|
OLD BRIDGE TOWNSHIP COUNCIL
AGENDA MEETING
OCTOBER 7, 2002
An Agenda Meeting of the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge was held on Monday evening at the Cheesequake Village Club House, Galewood Drive, Matawan. President Butler called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and asked all present to participate in a salute to the flag followed by a short prayer.
Deputy Clerk Stella Ward read the Open Public Meetings Notice followed by the roll call vote that showed the following answering present: Councilmen Baker, Calogera, Greene, Hoff, Maher, Redmond, Testino, Councilwoman Panos, President Butler.
Councilman Redmond: I would like to have a moment of silence for Marion Smith who was the founding member of our Old Bridge Historical Society and she passed away last week.
President Butler: I just want to explain what is going to happen here this evening. Once Mr. Hoff is finished with his introduction, we will be asking you to voice any concerns that you may have before the meeting starts. Anything that you want to address with us can be done at that time. On behalf of the Council, we are happy to be here this evening and want to thank you for letting us come down and use your club house and are happy that you came out to be with us tonight.
Councilman Hoff: I am your representative for the 1st Ward on this Council. There is not much action taken at an Agenda meeting, but you will be able to hear some of the discussions regarding items that are listed on our agenda this evening. Again, I am glad that you are here this evening and thanks for coming.
President Butler: I am going to introduce the Mayor, all the members of the Council as well as the members of the administrative staff and the various department heads. (Mr. Butler acknowledged all who were present and asked each one to stand as their name was called).
Mayor Cannon: I just wanted to say that we are really pleased to be here and thank you for coming out.
President Butler: I would like to start the meeting by having you address the Council with your concerns and your problems whatever you feel we need to know about and correct.
Phil Tanala: I live here in Cheesequake Village. I don't see a refund of the
performance bond on the agenda, but in the event that we miss it in the future I think that the Council should know that the three concerns that we had have been taken care of satisfactorily and we are pleased with the results.
Marty ......: I am a resident of Cheesequake Village: I would like to know if there are any plans to extend the sidewalk up to Schoolhouse Lane?
Councilman Hoff: It is a very dangerous to walk there and I think that extending that sidewalk would create problems because it is a blind corner.
Mayor Cannon: I just want to say that we have applied for a couple of grants to try to extend the sidewalk and we have not been successful, but we will continue to try. The problem also is because of the curvature of the road, there would have to be an acquisition of the right of way in order to put the sidewalk in. It is a priority on our list when we have the opportunity to apply for grants for pedestrian walkways.
PROCLAMATION - 10/14/02 (BC)
Domestic Violence Awareness Month
PRESENTATION - 10/14/02
GP-1 Check presentation to Township with a Heart & Special Projects Special Children - to be presented by Officer Patrick D'Onofrio - PBA Local 127
GUESTS - 10/14/02
G-1 Robert S. May - Human Relations Committee - Not Available
President Butler: He will not be available on Monday, so we will have to reschedule him.
G-2 Thomas A Sikorski - Chairman of the Trustees of Old Bridge Elks Lodge #229
President Butler: He will be here to discuss a fund raising program that they want to have.
G-3 Poet Robert Franza - (Proposal for the creation of an Old Bridge Poet Laureate)
Councilman Baker: We are trying to bring a poet on board to expand the cultural knowledge of the residents and he will be presenting his proposal.
G-4 Michael Caffrey - Country Place & Lakeridge West (Prest's Mill Road- Traffic)
Councilman Maher: What are we proposing here?
Councilwoman Panos: These people just want to come to discuss the traffic on that road.
Councilman Calogera: To add to that, Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m., in the Bush Center there will be a meeting to discuss the effects of the Hovnanian Project with regard to traffic on the Prest's Mill side. Anyone who has an interest should come to this meeting.
Councilman Baker: Can you tell us the name of the person who asked you to put this on the Agenda?
Councilwoman Panos: I could, but I was asked not to reveal her name.
HEARINGS
H-1 Release/Reduction Performance Guarantee - Orchard Hill
No Discussion
H-2 Release/Reduction Performance Guarantee - Boyd's Landscaping
Councilman Redmond: Is the building complete?
John Vincenti: We have a new owner. The new owner has already presented a bond.
H-3 Release/Reduction Performance Bond - Oxford Estate
President Butler: I remember the Oxford Estates people coming in here several times.
Mr. Testino and I went to one residence and we looked at the problems
John Vincenti: The latest on this issue was a letter forwarded to my office from the developer approximately 2-3 weeks, where he summarized the actions that he took and what further actions he intended to take. Our inspectors were out last week monitoring some of the work and we will have a report for you prior to next Monday's meeting.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
August 12, 2002 - Combined August 26, 2002 - Special Meeting
September 3, 2002 - Agenda/Executive
No Discussion
ORDINANCE FOR SECOND READING
ORD. #47-02 To amend Land Development Ordinance Section 4-3M (Sign Posting)
No Discussion
DISCUSSION ORDINANCE
DO-1 Ordinance prohibiting stopping and standing on part of Matawan Road
Councilman Hoff: This is a safety matter that Capt. Cerra is concerned about.
Councilman Maher: When we had our last satellite meeting at the Memorial School, I had asked Alayne to look into Disbrow Road, no stopping or standing by the Racquet Club.
Alayne Shepler: I did send a memo to the Police Department and I have not as yet received an answer.
Councilman Maher: Please follow-up.
Councilman Redmond: Can we send a letter to the owners of the Racquet Club to advise their patrons that they should not be parking out there?
Alayne Shepler: We can try that again. We have done it before.
Councilman Calogera: I believe the problem there has been the enforcement issue, so I think we need to write a letter to the police department requesting that they enforce.
Alayne Shepler: We have done that.
Councilman Maher: Well we have to have it enforced because there are signs that say no standing or stopping and this evening when I came here there were cars parked all over and that is a very dangerous intersection.
Councilman Calogera: Can you please write a letter to the police department ask them why they are disregarding the ordinance of no parking there and also disregarding the request of the Council involved in it.
DO-2 Ordinance requesting the implementation of Title 39 within Yardley Manor.
No Discussion
DO-3 Amend Ordinance #43-02 Requiring persons convicted of selling cigarettes to minors to display a sign publishing the conviction.
Councilman Calogera: I think that there are a number of us that feel there might be some fine tuning needed with this ordinance. From what I understand, this is the first type of ordinance like this in the State, which would require the posting of signs within the retail premise of people who are convicted of selling cigarettes to minors. Mr. Valentino brought this to us and I commend everyone for getting action on this in such an expeditious manner. I do think that there are some issues pending with this that might need to be worked on. Several of the council that I have spoken to have some views on how to do that.
Councilman Hoff: Maybe we should think about putting in stockades in these stores.
Councilman Greene: I am speaking for myself on this issue and I felt from the very beginning that it was a little too much on the first violation and perhaps we could revise the ordinance. To tell the truth, I think this is something that we can all say that we are conscious of and we want to do something about it. We would like to take a step back right now, perhaps the Council was a little too harsh and although a sign is not too bad an idea, but we could have it done after the second violation. I did a little research and Middlesex County Public Health Department in their Annual Report, they state that they have fine schedule which is $250 for the first violation; $500 for the second and $1000 for the third or any subsequent violation. It also states that the agency can request that the State revoke an establishment's license after the second violation. Perhaps, after the second violation, perhaps that is the time that we can require a sign being put in the owner's window. This is something that we should all consider and listen to the views of the local store owners and we can come up with a compromise that works for everyone.
Councilman Hoff: Mr. Greene and I both voted against the ordinance and I think this ordinance goes too far to punish people. We should have laws to protect us but not to penalize someone for making a living. I hope that we can bring this back to the Council and take some steps to make it more livable.
Councilman Calogera: I think that it is a good ordinance and that Old Bridge is taking the lead in putting an ordinance like this through in the State and I think that we have to be responsible to help our kids.
Councilman Testino: I voted for this ordinance initially because I am a concerned parent and I know that this is a serious health issue for our community and before I want to revisit it I want to see the legal report that I asked for regarding the ramifications and what the challenges could be and what the appropriate punishment should be on this issue before we touch it again. I don't think it is ready to go back up.
Councilwoman Panos: I also voted against this ordinance and I am the mother of teenagers and I don't want my children smoking but I am a strict parent. When you have store owners who have a tremendous turn around in their staff, it is very difficult to punish them because one of their staff made a mistake one day. I think that putting up a sign for selling to minors after the first offense puts a burden on the business owners. I think this ordinance is harsh and perhaps we should revisit it and make some sort of compromise.
Councilman Baker: I want you to understand what is going on here tonight. If I sell cigarettes to a minor I am going to be fined if I get caught and they are going to put a sign in their window. One of the reasons we are here tonight is to get your opinion on this matter from you folks. Do you think this is a good or bad idea?
Resident: Is this a law?
Councilman Baker: This is a township law, it's an ordinance.
Councilman Baker: Some people think it is too harsh for a first time offense to put a sign.
Councilman Calogera: Would you be in agreement if a sign were posted in the store after a third time offense?
Resident: You want to put a sign up that says you can't do this or that. Well you can't stop me I am 21. A mother or father is not going to stop their kid from smoking and a sign is not going to do that either. The sign does not mean anything, it is the kid themselves that should realize cigarettes are no good. You cannot expect a sign to do it.
Councilman Calogera: The purpose of the sign is if I am frequenting the store, and I see the sign, then I will know that he is selling cigarettes to minors and I don't want to spend my money there and support someone who is breaking the law. It gives me the option of doing that.
Mayor Cannon: I just wanted to say that this is a very serious matter and it is illegal to sell cigarettes to minors. I think that Old Bridge has been in the forefront to make it very difficult for youngsters to get cigarettes. We were one of the first towns to monitor cigarette vending machines whereby we worked out a means to have the vending machines controlled by the person at the cash register so that cigarettes would not be sold to minors. I think that what Mr. Valentino is trying to do is bring that same responsibility to all our store owners and that they need to be responsible for upholding the law. I think that sometimes we have to go to extreme measures to bring this home. Obviously, we are responsible for our children but we also need help from the community in keeping our children safe. I think that the Council certainly acted prudently but perhaps it does need some revising but basically the essence of the ordinance is very positive and Old Bridge should be applauded for moving forward on this.
Mr. Valentino: I am the one who presented the new ordinance that was passed. Parents have to do parenting. If mom and dad go off to work they don't know what their kids are doing. We have another ordinance on the books #42-98 , where our police department finds a minor under 18 anywhere in Old Bridge smoking, he is supposed to ticket that minor and the parents are to be notified. The idea of that ordinance was to let the parents know what the kids are doing.
The new ordinance states that if someone knowingly sells cigarettes to a minor, this is the worst kind of individual that I would want to do business with. This puts the business on notice, they are making a profit on selling cigarettes, I don't want to take that away, I want them to take the responsibility for selling cigarettes. My daughter and I took A-1 Market to court and my daughter mailed a list to the police department of about 15 kids that she knew who were buying cigarettes at this store, she was either with them or knew that they were buying at A-1, that was part of the complaint that we filed . He got off with a $200 fine by pleading guilty. I went around the corner from A-1 Market to a store owned by an Indian and I asked him about the new law and he thought it was great because the kids don't come in here because they I tell them to get out and go buy at A-1. That is a proprietor who should be commended because he is doing his job. Next week at the Council meeting, I have a presentation and a mock-up of the sign.
Resident: What about liquor stores?
Mr. Valentino: Liquor stores are not convenience stores and minors do not go in there.
Councilman Hoff: Mr. Valentino for all his good intentions would have us live under big brother, a police state. He wants to arrest kids. This is not a police state and everyone is responsible for their own kids.
President Butler: We are not going to have this dialogue now. Save it for Monday.
I spoke with Mr. Valentino before the meeting and he wants to propose something like a 30 day offense in reference to the sign. The first conviction would be 30 days; second offense would be six month; now if the someone comes in with false I.D., the store owner cannot be held responsible. I have gotten many calls on this and we are going to take a look at this and revisit this maybe not on the next agenda, but the one after that.
DO-4 Ordinance amending revised General Ordinances Chapter 12, Fire Prevention relating to required safety inspections.
Move-up
DO-5 Ordinance to vacate a portion of Steamboat Landing Road a/k/a Dock Road
President Butler: We have a situation here where we have three residents and work has to be done in this area or they will be land locked.
Councilman Redmond: Is this the property next to the Wawa?
President Butler: Yes.
Councilman Testino: We were going to make sure that this property could not be subdivided. I want to remind you of that.
DO-6 Ordinance amending Summer Recess Before and After School fee Schedule and Summer Recess Program.
Move-up
CONSENT AGENDA
ACTION TO BE TAKEN TONIGHT - 10/7/02
C-1 Memorialize telephonic vote of September 24, 2002 - Granting permission to put up tents for the Grand Opening of Commerce Bank which took place on Saturday, September 28, 2002.
RESOLUTION #494-02
MEMORIALIZE TELEPHONIC VOTE OF SEPTEMBER 24, 2002 - GRANTING PERMISSION TO PUT UP TENTS FOR GRAND OPENING OF COMMERCE BANK, WHICH TOOK PLACE ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2002
BE IT RESOLVED by the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge, County of Middlesex, State of New Jersey that:
WHEREAS, the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge wished to respond to a special request by the administration of the new Commerce Bank to have tents available for their grand opening event; and
WHEREAS, the time frame to have it approved would have been after the date of the next regularly scheduled Council meeting,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge that a special telephone vote was taken to allow Commerce Bank to put up its tents for the grand opening event;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge gave their verbal permission for the tents to be put up.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge formally approves their verbalized consent to put up the tents.
Moved by Councilman Redmond, seconded by Councilman Calogera and so ordered on the following roll call vote:
AYES: Councilmen Baker, Calogera, Greene, Hoff, Maher, Redmond, President Butler.
NAYS: None.
ABSTAIN: Councilman Testino, Councilwoman Panos
C-2 Lakeridge Halloween Parade, Saturday, October 26, 2002
Move-up
C-3 Bingo/Raffle - RA55-02 St. Bernadette, RA56-02 St. Ambrose Combined, RA57-02 & RA58-02 - Catholic Daughters of the Americas
Move-up
C-4 Madison Park Halloween Parade Saturday, October 26, 2002 (no rain date)
Move-up
DISCUSSION RESOLUTION
DR-1 Award Contract #02-23 Curb Replacement - 2002/2003 (Part 2) to Pioneer General Contracting, Inc., for the amount of $323,098.99 (Cert #1084)(Affirm Act)
Move-up
DR-2 Reimbursement of permit fees in the amount of $170.00 to the Sayrewoods South Little League (electrical & fire permits)
Move-up
DR-3 Award professional services agreement to Maser Consulting in the amount of "Not to exceed $11,100.00 for preparation of a water allocation permit feasibility report for the proposed Golf Course - Lambertson & Rose Farms Project.
Councilman Testino: I will give you some background on this. It is for work that will be done on the Rose & Lambertson properties. We worked out an agreement with Marian Smith's estate that we were releasing the property and now we will be entering the purchasing phase. We are going to have some professional services to give us information about water allocation which is necessary in order to have a golf course. This is a key component to moving forward on this project. This firm was the lowest bidder and the Golf Committee has unanimously recommended Maser Consulting.
Councilman Maher: What is this water allocation going to be telling us?
Councilman Testino: In the golf industry you need to have a certain amount of water anywhere from 1 to 3 million gallons of water per month. Without the water you cannot have a golf course. This information will tell us whether or not we can sink wells and draw from the aquifer. There are two types of permits, one is for up to 100,000 gallons and the other is for over 100,000 gallons. We are looking for the higher because if we had to buy water from MUA it would be cost prohibitive and the golf course development could not proceed. Most golf courses have their own wells and draw their own water. We are in a highly restricted area in the State for sinking wells and drawing water and since we had the drought this summer the permits are scarce so before we move forward with a full scale development.
Move-up
DR-4 Waiver of $80.00 in permit fees - Garden State Baptist Church
Move-up
DR-5 To cancel Tax Sale Cert #93070 and refund erroneously collected funds reference 6 Lindsay Circle Block 14301, Lot 6 in the amount of $532.28 plus legal interest for a total of $784.38.
Move-up
DR-6 Payment of accumulated time - Benjamin Cabio - October 1, 2002 Retirement in the amount of $10,374.96.
Move-up
DR-7 Memorialize motion of September 9, 2002 on the appeal time expiring and payment of the special compensation case of Conde vs. Township of Old Bridge.
Move-up
DR-8 Temporary Emergency Budget Appropriation for Fiscal Year 2003 - Current Budget in the amount of $3,738,050.68, Arena Utility in the amount of $129,953.34 and Parking Utility in the amount of $3,868,504.02
Move-up
DR-9 Temporary Emergency Budget Appropriation for Fiscal Year 2003 - Current Budget in the amount of $37,500.00 (Kennel)
Councilman Testino: We did not have these in the Introduction of the Budget, are we now committing these funds for final budget?
Ron Amorino: We are approving the budget one month at a time. As far as the $3 million dollars is concerned that is a debt reduction and things like that. The kennel expense is one that we had not originally planned for. We have these people on staff and they have to be paid.
Councilman Testino: This kennel item was not included in the Mayor's budget?
Ron Amorino: No.
Councilman Testino: If we don't do this then we have to fire them am I correct?
Councilman Maher: I thought they were on payroll till the end of the year.
Mayor Cannon: That is not so.
Councilman Testino: So we have to do this so they can get paid. Has the budget committee met with the kennel people?
President Butler: I will get to that at the end of the meeting.
Councilman Maher: Was the person who works in the arena utility on payroll till the end of the year?
Mayor Cannon: They were on till the end of December.
Councilman Redmond: The $129,000.00 is there an offsetting revenue for this or are we just carrying the arena?
Ron Amorino: The arena has its own revenue. I don't know to what extent. The arena is revenue producing but I don't know how far off it is.
Councilman Redmond: Can we get this information before Monday?
Councilman Hoff: I wonder what the value of the arena is with the prospect of leasing it to someone or to subdivide it and have someone run it, the whole thing.
Tom Badcock: The only thing that would do it is a national hockey league team. The only team of that type in our area does have the Philadelphia Flyers and they are not interested in coming into Ranger/Devil country and leasing an arena. We have a problem here if you want to lease this thing because it is a 6 month area and not enclosed. It does not lose money on its operating budget it only loses money for us to do debt service for the new addition. So its operation covers its expenses.
Move-up
DR-10 Resolution to accept a three (3) year lease with Canon for a copier for the mail room. State Contract for a cost of $1,331.85 per month for up to 50,000 copies, excess copies will cost .012. (Cert #1086)(Affirm Act.)
Move-up
DR-11 Memorialize Pinkiewicz Motion September 23, 2002 remanding sub division application to the Zoning Board
Move-up
DR-12 To retain legal services from Sanford Cherin, Esq. to pursue an in rem foreclosure action on Block 01003, Lot 40 Walko & Block 1300 Lot 23.12 Beren Corp. $2000.00 fee (Cert. #1085)(Affirm. Act)
Move-up
DR-13 Resolution accepting NJDOT's Jurisdictional Agreement #4322 for first year. Rt. 18 in the area of Old Matawan Road.
Move-up
DR-14 Award of Ground Lease to AT&T for minimum bid of $17,199.00 for first year.
Alayne Shepler: There was some discussion between my office and the Clerk's office and I know that you received correspondence from the Clerk's office advising that this bid was received ten minutes too late. Subsequent to that I had a discussion with the Clerk, Mrs. Saracino and consulted with the legal department, this ground lease was advertised once before and there was only one bidder, AT&T, they failed to fill in the documents properly and we did in fact reject the bid. The second time, unfortunately, the gentleman was caught in traffic and he was ten minutes late. The Public Purchasing Statute which 40A:11, states that no bid may be received after the advertised time. However, this bid was not advertised under this number it was advertised under 40A:12, which is local lands and building law and there is not such restriction in that law. So I asked the attorney, since there was no other bidder other than AT&T and there was no harm to anyone, would it be appropriate to award this bid and he has given me the advice that it would be appropriate to award the bid. This is revenue to the township and it is for a five year lease.
Move-up
DR-15 Resolution authorizing cancellation of CDBG Mortgages in the amount of $7,707.00 and $3,700.00 for Joyce Wetstein.
ACTION TO BE TAKEN TONIGHT:
RESOLUTION #493-02
AUTHORIZING CANCELLATION OF CDBG MORTGAGE JOYCE WETSTEIN
BE IT RESOLVED, by the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge, County of Middlesex, State of New Jersey:
WHEREAS, two (2) Community Block Development Grant (CDBG) Mortgages were entered into by Joyce M. Wetstein with the Township of Old Bridge for premises known as 51 Mercury Circle, South Amboy, New Jersey, 08879; and
WHEREAS, the amounts of the (2) two CDBG Mortgages were for $7,707.00 and $3,700.00; and
WHEREAS, the above named individual has paid the outstanding amount of the mortgages and is requesting cancellation of said mortgages.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge, County of Middlesex, State of New Jersey that the CDBG Mortgages in the amount of $7,707.00 and $3,700.00 are hereby canceled. The Township Council hereby authorizes the Mayor and Clerk to execute the discharge documents.
Moved by Councilman Testino, seconded by Councilman Redmond and so ordered on the following roll call vote:
AYES: Councilmen Baker, Calogera, Greene, Hoff, Maher, Redmond, Testino, Councilwoman Panos, President Butler.
NAYS: None.
DISCUSSION
D-1 Codification
Clerk Saracino: The last ordinance in our blue books goes back to 1991, we do have new code book, however until the Council adopts an ordinance accepting the new code book we cannot use it. What we are looking to do is bring in someone from the Code Company to explain all the changes because I know there were questions about the Administrative Code portion of it. We can have someone come in and explain it because we really do need it because other departments are relying on the new book, which as far as we are concerned does not exist.
We have someone from the Code company who is willing to come in for a fee of $2000.00 for approximately 2-3 hours.
Deputy Ward: She would do all the research before she came in with all the changes that were made, there would be no handouts, but she would be ready and available to answer all questions and address all concerns regarding any changes that were made.
Councilman Calogera: Why no handouts for Council?
Deputy Ward: Basically, being that everything was already handed out from Legal before, she would just go over everything that was done from Legal. If they have to print handouts and type up the information it would be much more expensive. She is just going to refer to notes of the changes that were made by Legal.
Councilman Calogera: I am not looking for notes of the whole thing, but rather a synopsis of what changes have been made.
Deputy Ward: She will do that, but she will not have handouts.
Clerk Saracino: We are requesting that you hold a special meeting because we don't want this "lumped in" with your other meetings. We want you to devote the time to have this person come in and listen to her presentation. We have laws on the books for the past eleven years and every time someone has a problem we have to go back and check to see what new laws have been passed.
Councilman Calogera: I agree with you 100%, but I would just like to get an idea of how much it would cost for copies of her notes, so that we can made a decision as to whether or not we want to have that.
Clerk Saracino: You would get the same information from our minutes. We will be in attendance and taking the notes and rather than paying an outsider, we would be doing it anyway.
Mayor Cannon: I am not sure what is going to happen for $2000.00. The essence of the changes have been made by the township attorney to make sure that everything is in sync with our form of government and what state statute requires under our form of government and what the codification company does is just sort correlate this and put it together and cross reference it. However, if you have questions about the substance, you need to sit down and meet with Bill and I know that he has been ready to do this for months if not well over a year. I agree with
Rose-Marie that we absolutely need a code book. We have people calling all the time and wanting copies of certain ordinances and we are flipping back and forth because we are not sure what has been okayed and what has not. I think that before you spend $2000.00 that you schedule a workshop with Bill and go over the substance and then if you still have concerns about how it is put together, then you can someone come in. Am I wrong?
Clerk Saracino: No, you are not wrong except that the Council has asked Bill for reports and it has been going on for a long period of time.
Mayor Cannon: He has given the Council reports and he has done his research. I think that if they still have questions, then they need to discuss it with him.
Councilman Calogera: Can we get Mr. Ruggierio and his office to set-up something within the next month, if that is reasonable, so that we can move forward on this?
Clerk Saracino: If there are still questions after that then we can have someone come in.
Councilman Testino: This has been kicking around since Tom English was Council President. Even Mr. Ruggierio has said that it has been so long with so many revisions, he could not tell you what things were changed and what was not. That has been part of the problem because the Council wants to know what authorities have been changed and how the power has shifted. That is the reason that the Council has not been able to adopt this thing because there is so much revision, a wholesale adoption of this book means that all those revisions are being adopted whether they were passed on individually by the Council or not. So if you adopt the book, you are adopting everything that was changed whether or not the Council debated it, passed on it individually in ordinance or not. That is why the presidents from Tom English to Reginald Butler have not been able to complete this thing, because no one person could stand there and tell you how this has changed from one version to the next. Generally, we have received Bill's opinions and he has given us some highlights, but even then, he himself, when he was in front of us, said that he could not outline each and everyone of the changes because there have been so many revisions. I still fail to see how you are going to get a wholesale review of that book unless this Council just wants to vote on it for the necessity of getting it in place. Now if you want to give up your powers or change whatever the existing powers are then do it. I am hesitant and I don't know how everyone else feels, I am carefully guarding the powers of the Council as the Mayor may be guarding the powers of her office. This is where the separation of government comes into power and this book governs that separation of power and that is the core of the functions of the two bodies. If you don't understand it or don't know what you are voting on I don't understand how you can make an informed decision. You have to sit down and go through the whole book yourself or sit down and listen to each and every change and if you have a question, then you ask the attorney how that impacts your form of government and your authorities under that form of government and then you can vote on it knowingly and informed.
Councilman Redmond: I took a copy of what was not completed yet and the book is extremely big and read perhaps one quarter of it, but I don't have anything to compare it to. I have to agree with Mr. Testino that somewhere we have to have a workshop with Bill, where we go through what the stuff is. I agree with the Clerk, that we not do this on a regular meeting night, maybe we could have a Saturday morning, but we do have to do this. There is a lot to be explained even the stuff that was not changed that much.
Alayne Shepler: Rose-Marie and I have had this discussion on many occasions because that book is just as important to her office as it is to my office and every other department. What we are talking about here is codification means that you put together a bunch of material and you put it into one place, that is what the codifier did. In this case, the codifier is a very, very talented lady, that I have know for over 20 years named Florence McCleary at Coded Systems. A codifier is only as good as the material given. In this case the argument or distinction is can Mrs. McCleary lend something to your discussion. I think we need to sit with our township attorney first. Mr. Ruggierio is the gentleman who sent the material to the codifier. He took the original codification, which everyone has, and you looked at that and what has happened is that the original codification states that we were Madison Township, well we all know that Madison Township was a very, very long time ago. We changed from a Township Committee form of government to a Mayor/Council form of government known as the Faulkner Plan. The major changes that Mr. Ruggierio made in that book had to do with the separation of duties and powers between the legislative and administrative. Under Faulkner, the Mayor is the administrator. The legislative body, the people who make and pass the laws are the members of the Council. So I think that part of the problem is that there has always been a misunderstanding that somehow Mr. Ruggierio had diluted the powers of the governing body, so to speak. When, in fact, what he did was to make the old form of government work the way as the new form of government. The only person who can logically explain the changes that have been made from the old book to the new book is Mr. Ruggierio. Mrs. McCleary is a wonderful lady and I think she needs to come in at a later date, but you need to have your basic questions answered by Mr. Ruggierio. The questions I have been hearing for the last four years were did we lose our power, did the Mayor gain more power, and that is not what this book should be about, it should be straight forward. Faulkner says the Mayor does this, Faulkner says the Council does this. I think that we have to put that into perspective and we need to have a separate meeting to sit down and go over the code book.
President Butler: I would like you to check with Bill to see when we can get together and have a workshop. Perhaps you can get three different dates and submit it to the Council and we will try to coordinate the meeting.
D-2 Security window and gate in the Clerk's office.
Councilman Testino: I am just wondering when this work will be done. I know that other work of similar nature is being done in the building and the Council approved this and I am wondering why the administration has seen fit not to include it in the last work order.
Alayne Shepler: We are still working on it. We have ordered the gate and panic buttons for not only the Clerk's office, but other offices. Unfortunately, the enunciator panel came in wrong and had to be sent back. The work is scheduled for sometime next week. Mr. Heims is working on the gate that will go across the counter in the Clerk's Office.
Councilman Testino: There were other improvements such as moving the doors.
Alayne Shepler: That will not happen.
Councilman Testino: Is that because the Council did not authorize it or because administration decided against it?
Alayne Shepler: The administration feels that it would counter productive.
Councilman Testino: You did not raise that at the time of the bonding.
Alayne Shepler: Yes, we did.
Councilman Testino: So regardless of what the Council feels, you are going to make your own decision on that?
Alayne Shepler: It is the Mayor's decision to act on what is done to the building and she has made that decision.
Councilman Baker: When you walk into the Clerk's office you can reach out and touch these women on the other side of the counter. What we have requested and approved budgeting for is a window so that you would not have direct access to them. They collected almost $29,000.00 in cash over the past several weeks so we are looking for a window to afford them some type of protection.
President Butler: The Clerk's office did have a situation last week, where they had to call the police and have an individual removed from their office so we do need to do something for the safety of these women in the Clerk's office.
Move-up
D-3 Lambertson Property
Councilman Testino: It appears to me under the settlement that the Township entered into with Marion Smith and her estate that we will now have to purchase the Lambertson Farm. Is the appropriate down payment money in the budget and is it anticipated for this year's budget?
Mayor Cannon: We bonded $3 million dollars and I think that we are $500,000 short.
Himanshu Shah: As far as I know, the price is about $3.5 million dollars. We have secured $3 million dollars, we need to secure an additional $500,000 by bonding. We have a down payment of $150,000 that will allow us to borrow $3 million dollars. If additional bonding is required beyond that, obviously we will need more than $150,000 as the down payment.
Councilman Testino: The $3 million dollars is the amount that the Council spends on the roads, curbs and all the other repairs that we do annually, so if you already have that money spoken for, then we have to put more money in the budget to do this project, yes or no?
Himanshu Shah: Yes that is correct. But, for this particular bond ordinance you may not need the down payment because it is funded through grants and as you know the new laws allow you to adopt a bond ordinance not requiring a down payment, so you won't need a down payment for this $3.5 million dollars.
Councilman Testino: That will be great if that is what you tell us before we adopt the final budget.
Himanshu Shah: We will probably be adopting a bond ordinance before we adopt the budget.
D-4 Restricted Senior Housing Gated Communities (Aberdeen)
Councilman Testino: This has been on our agenda for awhile. I had hoped that at one point we would start working on an ordinance instead of being flood-gated by developers who want to come in and build these things without having a little more control over them. John gave me the Aberdeen Ordinance and I have provided one from South Brunswick, and I thought that we would either have a collaborative effort or get outside help if John's office needs that to amend the general ordinances so that we have a gated community ordinance with required open spaces and recreation components, similar to the ones we have seen in the two versions that have been put forth for discussion. It also brings me to the point as to where we stand with Mr. Sheehan and the ordinance that was supposed to be back before us in September?
John Vincenti: We are still waiting for Mr. Sheehan's ordinance.
Councilman Testino: Can we schedule Mr. Sheen to come before us so we can discuss this item and that ordinance? I want to move this ordinance because there will be a major impact on us and we have to be ready.
John Vincenti: My department calls him on a regular basis. We are looking for the ordinance just as eagerly as you. With respect to the age restricted ordinance, I think that topic has some major merit and I would suggest that we take the same line in wanting to advance such an ordinance and hire outside help to move it along.
Councilman Testino: I ask that we get the RFP's for that purpose and start looking at advancing that ordinance because it will have significant impact on the taxes in this town.
D5 Amend closing time of premises with Consumption to 2:00 A.M., including Saturday and Sunday, except for New Year's Day.
Councilman Calogera: The report that was given to us by the Clerk's office shows that there would only be approximately six premises that would be affected and they appear to be all bars. On Saturday nights they would have to close at 2:00 A.M. instead of 3:00 A.M.. The restaurants from what I understand all close prior to that hour. I don't think it is a lot of premises to inconvenience and I don't think there would be a lot of negative impact on having them close one hour earlier on a Saturday night versus of having the benefit because surrounding towns close at 2:00 A.M., and the overflow would not spill into our town. I think that the safety issue to our residents is important because we don't need to be bringing people from other towns into ours because we close one hour later.
Councilman Hoff: This will not affect six bars, it will affect everybody that serves alcohol whether it be a bar or a restaurant. The town of Laurence Harbor was built by those businesses that sold hot dogs, sandwiches and beer. These are the people who built this town. We were a recreational town where tourists came. To close the town down one hour earlier will unduly punish these people.
Councilman Calogera: This is no longer a "recreational area"; we have residents who live here all year long. I believe that people living there expect us to act responsibly and the people throughout town expect us to protect them from drunken drivers. All the people in all the wards deserve this consideration.
Move-up
D-6 Code of Conduct for coaches, management and parents in reference to law recently passed by Governor McGreevey.
Councilman Baker: We are looking for input from administration and the Council and when we have this, we will then want to establish an ordinance in Old Bridge dealing with this subject.
Move-up
D-7 Public Speaking at meetings other than Regular Meetings
Clerk Saracino: Recent government legislation was enacted to open public meetings to the public. I need to know from you how you want to handle this matter with regard to time limit and at what point the open session should begin and whether or not there should be a public portion at the end.
Councilman Redmond: I would like to suggest that we have only a three minute portion at the beginning and no public portion at the end.
Councilman Testino: My suggestion is that if the public wants to speak they be permitted to do so at the Agenda meeting after business has been taken care of.
Councilman Calogera: I think we need to give the public time to speak with regard to items that are not on the agenda, it should be for 2-3 minutes on any topic.
Councilman Greene: I have a recommendation, and I am not sure why it is happening this way, but at a regular meeting we have 3 minutes in the beginning and at the end, we are allowing the public to come up and go on and on. I would suggest that at the end of our regular meetings that we limit that portion to 3 minutes.
President Butler: It sounds like that the consensus of opinion is that you want to conduct township business first and then open the meeting to the public at the end.
Councilman Greene: It is suggested that we form a committee to look into this matter and come back with recommendation.
President Butler: So who wants to be on the Committee? I see that Councilmen Greene, Calogera and Councilwoman Panos have volunteered for this committee and they will meet and try to work out a feasible solution to this matter.
D-8 Design Immunity Resolutions by CJIF
Alayne Shepler: We belong to the Central Jersey Joint Insurance Fund, they have recommended that we pass resolutions to protect us from suits. One states that the governing body will pass a resolution regarding the design for a public building and the other states that after you design the building that you approve the way it has been finally built and that will stop some of the frivolous law suits and they have asked us to sponsor it.
Move-up
DR-9 Waiver of Performance Guarantee - Pabco
Alayne Shepler: Pabco the sole bidder for biodegradable leaf bags is not required to obtain a Performance Bond on their $33,900.00 contract. (They have supplied the Township with bags for the past several years.
Move-up
President Butler: I have few things to discuss. We originally talked about introducing the budget on October 14th . If I recall Stella Ward sent a memo which was dated September 19th and we have the different departments and the different chairs, and we have the committees and we need to start having these budget meetings. So we need the chair of each committee to set up these meetings with their people for all these workshops. Also, please advise when you have the dates and times for your meetings and I will advise the Mayor.
Himanshu Shah: I just want to make sure that you know October 14th is the Public Hearing because you have already introduced the budget. You can hold your departmental hearings but we need to have the budget hearing as introduced and then in the future when you introduce the amendments then you can have another public hearing on those amendments and then you can adopt the budget.
Councilman Maher: With respect to the budget, I know that we all got some disappointing news that Old Bridge Township will only be receiving $100,000 from the DCA towards our budget. Surrounding towns, such as South Amboy will be receiving $900,000; Piscataway received $500,000 and Edison got $700,000. As a point of information, as part of our budget process, you can petition the State government to see whether or not you can get some money to help lower our tax rate.
Himanshu Shah: Generally, the Division of Local Government Service will not provide any additional information except for the amount they award to each community. They basically indicated that we were getting $100,000 and that was it. The Mayor had a conversation with the Director and I will let the mayor address that. We are collecting different towns applications to see if there is a justification as to why they received such big awards. I think that we have a legitimate issue. We have a higher tax increase compared to other towns mentioned.
Councilman Maher: I would like to request that we have a resolution prepared for Monday to send to the Division of Local Government Services stating our disappointment in the amount of our award. A copy should also be sent to our assemblyman and our senator.
Himanshu Shah: We all are supposed to file forms listing our financial information. To understand further we are collecting the forms from other surrounding communities. We should be entitled to more and we will be looking into this. We have continued to maintain our tax rate for the past years and we should be entitled to a lot more that we were awarded. After our review, we will provide you with an analysis after reading those applications in order to see if there is a reason behind why we did not get as much as the other towns.
Councilwoman Panos: Did we ask for State aid last year?
Himanshu Shah: This is the first time we have requested in about ten years.
Councilwoman Panos: I think that we should let them know that we have not asked for money in ten years and they are only giving $100,000 to us when other towns have received a lot more. The pen is a mighty sword, I think you people should write the governor, the freeholders, the newspapers to let them know how bad they treated Old Bridge.
Mayor Cannon: I did speak with Mr. Watkinson, and they are the ones that divey up the dollars. We were told that they were concerned about the Police overtime. So, I asked if I were to have hired more police, would we have been considered then? The answer was that you would have not been considered at all and you would not have received any money at all. I feel that we are getting a bit of a runaround and I think that is why Mr. Shah suggested we gather all the applications and review them to find out what they did. We have not asked for any aid in ten years and this year we asked for assistance and I think that we made a very good case and we have a bare bones budget, and I think that we should be entitled to more aid. We are going to pursue this and certainly we welcome the Council to be involved and to lobby for our fair share.
Councilman Testino: I think you are heading down the right track. I certainly don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth but let's try to figure the process out. I didn't think we were going to get $4 million, but I thought we would get more that $100,000. We do a good job here and we are being penalized. I cannot tell you how they award these monies, they are totally discretionary and that is what they say when you pin them to the wall. So let's find out how Old Bridge can get a little more; lets make those phone calls and put the pressure on them.
Himanshu Shah: We should not be attacking them and we should be tactful in finding out why we did not get the money we should have gotten. It used to be called discretionary aid, but it is now referred to as extraordinary aid and they were supposed to do the allocation based on the merits of the application.
Councilman Greene: It was only a few weeks ago that the Council wanted to add money based on this aid, of which we only got $100,000. Boy am I glad that we did not add money to the budget because I think we would have been in a worse situation. I do want to ask the State why we were only given that amount in the grant and what the criteria was for this amount when other towns received so much more. What is the difference between our budget and theirs?
REPORTS
R-1 Report of criteria and administration of police hiring and qualifications.
Alayne Shepler: I sent another request to the police department and I am waiting for a response.
Councilwoman Panos: I have been asking for this report for over a month. This is public information and I am entitled to it and if I don't have it by the next meeting there are going to be repercussions.
R-2 Liquor Licenses (Types, owners & operating hours)
Clerk Saracino: That report has been provided in your packet.
MOTION
Motion to adjourn at 9:15 p.m. made by Councilman Baker, seconded by Councilman Calogera and so ordered on the following roll call vote:
AYES: Councilmen Baker, Calogera, Greene, Hoff, Maher, Redmond, Testino, Councilwoman Panos, President Butler
NAYS: None.
________________________________
Reginald Butler, Council President
_________________________________
Rose-Marie Saracino, Township Clerk
vo
dist. |