenda/Executive/Special

ORD. #32-01 Barsel Closing

TOWNSHIP OF OLD BRIDGE
ORDINANCE NO. 32-01

AN ORDINANCE OF THE TOWNSHIP OF OLD BRIDGE AUTHORIZING THE SALE OF CERTAIN PROPERTY OWNED BY THE TOWNSHIP OF OLD BRIDGE, AND SETTING THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SUCH SALE (Block 17000, Lot 27.12)

BE IT ORDAINED by the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge, County of Middlesex, State of New Jersey, as follows:

SECTION 1: PURPOSE

The Township of Old Bridge is the apparent owner to certain property which is known as Block 17000, Lot 27.12 on the tax map of Old Bridge. This land is no longer needed for public use and the Township Council desires to authorize the sale of the property at auction in accordance with N.J.S.A. 40A:12-13.

SECTION 2: AUTHORIZATION OF SALE: LIST OF PROPERTY AND SALE PRICE

The Township Council hereby authorizes the sale of the property known as Block 17000, Lot 27.12 on the tax map of Old Bridge, to the Township of Old Bridge Housing Authority, a municipal housing authority created pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40A:12A-17 et seq., in accordance with the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40A:12-13(b). The purchase price for the interest which is authorized to be sold under this Ordinance is $600,000.00.

SECTION 3: NOTICE OF SALE

The Township Clerk shall cause the Notice of Sale and Public Notice to be provided in accordance with the statute. A list of the property authorized to be sold shall be posted on the bulletin board or other conspicuous space in the building which the Township Council holds its regular meetings, and advertisement thereof made in a newspaper circulating in the Township of Old Bridge within five days following enactment of this Ordinance.

SECTION 4: AUTHORIZATION TO EXECUTE DOCUMENTS

The Township Attorney, Mayor and Township Clerk are hereby authorized and directed, nunc pro tunc, to execute and deliver any document necessary to effectuate the subject conveyance.

SECTION 5: INCONSISTENT ORDINANCES

All ordinances or parts of ordinances insistent with or in conflict with this ordinance are hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency.

SECTION 6: PARTIAL INVALIDITY

If any section, paragraph, clause or provision of this ordinance shall be adjudged invalid, such adjudication shall apply only to the section, paragraph, clause or provision so adjudged and the remainder of the ordinance shall be deemed invalid and ineffective.

SECTION 7: EFFECTIVE DATE

This ordinance shall take effect twenty (20) days after publication thereof after final adoption, unless the council shall adopt a resolution at final adoption declaring an emergency and at least two-thirds of all the members of the Council shall vote in favor of such resolution pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:69A-181; and upon this ordinance taking effect shall not be retroactive.

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

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

NAYS: None.

ABSENT: Councilmen Cucchiara, Sohor, Testino, Councilwoman Hegarty.

President Maher opened a public portion. Seeing no hands President Maher closed the public portion.

ORDINANCE FOR SECOND READING (6/4/01)

ORD. #31-01 Authorizing the appropriation of funds for various improvements in the sum of $320,000.00 (School)

BOND ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE APPROPRIATION OF FUNDS FOR VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TOWNSHIP OF OLD BRIDGE, COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX, NEW JERSEY; APPROPRIATING THE SUM OF $320,000 THEREFORE; AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS OR BOND ANTICIPATION NOTES OF THE TOWNSHIP OF OLD BRIDGE, COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX, NEW JERSEY IN THE AGGREGATE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF UP TO $304,000; MAKING CERTAIN DETERMINATIONS AND COVENANTS; AND AUTHORIZING CERTAIN RELATED ACTIONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE FOREGOING

BE IT ORDAINED by the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge, County of Middlesex, New Jersey (not less than two-thirds of all the members thereof affirmatively concurring), pursuant to the provisions of the Local Bond Law, Chapter 169 of the Laws of 1960 of the State of New Jersey, as amended and supplemented ("Local Bond Law"), as follows:

Section 1. The purposes described in Section 7 hereof are hereby authorized as general improvements to be made or acquired by the Township of Old Bridge, County of Middlesex, New Jersey ("Township").

Section 2. It is hereby found, determined and declared as follows:

(a) the estimated amount to be raised by the Township from all sources for the purposes stated in Section 7 hereof is $320,000; and

(b) the estimated amount of bonds or bond anticipation notes to be issued for the purposes stated in Section 7 hereof is $304,000.

(C) a down payment in the amount of $16,000 for the purposes stated in Section 7 hereof is currently available in accordance with the requirements of Section 11 of the Local Bond Law, N.J.S.A. 40A:2-11; and

Section 3. The sum of $320,000, to be raised by the issuance of bonds or bond anticipation notes, together with the sum of $16,000, which amount represents the required down payment, are hereby appropriated for the purposes stated in this bond ordinance ("Bond Ordinance").

Section 4. The issuance of negotiable bonds of the Township in an amount not to exceed $320,000 to finance the costs of the purposes described in Section 7 hereof is hereby authorized. Said bonds shall be sold in accordance with the requirements of the Local Bond Law.

Section 5. In order to temporarily finance the purposes described in Section 7 hereof, the issuance of bond anticipation notes of the Township in an amount not to exceed $304,000 is hereby authorized. Pursuant to the Local Bond Law, the Chief Financial Officer is hereby authorized to sell part or all of the bond anticipation notes from time to time at public or private sale and to deliver the same to the purchasers thereof upon receipt of payment of the purchase price plus accrued interest from their date to delivery thereof. The Chief Financial Officer is hereby directed to report in writing to the governing body at the meeting next succeeding the date when any sale or delivery of the bond anticipation notes pursuant to this Bond Ordinance is made. Such report must include the amount, the description, the interest rate and the maturity schedule of the bond anticipation notes sold, the price obtained and the name of the purchaser.

Section 6. The amount of the proceeds of the obligations authorized by this Bond Ordinance which may be used for the payment of interest on such obligations, accounting, engineering, legal fees and other items as provided in Section 20 of the Local Bond Law, N.J.S.A. 40A:2-20, shall not exceed the sum of $16,000.

Section 7. The improvements hereby authorized and the purposes for which said obligations are to be issued; the estimated costs of each said purpose; the amount of down payment for each said purpose; the maximum amount obligations to be issued for each said purpose and the period of usefulness of each said purpose within the limitations of the Local Bond Law are as follows:

Purpose/ Improvement Estimated Down Amount of Period of Total Cost Payment Obligations Usefulness

Replacement of the Roof $168,400 $8,400 $160,000 15 years at the McDivitt School together with the acquisition of all materials and equipment and completion of all work necessary therefore or related thereto

Replacement of the Roof $105,250 $5,250 $100,000 15 years at the Shepard School together with the acquisition of all materials and equipment and completion of all work necessary therefore or related thereto

Replacement of Fire Alarm $46,350 $2,350 $44,000 10 years at the Madison Park School together with the acquisition of all materials and equipment and completion of all work necessary therefore or related thereto

Section 8. The average period of useful life of the several purposes for the financing of which this Bond Ordinance authorizes the issuance of bonds or bond anticipation notes, taking into consideration respective amounts of bonds or bond anticipation notes authorized for said several purposes, is not less than 14.276 years.

Section 9. The supplemental debt statement provided for in Section 10 of the Local Bond Law, N.J.S.A. 40A:2-10, was duly filed in the office of the Clerk prior to the passage of this Bond Ordinance on first reading and a complete executed duplicate original thereof has been filed in the Office of the Director of the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs of the State of New Jersey. The supplemental debt statement shows that the gross debt of the Township, as defined in Section 43 of the Local Bond Law, N.J.S.A. 40A:2-43, is increased by this Bond Ordinance by $304,000 and that the obligations authorized by this Bond Ordinance will be within all debt limitations prescribed by said Local Bond Law.

Section 10. The full faith and credit of the Township are irrevocably pledged to the punctual payment of the principal of and interest on the bonds or bond anticipation notes authorized by this Bond Ordinance and, to the extent payment is not otherwise provided, the Township shall levy ad valorem taxes on all taxable real property without limitation as to rate or amount for the payment thereof.

Section 11. The applicable Capital Budget is hereby amended to conform with the provisions of this Bond Ordinance to the extent of any inconsistency therewith, and the resolution promulgated by the Local Finance Board showing full detail of the amended Capital Budget and Capital Program as approved by the Director of the Division of Local Government Services, is on file with the Clerk and available for inspection.

Section 12. The Township hereby declares its intent to reimburse itself from the proceed of the bonds or bond anticipation notes authorized by this Bond Ordinance pursuant to Income Tax Regulation Section 1.150-2(e), promulgated under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended ("Code") for "original expenditures", as defined in Income Tax Regulation Section 1.150-2(c)(2), made by the Township prior to the issuance of such bonds or bond anticipation notes.

Section 13. The Township hereby covenants as follows:

(a) it shall take all actions necessary to ensure that the interest paid on the bonds or bond anticipation notes authorized by the Bond Ordinance is exempt from the gross income of the owners thereof for federal income taxation purposes, and will not become a specific item of tax preference pursuant to Section 57(a)(5) of the Code;

(b) it will not make any use of the proceeds of the bonds or bond anticipation notes or do or suffer any other action that would cause the bonds or bond anticipation notes to be "arbitrage bonds" as such term is defined in Section 148(a) of the Code and the Regulations promulgated thereunder;

(c) it shall calculate or cause to be calculated and pay, when due, the rebatable arbitrage with respect to the "gross proceeds" (as such term is used in Section 148(f) of the Code) of the bonds or bond anticipation notes;

(d) it shall timely file with the Ogden, Utah Service Center of the Internal Revenue Service, such information report or reports as may be required by Sections 148(f) and 149(e) of the Code; and

(e) it shall take no action that would cause the bonds or bond anticipation notes to be "federally guaranteed" within the meaning of Section 149(b) of the Code.

Section 14. The improvements authorized hereby are not current expenses and are improvements that the Township may lawfully make. No part of the cost of the improvements authorized hereby has been or shall be specially assessed on any property specially benefited thereby.

Section 15. All ordinances, or parts of ordinances, inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency.

Section 16. In accordance with the Local Bond Law, this Bond Ordinance shall take effect twenty (20) days after the first publication thereof after final passage.

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

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

NAYS: None.

ABSENT: Councilmen Cucchiara, Sohor, Councilwoman Hegarty.

President Maher opened a public portion. Seeing no hands President Maher closed the public portion.

President Maher opened it to the council.

Councilman Hoff: Mr. Chairman, do we pay the allocation all in one lump sum? I thought we paid it periodically.

Councilman Testino: No, they get it all up front and when we do the bonding.

Ms. Shepler: This is an ordinance whereby we're going to enter into a lease purchase agreement with them. They will pay us back in installment payments. We actually appropriate the funds for the bond.

President Maher: Mr. Hoff does that answer your question?

Councilman Hoff: I'm not too clear about it but I'll accept it.

Councilman Testino: This is, as the administrator just said, this is the lease purchase agreement we entered in with the school board for the fiscal year budget that we reached an agreement on. We made an agreement with them and this is following through on our agreement. Essentially when we do the funding and the bonding for this they're going to get the money and then they enter into a lease payment schedule with us to repay us over the next year. Is that right?

Administrator Shepler: That's correct, with interest and the down payment as well.

Councilman Testino: I'll be supporting this Mr. President.

President Maher closed the council portion.

DISCUSSION ORDINANCE

DO-1 Ordinance adopting schedule of fines for violations of County Park Rules

Moved up.

DO-2 Ordinance establishing fees for Hockey Programs

President Maher: I just had a question Tom. Was it this that we had that you were asking us to waiver fees?

Mr. Badcock: This is completely different. This was effected when we passed it this came into play.

President Maher: Okay, so we're going to move the fees for the hockey program up.

DISCUSSION RESOLUTION

DR-1 Resolution authorizing application to Department of Community Affairs for Annual Therapeutic Recreation Grant Funding (TB)

Moved up.

DR-2 Resolution - SFY 2001 Budget Transfers-in the amount of $135,000.00 to be made. (HS)

President Maher: Alayne, I want to go back to the state fiscal year. $135,000.00 for what departments?

Ms. Shepler: It should be right on the back of your sheet. There's about maybe fifteen line items.

DR-3 Resolution Opposing Assembly Bill A-3366 - (Development application under Land Use Law) (AS)

President Maher: Alayne, can you just paraphrase what this is?

Ms. Shepler: This is another developer sponsored bill which will only aid the developers and not aid the taxpayers. What it would effectively do is change the time of decision mark. In other words, the boards now have a period of time upon which to act after public hearing, after input from their professionals, and if and when you do see some time that there are perhaps weaknesses in your zoning ordinance it would allow a municipality the time to make those corrections because the application hasn't been heard yet. What this effectively does, says that application is the time of decision runs from the time the application is actually being complete, which is merely a secretarial type function. This is very bad legislation that would aid no one except the developers.

Councilman Hoff: Mr. Chairman I'd accept Ms. Shepler's well defined explanation and move to agree with the resolution opposing.

President Maher: Move it up. Is this an adopted assembly bill or a pending assembly bill?

Ms. Shepler: Pending.

President Maher: It's still in front of committee is the point I'm trying to make here.

Ms. Shepler: It's been released from the assembly as of Thursday May 3rd.

Councilman Testino: My question is will we be in time if we hold it off till next Monday?

Ms. Shepler: It will go to the senate after that.

DR-4 Resolution to Cancel Receivable & Appropriation Balance for Occupant Protection Project (Receivable balance in the amount of $2,201.08 and Appropriation balance in the amount of $2,201.08)

Moved up.

DR-5 Rejection of Bid for Contract # 01-03 - Bunker Hill Drive Improvements received from Lucas Brothers, Inc. In the amount of $74,500.00 (NI)

Ms. Shepler: Lucas Brothers was the only bidder. It was substantially higher than the engineers estimate. In fact it was almost twice as high.

President Maher: So we're going to move it up and reject it. Are we resubmitting the bid Nelson?

Ms. Shepler: Yes we are.

Councilman Testino: Do we need to change any of the specs in order to get more bidders?

Ms. Shepler: No I don't think so. I asked Pinder that question and I think they're comfortable with their specifications, and as you know any time of year...

Councilman Testino: So you think we might have to wait till the fall to rebid this?

Ms. Shepler: I'm going to go out to bid right away and see what comes up on the next one. We'll give it another shot.

President Maher: What's wrong with Bunker Hill? What are we trying to do here anyway for seventy-four thousand?

Mayor Cannon: That drainage problem that was never corrected in that development.

President Maher: Bunker Hill is in what subdivision?

Councilman Cucchiara: Brookside Avenue. It all ties in. It's all the same drainage thing.

Councilman Redmond: One question. This isn't a new development?

Councilman Cucchiara: No.

President Maher: When we take this again, who's responsible for these improvements.

Councilman Cucchiara: We are.

Councilman Redmond: This is an old street.

DR-6 Award of Contract #01-09 to Intercounty Paving Associates for 2000/2001 Road Resurfacing Contract to Intercounty Paving Associates in the amount of $508,421.90 (PS)

Councilman Redmond: Where did we arrive at that number?

Councilman Butler: From a bid.

Ms. Shepler: There were seven bids and it involves more than one stabilized base, bituminous concrete, the top core three quarter inch stones, sub base, milling.

President Maher: But there's still money left over for the paving. I thought we put $900,000.00.

Ms. Shepler: You will have additional funding. Some of it was curbing but I believe there was still additional funding. A small portion, not by much.

Moved up.

DR-7 Award of Professional Service Contract to Daniel K. Simmons, Esq. For collection of CDBG Mortgage Debt. (MR)

President Maher: Mike Ruffley, Mike what is this about?

Mr. Ruffley: It's basically, I don't deal with that problem. It was fourth on the list for payment.

President Maher: Have we done this in previous years or is this a new initiative?

Mr. Ruffley: No, it's the first time it ever happened. He called here and I didn't know he was that type of attorney. Jim Condon is very familiar with this.

President Maher: Do other towns do this?

Mr. Ruffley: Not to my knowledge no, but if we can recoup some money and the guy went into bankruptcy why not go after it? Otherwise we're going to get nothing.

Councilman Testino: This is for bankruptcy work alone?

Mr. Ruffley: The guy owes us $24,000.00.

Attorney Condon: I can explain it a little bit more. This is an attorney who contacted the township who was I guess familiar with this CDBG debt that went unpaid because we were forced out to subordination and foreclosure. This person contacted Mike who then directed to me because he's interested in working on a contingent basis to collect the amount of money, the unrecovered mortgage amount and seeing as there's basically no risk for the town, presented this idea to Mike and to the legal department. Seeing that there's basically a large risk in even trying to find any assets here we felt we could give him a shot at doing this. But right now we've never done this before, it's a one time thing really.

Councilman Testino: I was curious to know, are you selecting the ones that you're going to send to him from the defaulted ones?

Mr. Ruffley: No, this is just a one shot deal. The guy wound up in bankruptcy.

Councilman Testino: Okay, so he's only going to deal with a case by case basis then. Is that what we're doing here?

Attorney Condon: It's just this one case.

Mr. Ruffley: Just this one case as far as I know.

Councilman Testino: And the property involved is where?

Mr. Ruffley: It's the Corbett property on Park Avenue. They're out of there, they filed for bankruptcy as far as I know.

Councilman Testino: I know but has the mortgage company already got a release on the automatic stay?

Attorney Condon: I believe they've been in foreclosure. I didn't know if they were in bankruptcy or not but I believe the property has been foreclosed.

Councilman Testino: Well if you guys are recommending it take a shot.

Attorney Condon: There's really nothing to lose.

Councilman Hoff: The CDBG mortgage, the first mortgage do you have most of them?

Mr. Ruffley: Most of them yes, but sometimes the legal department subordinates these mortgages then we lose out.

Councilman Hoff: I know but I thought most of the times we were one of the first recipient...

Mr. Ruffley: Most times we are, yes.

Councilman Hoff: But we're down third or fourth on the list here? Then there's no chance of collecting anything.

Councilman Greene: It seems to me to be a pretty exorbitant fee and since it's the first time maybe it's worth checking other resources, other firms or companies that may be able to do this thing a lot cheaper. Thirty-three percent seems like a lot of money.

Attorney Condon: I guess the answer to that is that it could be 33% of nothing. These are people who basically were not aware they have any assets so I think this attorney is taking this on under risk.

Councilman Greene: Well on this sheet it says I would charge a fee of 35% and then he has it crossed out and it's 33 1/3 %. 35% which is 7 % to me and 28 % to my asset , that's 35% which is crossed out to 33 1/3%. If there's no rush here I don't see why you can't go out and see it there's other firms who could do 20% which to me is a lot better than 33 or 35. I would table it.

President Maher: I would tend to agree with Mr. Greene, that's why I asked you if this is a new initiative, what are surrounding towns doing, do we know?

Attorney Condon: No, again as Mr. Ruffley said this gentleman approached us. I guess he did some research on this on the town and on this particular case and approached us. Again, I wish I could offer you a better opinion as to the reasonableness of the fee but it really depends upon whether or not the people have any assets quite frankly.

President Maher: I guess Alayne or the Mayor, can we have Mike do a survey of surrounding towns to see if any surrounding towns have professional services contracts with attorneys that do this?

Ms. Shepler: I have no objection. I don't know about the Mayor, it's fine with me.

Mayor Cannon: Twenty-four thousand dollars is a lot of money.

Mr. Maher: I can understand Mr. Greene's comments which I agree with one hundred percent.

Ms. Shepler: Just so Mr. Greene knows, I crossed it out because the maximum allowed under the law as Mr. Testino and Mr. Condon will tell you is one third so it's 33 1/3%.

Councilman Testino: Not in commercial settings, in personal injury coverage.

Councilman Redmond: My comments is that's pretty standard a third. If you're working on a contingency it's usually a third.

Ms. Shepler: Move it to the next agenda. There's absolutely no timeliness to this. I believe this has been going on for quite some time and frankly I had a number of questions myself which took me a while to even put it to the agenda. I felt the same way you all do.

Councilman Redmond: But what are we doing to get the money at this point?

Ms. Shepler: There's absolutely nothing we can do. I've been told by Mr. Ruggierio that we have no one on staff that would have the ability to go find the dividing line to even find these people. The only thing I can think of is that this gentleman Mr. Simmons here must have some inclination of where to find them. Who knows what kind of a search he engaged in? But it would seem to me that he must have some prior knowledge of where these people are to want to step up to the plate and do this.

President Maher: Do you think a week Mike to do your due diligence to check with surrounding towns and would you be ready to be here next Monday evening to answer our questions?

Mr. Ruffley: Sure.

President Maher: We'll keep it on then and if you're not ready then we'll just carry it.

DISCUSSION

D-1 Extension of Sandfield Road from Bordentown Ave to Route 516 to Southwood Drive (GC)

Councilman Cucchiara: I thought I'd get a little bit more information back from Parks & Transportation on this. This was sent to them and I think we were looking for some input back but I haven't received anything yet though.

President Maher: There was a letter from Barbara York saying that she supports the idea.

Councilman Cucchiara: I saw that and I thought that would start to get us an idea of what it would cost or what we would have to do. That road did exist once before. I don't know if anybody knows that. That road used to go all the way through to Bordentown Avenue, it was a dirt road. It's directly across from Southwood Drive. I believe that's still a Township road. We still own that road but it goes through their property. When their bridge was out Rocky had paid the part that comes from Old Water Works road onto Bordentown Road off of Kearney Avenue. I did a little bit of work looking into it to see if we could alleviate some of that traffic that comes down through East Brunswick and over the bridge then down Old Matawan Road to cut some of that traffic off if we could possibly extend that road to 516 for people who would want to go east on 516 somehow instead of coming all the way around. I don't know if you want to take a look at it. I thought it would be a good idea to try to alleviate some of that traffic. I don't know what it would cost to do a road, what's involved or anything like that.

President Maher: Alayne can we get a rough estimate to bring it up to township specifications and what our liabilities would be.

Councilman Cucchiara: There's a lot of work involved but I really don't know. I just wanted them to take a look at it.

Ms. Shepler: I'll ask the engineer to take a look at some of the old maps and see what's out there. Give us a little while though because this one like I said...

Councilman Cucchiara: I know it would be a long term project, it would cost some money but I'm just trying to get an idea if it's feasible for them to want to open that road again.

President Maher: I guess that Sam looked at it with the revised master plan to see if it's going to be a road for the township in the future as part of the master plan which I know he's involved with right now.

Mayor Cannon: I think they were looking at something that would go from nine to...If this is the same one I remember Lane Miller used to yell and scream all the time because they... not clear... it was at least for emergency vehicles to get in and out of there.

Councilman Cucchiara: What happened is through the years the road just got overgrown, deteriorated and they never took care of it. If the police department or somebody had any emergency vehicle had to shoot down onto Bordentown Avenue, instead of going all the way around they could use that. And I thought maybe possibly if you're going on 516 eastbound instead of coming around and hitting all that traffic that maybe we could take a look and maybe taking that traffic and dumping it onto 516 before we hit Old Matawan Road down there. It's just something to look at.

Mayor Cannon: We'll take a look at it.

President Maher: Let's put this on follow up for thirty days.

D-2 Grant Writer; CDBG - Grants for Pool (ET)

Councilman Testino: I put this on because there was some discussion in the recreation committee about the perspective of maybe having a pool in the town in the future and one of ideas that we bantered about was to see if either any block grants could be achieved or other grants. So in combination with that I remembered that we had talked to a grant writer and wanted to see where she is and what she's doing and if she's on board yet and if this is one of the projects she can work on so we can get back to the rec. committee because if they had the money to develop a pool I think then we could set out to find them some land.

Mayor Cannon: We had talked about... not clear... as a possible site for a municipal pool.

Councilman Testino: I don't have to peg it down to a site right now.

Mayor Cannon: No you said you have to go look for land.

Councilman Testino: No I'm saying that would be the next step if we found somebody who knew about writing for grants because I know that I've seen cities have grant applications for pools and funding.

Ms. Shepler: Most of that funding though frankly has been in deep urban communities, like Trenton and Jersey City and that's why we get bounced from so many of these grants even though we're considered an urban aid community.

Councilman Testino: Does that mean we shouldn't look?

Ms. Shepler: No. If you want an update what I'll tell you which I did not include in the FYI I gave you today which you probably haven't seen yet, it was in the packages. The mayor has asked me to reinstitute the Friday memos so I've put out something new called FYI and hopefully I will get to do it every Friday, if not every other Friday to just give you some updates. One of the things I did leave off and I should have put into there was Ms. Bohlin who is the person we are talking about, the grant writer, is working specifically on trying to get me a smart growth grant for the town center application because that was very high on the list and that was easy money to get. Right now she's trying to set up an appointment with somebody from the State of New Jersey that is very much involved in that project. She was looking to set up that meeting either this week or next week and I'll keep you informed on that. Once I get past that project there are other projects and other grant funding that we'd like to look at.

Councilman Testino: Rich and I have sat as liaisons to this committee now so they have this tendency of trying to nail us down with these kind of questions and we'd like to be able to get back to them. It's a weekly occurrence now of trying to get us pegged. So I put it on your schedule, the ball is in your court, please let me know if she can help.

Ms. Shepler: I'll keep you up to date but as you know there are no grant writers that work for free so that's been part of the problem. This one's a good one and she's going for whatever grant she gets she gets a portion of that so hopefully it will work.

Councilman Testino: If she can't help I'll have to look in other directions.

Mayor Cannon: Also though for a pool you have to do some homework in terms of surveys and determining interest and you to apply for any grant I think you have to have some hard numbers of the community and their response.

Councilman Testino: You sound like you have more information than me Mayor. Maybe we should look into where you're getting that information. You're talking about because block grants require back up when you submit the application for a grant?

Mayor Cannon: Any kind of grant.

President Maher: Mr. Testino are you done?

Councilman Testino: For now, I'll wait for Ms. Shepler to get back to me.

Councilman Redmond: Didn't we do a survey while I was on the rent board and wasn't a pool one of the top things when we did the survey with Jamie O'Kane back then?

Mr. Badcock: Yes we did a survey and the pool was like...

Councilman Redmond: The pool was like number one.

Mr. Badcock: There was some interest yes.

President Maher: Speaking of the Recreation Committee, I got a letter from the president of the Recreation Committee and copies were distributed to the entire council. But with respect to attendance at the meetings, Tom are we having attendance problems with certain individuals and is there a recommendation what we need to do. Do we need to contact these individuals to see if they still want to be active participants?

Mr. Badcock: Yes, I think after two roll call unexcused absences I think it would be a good idea for the council president to send them memos to see if they're still interested.

Councilman Testino: Mr. President, just on that issue I had spoken out on this in the past. I think it should start out with the committee contacting them first and then making their intentions known to this council. I don't think it should be you as the council president doing that. It's probably more likely Joe Criscuolo or Tom.

Mr. Badcock: We have contacted them and they have some type of excuse. They still are not showing up.

Councilman Testino: So what I think has to happen is the committee has so say, "look, we either don't want to do anything or we want the council to look at it". They may have a legitimate excuse for not making the last two months meetings.

President Maher: I agree, when Joe Criscuolo brought it to my attention I said we'd put it on the agenda for the Rec. Committee and I'm looking for a recommendation coming out of the Rec. Board. That's why I was a little surprised just getting the attendance records for the past six to nine months. I'll get back to Joe and ask him for some sort of direction coming out of the committee with respect to these two individuals and then we'll take action. But I do understand people's work schedule's change, people's personal schedules change and there are other commitments I'll kick it back to Joe and I'll have Joe make the contact as the committee president to see if these people still want to be active participants and I'll ask him not to send anything to the council till it's discussed at the Rec. Committee. That's how we'll handle it otherwise it looks like the council's taking action with no direction from the Rec. Committee. Is that appropriate for everybody? This is not just a problem that is plaguing the Rec. Committee. I understand this is a problem that's plaguing all our volunteer committees. Last week the Ethic's Board was here. I think this is something we need to take a hard look at and possibly help our committees to see how they can improve their attendance.

D-3 Clarification of extent of Free Registration to recreation programs for volunteers and families (To determine if certain high priced programs (ex: Competitive Ice Hockey, Sport Camps) are excluded from the "Free" list.) (TB)

Mr. Badcock: This is something that bothers me because of that other ordinance we talked about under discussion 2 (Hockey Programs). For volunteers and their families free registration and recreation programs. There's not a whole lot of detailed specifications of what that means. Normally what we do is allow volunteers and their families to attend normal recreation programs and summer programs but things like the ice skating lessons is going to come into play even more because we have other things like roller hockey, we have our own in-house instructional hockey which is quite expensive. We're just looking to see what your wishes are.

President Maher: What's the recommendation of the Rec. Committee? Have they discussed this? I would defer this to our Rec. Committee. That would be my vote here and we have a recreation committee that is sort of an oversight committee before we do take action on this. I'll get back to Joe Criscuolo and tell him to put this on the agenda.

D-4 Higgins Road Drainage Improvements (DMM)

President Maher: We talked about this a little bit last week, the Higgins Road Drainage Improvements, and I did get my wrists slapped by the Mayor here but I've been in touch with Rocky and Nelson. It's been brought to my attention with the recent rain that we've had over the past week, week and a half that we have exasperated, and I'm not an engineer but just talking to people and I've gotten several phone calls. Higgins Road when we put the soccer parking lot up at the soccer field we made parking for twenty to thirty cars or whatever, not giving the water a proper place to perk. It was all sand and dirt up there that over the past week and a half, two weeks we had this significant rain, Higgins Road all that water has come down Higgins Road like a river towards the bottom of Higgins and Ticetown Road and I did call Public Works and Nelson asked them to take a look at it and I know Nelson put together an order of magnitude saying to make the necessary improvements we have to put some catch basins and it will be about $70,000.00 to make those necessary improvements. Subsequent to that I've been in touch with John Hauser who is a property owner in question. I brought it to John's attention that that water would sort of run onto his property, John was in disagreement with that. John brought it to my attention that when we gave the approvals to Country Place there should have been catch basins. Part of the approval process was catch basins on both sides of Higgins Road in front of Country Place and I gave Nelson a heads up on that this morning and I wanted Nelson to investigate that and Nelson you have investigated that and what have you found with respect to that?

Mr. Iglesias: Yes, we do have an improved plan. In October of 83, the short and the long of it is that the nearest inlet, the nearest possible connection to the intersection is about a thousand feet from the intersection. So you're talking adding an additional thousand feet or so.

President Maher: I guess my only question Mr. Hauser brought to my attention with the approval of Country Place was there supposed to be detention basins placed on both sides of Higgins Road to catch the water?

Mr. Iglesias: No. The plans that I have do not show that.

President Maher: I'll bring that back to his attention then. He was under the understanding with respect to that.

Mr. Iglesias: But let me say Mayor that the logical place for drainage is through Mr. Hauser's property, that's the logical place.

President Maher: I'm going to ask, I want to defer this to the capital projects we have, a second opportunity to add some projects to phase 2 of our capital projects. But this is a necessary improvement and it needs to take place because that road was seriously flooded and I don't think both Nelson and Mr. Donatelli they completely agree with me that something needs to be done to that road with respect to the flooding conditions. So I'm going to ask that we carry this seventy or one hundred thousand dollars into our phase 2 of our capital projects.

Mayor Cannon: I would just like to bring out that this isn't really a new... maybe it's been exacerbated by the parking lot, I'm not sure, but we've had a problem with that intersection for a number of years and several years ago we did attempt to try to do some corrections and it involved getting an easement to Mr. Hauser's property which he would not allow and so the thing sort of just died a natural death because there was no place to dispose of the water. So it also involved some of the backyards of some of the people on Higgins and Country Place and nobody was very happy with what was being proposed, so until they came up with another scheme... I don't know if there's another way of getting rid of the water but that was what was proposed several years ago and nobody was very happy with that.

President Maher: Well, I think we collectively need to put our heads together. There's a problem that exists and the problem can't continue the way it is with respect to this. I know Mr. Hauser his point of view and it was his recollection that part of Country Place the approvals was catch basins right there and Nelson has disputed that so I'll take responsibility getting back to Mr. Hauser but that road is heavily traveled on a daily basis, it's the intersection between Ticetown and 516 by school buses and the road is literally a mess. And when Mr. Donatelli was out there after the rain, Mr. Donatelli you can attest to that but there was sand and dirt all over that road that took you two to three days to clean it up, so we need to make some improvements to that road, and this is going to be a number one priority for myself. With that let's get to Capital Projects it's sort of unfinished business.

D-5 Capital Projects - Phase II (DMM)

President Maher: I have my memo of April 16th saying let's move forward on Phase I of the capital projects and defer the remaining capital projects to a later date. I know Mr. Testino you had some things that you wanted to add to this but I want to add $100,000.00 for the drainage improvements to Higgins Road to this.

Councilman Hoff: I thought I saw a number $70,000.00. Did I see $70,000.00 for that project?

Mr. Iglesias: Mr. Hoff $70,000.00 was assumed in connection to this capital project. It's $100,000.00 all together.

President Maher: So if we're going to bond this, we're talking about bonding, let's take it from the top.

Councilman Hoff: Why don't we look it up first and find out what it's costing before you put it in the bond. Why can't we have a better investigation of it?

President Maher: We'll have the investigation by next Monday.

Computer Equipment: Does anybody want to move forward the $150,000.00 extra for computers?

Ms. Shepler: We did that. You agreed to do that in the phase I.

Municipal Complex - the engineering, the fire code improvements, the high voltage, lobby improvements: Does anybody want to move any of these forward?

Councilman Testino: I'd like to know what the fire code improvements are.

Mayor Cannon: This was added to the agenda this afternoon so we didn't have time to get Mr. Heims here to go through this whole thing.

President Maher: This was added to the agenda this afternoon. This was discussed with you staff Mayor last Thursday in the normal weekly meetings.

Mayor Cannon: It's not on the Friday agenda.

Ms. Shepler: It was not on the staff meeting on Thursday morning. I did not see it till this afternoon. It was on April the 30th just so everyone knows Mr. Heims did produce a memo describing in rather great detail those items that he had asked for in the building. I just want to point out to everyone here that we're talking about we're just doing bonding. No matter what number any of us come up with tonight if we do is going to require down payment money and if you remember we had to go to emergency appropriation to find the down payment money the last time, and without Himanshu's presence I cannot tell you the availability of any funding for capital projects within this fiscal year's budget.

Councilman Testino: So we'd have to go to next year's fiscal budget.

Ms. Shepler: It might have to be, and then you're buying at that point as you know whatever number that is right before you even start looking at a budget that you agree to, do these items. You're talking about whatever five percent of whatever that number is what your down payment is.

Councilman Testino: When we get to next year's budget you better have some money in there for a down payment. We're never finished this before June.

Councilman Hoff: I think discussion now is premature without Himanshu here, I really do.

Councilman Testino: I just want to finish on the fire code then because somebody raised the need for fire code improvements.

Ms. Shepler: I can tell you what those are.

Councilman Testino: Jerry can probably back me up on this. Right Jerry if we need them we should know about it and we should accomplish them.

Ms. Shepler: If you like I'll recirculate Mr. Heim's memo of April 30th which detailed all of those improvements.

Councilman Testino: Why don't you do that and I'll ask Mr. Cucchiara...

Councilman Cucchiara: This is a public building. The public is invited in and out of the building. It's a life safety hazard this building, so I would say those improvements have to be done.

Ms. Shepler: The fire code improvements you know Mr. Cucchiara included fire sprinklers in the public works office, the boiler room, the parks garage, replacing the old smoke and heat detectors in various areas and upgrade the fire protection system.

Councilman Cucchiara: I read Bob's original memo.

Councilman Testino: Do you think we should go ahead with those on an emergency basis?

Councilman Cucchiara: I would say yes we have to. I don't understand why they wouldn't put it on the first time. That should have been priority one above everything else.

Councilman Testino: I agree with Mr. Cucchiara. We should hear from Mr. Heims immediately on that.

President Maher: Why don't we table this, the phase II for our next agenda meeting, all the projects?

Ms. Shepler: I'll make sure Mr. Heims is here for that meeting.

Councilman Hoff: We should have a background on most of this stuff we need. Himanshu will give us the information to fund that thing too.

Councilman Testino: I want to stress that Mayor we shouldn't wait for next year if we have an emergency.

Mayor Cannon: I agree, and those items were stressed that we needed those. We were very careful about prioritizing.

Councilman Testino: I can see leaving the ACAC off but I can't see leaving fire code.

Mayor Cannon: We didn't leave it off.

President Maher: But making necessary safety for road improvements in Higgins Road and stuff like that. Those things need to move forward. We will table this for two weeks. Is that the council's agenda?

Councilman Cucchiara: But just to stress again that it is very imperative that those fire safety issues be taken care of.

President Maher: We'll carry this for two weeks. Mayor can you make sure that the department heads that can speak to these projects be at our agenda meeting in two weeks?

D-6 Old Bridge High School Band Competition - (Request for funding reimbursement) (DMM)

President Maher: Mr. Badcock sent us a memo here. This band qualified for funding last year and previous years.

Councilman Cucchiara: According to the memo that I read that they didn't meet the criteria for funding. Why are we funding if they don't meet the criteria we set forth?

Councilman Redmond: Do we have money left in this years budget for that?

Mr. Badcock: I think there's about $3,800.00 in that line.

Councilman Redmond: And has anyone asked for it?

Mr. Badcock: No, for the first budget it wasn't used.

Councilman Testino: Why is it they're coming to us after the event?

Councilman Hoff: Why didn't they go to the Board of Education in the first place?

Councilman Testino: I'm just saying they usually come before the event.

Mr. Badcock: They didn't act on it in December and then they brought it back because the competition was in May and they said they were going to do it because they got it last year. I'm sure they'll continue to do it every year because they got the funding last year.

Councilman Testino: Competition is over right?

Mr. Badcock: It's over, they want reimbursement for the competition.

Councilman Testino: So who does the reimbursement go to?

Mr. Badcock: I'm sure it goes probably goes toward per diem per kid, $200.00 a kid.

Councilman Testino: I know, but that actually went for plane tickets or transportation or something.

Mr. Badcock: The parents paid for it so that's where it will probably go back to.

Councilman Hoff: I don't like the whole thing at all.

Councilman Testino: In the past we either paid for the plane tickets or made that it was used for a specific purpose. Now we're reimbursing a hundred different people instead of paying for something.

President Maher: Is it the Rec. Committee's recommendation?

Councilman Testino: They still aren't supporting this Dennis. We had done it over their objection last year.

President Maher: What's the council's pleasure? To move this forward?

Councilman Testino: I don't understand it. Who put it on?

President Maher: I put it on because of the memo from Tom to me.

Councilman Testino: I'm sure it will come back on again if we don't do anything because Roman is not here tonight.

Councilman Redmond: I have a question about that. If you got a memo that's recommending we don't do it why did we put it on?

Councilman Testino: Because it went from Tom to Dennis so Dennis would know that this request was in front of him and he made a recommendation of no.

MOTION

Councilman Hoff: Because it was a late submittal I move that we deny this request.

Councilman Testino: That's not necessary, it's not on for action tonight.

Councilman Redmond: When we do these things do we ask an accounting of what they do with the money?

Mr. Badcock: We have when some of the athletic teams are sponsored.

Councilman Redmond: Because that's what I'm concerned about. If we're just going to split the three thousand or whatever it is between the parents are we reimbursing the Board of Education for money they laid out?

Mr. Badcock: As Ed said the truth is the last couple of times we did it for cheerleading or whatever. There was a least a plan for the group.

President Maher: The Rec. Committees recommendation is not to back it. Take it off. No action.

D-7 Purchase of Birch Hill Property (DMM)

President Maher: I put that on and we received a memo from Mr. Shah with respect to if the township is interested in pursuing any sort of an agreement with regards to the purchase of Birch Hill Property. What's the council's pleasure?

Councilman Hoff: What's it worth?

Councilman Testino: I might be missing something Dennis but I don't see why the township should be pursuing that property.

Mayor Cannon: If I understand it they are about to go in foreclosure.

Councilman Cucchiara: Do we really know what we're talking to get that place in the shape that we would want it in?

Mayor Cannon: There's other problems.

Councilman Cucchiara: Could we be getting involved in something that we don't want to be involved in?

Administrator Shepler: There are a number of problems at that site.

President Maher: There's no council support to move forward on this.

Councilman Testino: I'm not supporting it.

Councilman Hoff: I'm not either.

Mayor Cannon: I think when Bill comes back he could maybe enlighten you about some of the things.

Councilman Redmond: What are we doing with that liquor license? Isn't that coming up.

Councilman Testino: That we will hear more about. Apparently the state has taken action on it and they ruled and we should be getting a copy of that opinion.

Ms. Shepler: You will be getting a copy tomorrow. I got it this afternoon about four o'clock.

Mayor Cannon: Thanks to Tom Hayden we got a copy of it.

REPORTS

R-1 Clean up of the lake in Cliffwood Beach (Status Report by: Recreation) (ET)

Councilman Testino: It actually backs up to where the weeds are.

Councilman Hoff: It's called Sunset Lake.

Councilman Testino: It's our property. The Rec. Committee nailed us to the wall on it and I thought I would keep moving it.

Mr. Badcock: Jonathan Heilbrunn donated a good size rowboat to us.

Councilman Testino: If and when it's cleaned up is it the type of thing that people can fish in.

Councilman Hoff: Yes they could.

Mr. Badcock: We're trying to get DEP in on it. I think they can stock it probably.

Councilman Hoff: Years ago it would freeze over and we would ice skate there.

President Maher: We're going to clean up the lake behind Garbers Plumbing Supply.

R-2 Overtime - Decrease in Police Overtime (Report by: Administration and Police Dept.)

Ms. Shepler: Captain Cerra sends his apologies, he has not had the sufficient time to prepare it. He will get it to me as soon as possible, I will then pass it on to you.

Councilman Testino: In light of the circumstances I think we should excuse him.

GUESTS (6/11/01)

Dennis Cerami - Middlesex County Health Dept. Re: Tobacco

Thomas E. Sheehan (Sheehan Consulting Group) Re: Town Centre

President Maher: We have two guests for June 11th. Dennis Cerami is visiting all the nearby towns and letting the towns in Middlesex County know what services and programs the county has with respect to tobacco awareness and prohibiting the use of tobacco by teenagers.

Is Tom Sheehan going to be here June 11th?

Mayor Cannon: I spoke to his secretary, as far as she knows he definitely will be here on the 11th at 8:00 p.m.

ORDINANCE FOR SECOND READING - 6/11/01

ORD.#13-01 Town Centre Ordinance (If voted on must first be removed from Table of 5/29/01)

President Maher: We'll move that forward hopefully June 11th.

ORD.#30-01 Authorizing Sale of Block 16004 Lot 52 - Foxborough (Public hearing to be held)

President Maher: I understand I didn't conduct public hearing on that, that's why it's up again.

Ms. Shepler: It just requires the public hearing and another vote.

Councilman Redmond: I'm looking over this audit of accumulated time payout, and the guy with the most accumulated time is a patrolman who's only been on the job for three years. He used to work for our engineering department but how did that happen?

Ms. Shepler: His time was bridged but we bought out all his comp time and everything else.

Councilman Redmond: That's why I'm asking, is it a typo?

Ms. Shepler: I'll check it for you.

MOTION TO ADJOURN

President Maher moved to adjourn at 9:05 pm, seconded by Councilman Butler and so ordered on the following roll call vote:

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

NAYS: None.

ABSENT: Councilwoman Hegarty, Councilman Sohor.

Dennis M. Maher, President

Rose-Marie Saracino, Clerk

/ar

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