An Agenda Meeting of the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge was held on Monday, October 18, 2004 in the Municipal Complex. The meeting was called to order at 8:00 p.m., by President Baker who asked all present to participate in a salute to the flag which was followed by a short prayer, followed by a moment of silence for our troops in harms way.

Deputy Clerk Stella Ward announced that the meeting was 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 areas. The next Council meeting will be held on October 25, 2004 at 8:00 p.m.

Roll call by Deputy Clerk Ward showed the following members answering present:
Councilmen Butler, Calogera, Testino, Volkert, President Baker. Councilwoman Panos arrived at 8:05 p.m.; Councilman Gillespie arrived at 8:10 p.m.. Councilmen Greene and Maher were absent.

ACTION ITEMS – 10/18/04

RESOLUTION 572

BE IT RESOLVED, by the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge, County of Middlesex, State of New Jersey that:

WHEREAS, the Madison Park Homeowners Association has proposed a Halloween Parade on Saturday, October 23, 2004 at 1:00 p.m. (no rain date); and

WHEREAS, the Township Council wishes to endorse such a parade and permit such parade to occur in the public streets; and

WHEREAS, a resolution is required for that purpose.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge, County of Middlesex, State of New Jersey that it hereby grants permission for a Halloween Parade to be conducted by the Madison Park Homeowners Association.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Parade Organizer must contact the Traffic & Safety Bureau for assistance (732) 679-5959

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

AYES: Councilmen Butler, Calogera, Testino, Volkert, Councilwoman Panos, President Baker.

NAYS: None.

ABSENT: Councilmen Gillespie, Greene, Maher

No Discussion

RESOLUTION No. 573

WHEREAS, there will be a delay in the adoption of the 2004 Township of Old Bridge, County of Middlesex, State of New Jersey Local Municipal Budget; and

WHEREAS, if additional funds are not budgeted for the following, the public welfare will be adversely affected.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge, County of Middlesex, New Jersey, that in accordance with N.J.S.A.40A:4-20, an emergency temporary appropriation be and same is hereby made for the amount of $3,383,860.00 and that said emergency temporary appropriation shall be provided in full in the 2005 budget. (See attached)

CURRENT BUDGET $3,281,360.00

Other Expenses

ARENA UTILITY $102,500.00

TOTAL $3,383,860.00

Motion made by Councilman Butler, seconded by Councilman Volkert and so ordered on the following roll call vote:

AYES: Councilmen Butler, Calogera, Gillespie, Testino, Volkert, Councilwoman Panos, President Baker.

NAYS: None.

ABSENT: Councilmen Greene, Maher

Prior to the roll call vote the following discussion took place:

Councilman Calogera: Can we get an explanation on this?

Himanshu Shah: This was passed last week, but we did not have a 2/3 vote of the entire Council membership. We need six votes and we only had five votes. This will extend the temporary budget for another month since we have not adopted our 2005 budget.

Mayor Phillips: We have not gotten our State aid numbers and until we do we have to operate with the temporary appropriations.

Councilman Calogera: I see the arena utility is lumped in there too; where do we stand with this?

Himanshu Shah: During the budget workshop, we can discuss this at length. If you recall my message when we submitted the budget, the arena deficit is less than previous years, so there is an improvement in the financial condition of the arena. I believe we are budgeting about $60,000 of deficit versus last year which was about $180,000. I will be happy to e-mail you the exact information.

ORDINANCE FOR FIRST READING

FR-1 Ordinance amending Chapter X, Section 3.3 – Parking prohibited at all times on Certain streets (Highpointe)

Move-up

FR-2 Ordinance to amend the official zoning map of the Township of Old Bridge

Move-up

FR-3 Ordinance to amend and ordinance titled “The Land Development Ordinance of the Township of Old Bridge

Move-up

Councilman Calogera: I would just like to know before next week what changes have been made to FR-2 and FR-3.

John Vincenti: There are some changes and I will e-mail them to you.

President Baker: Were the changes being discussed in the packet sent out to the Council?

John Vincenti: I believe so.

Councilwoman Panos: (inaudible)

Attorney Convery: I think John and I can see to it that all council people get a memo discussing the proposed changes. Very briefly, the parking changes increased for dance halls, night clubs, et cetera, these would apply to the Breakfast Club just as it would to any other club. The same with the official map, we will give you a memo indicating the changes so you can see it on the map.

FR-4 Ordinance amending Chapter II, Article III Meetings of the Township Council Section 2-3.8a of the Revised General Ordinances of the Township of Old Bridge

Move-up

Councilman Volkert: I have a problem with this change.

Councilman Gillespie: I personally would find it difficult to be here by 7:00 p.m. because I would have to leave my office before 6:00 p.m. and sometimes on a Monday night that would be a problem. If you wanted to have an Agenda session start at 7:00 p.m., because usually there are no action items and have the Regular meetings start at 8:00 p.m., that might be a way to compromise and accomplish some of what you are trying to do.

Councilman Calogera: With regard to the 7:00 p.m. start, a number of my constituents feel that is early especially if people want to speak and they have to sign in ½ hour before, which means they have to come in about 6:30 p.m. in most cases. Being that public comment is one of the first things on the agenda, a 7:00 p.m. rule would preclude many from speaking.

President Baker: What I was trying to accomplish was to give the people more time to comment. We sent a memo out to all the council members through the Clerk's office and we received limited response back. My impression was to start the meeting early so that we could start our business earlier. If the majority of the Council does not feel this works for the public, we will vote it down.

Councilman Calogera: Are we going to extend the three minutes for the public to speak?

Councilman Gillespie: I think it is commendable what we are trying to do and I think that it will make us more productive, because nothing productive gets done after 11:00 p.m.

President Baker: I just picked 7:00 p.m. because I think the hours between 7-11 p.m., it is four hours and we should be done.

Councilwoman Panos: There are a lot of people who come from the city and it would be difficult for them to be here at 7:00 p.m.

President Baker: We have the same three people here every meeting.

Councilwoman Panos: Everyone should have the opportunity to speak and it should be convenient for them, rather than making it more difficult by starting earlier.

President Baker: I am fine with that, starting at 8:00 p.m., but my opinion was that we should start a little earlier. If there were something of utmost importance, we certainly could extend the time, but I feel that four hours of dialogue is more than enough.

Councilman Calogera: My suggestion is that perhaps half way through the meeting we should take a 10 minute break, which we do not usually do. The other issue is if you change the time to 7:00 p.m., are you going to give people more speaking time like 5 minutes instead of 3 minutes?

President Baker: No, the ordinance that came with your package is quite clear. We would start the meeting at 7:00 p.m., end at 11:00 p.m. unless there was something so urgent that we need to extend it , which I would. We would not start new business after 10:00 p.m.. The ordinance does not address or change the amount of time the public speaks.

Councilman Testino: Whatever gives the most access to the public, I have no problem. I just think it is a matter of opinion if you start at one time or another, those who want to be here will do so regardless of the time. I do think that after a certain time in the evening, that we should call it quits because if we really are going to pay attention after a full day of work and then four hours at the meeting, you really literally cannot give much more. So at some point, we should have a time limit and if we have that much business afoot then we should call a special meeting.

Councilman Volkert: I have no problem with quitting at 11:00 p.m., but I think that starting at 7:30 p.m. might make it more convenient for some of the public.

Councilman Calogera: I could deal with 7:30 p.m. for the starting time, but on the cut-off time I would suggest a mid-night cut-off.

President Baker: Let's agree to amend the ordinance that we will start all meetings at 7:30 p.m.

Councilman Calogera: As far as the quitting time, do want it to be 11:00 p.m., and you then tell the public that they cannot speak anymore.

Attorney Convery: I will change the presently proposed starting time from7:00 p.m., to 7:30 p.m., but the last two lines state the following: “…All Council meetings shall conclude no later than 11:00 p.m., except if the Council President may extend the meeting for the purpose of concluding official business. No new business shall be started after 10:00 p.m., so that sufficient time may be provided for public comments and council comments prior to adjournment.”

Councilman Testino: Strike that last line.

Councilman Calogera: Let's just go to whatever time we need to get things done and to hear the public.

President Baker: We will start at 7:30 p.m. and no new business can be started after 10:30 p.m. You have a week to digest it and we will talk about this again at our next meeting.

Mayor Phillips: What happens at 10:30 p.m.?

President Baker: I brought this up because of the Crossroads. If we were to have given every councilman three minutes we would have been there till 2:00 a.m., and at some point it is not productive and of no value. We all cannot run the meetings, you voted for me to run the meetings so at some point, I decided that after four hours, we are basically done here. If someone from the audience wants to be heard, we are certainly going to try and hear them and that is why we are going to cut back the time so we can give the public their opportunity to be heard within their three minutes, but we are not going to go on till 2:00 a.m., we are going to end it in a civilized, respectable time four hours from when we start.

Councilman Testino: The only new business that can be started after 10:30 p.m. is what?

Attorney Convery: You have an agenda, whatever is on the that agenda, you would be working on. If it is 10:30 p.m. and you have two items remaining, the Council President would decide that if these items would take up a great deal of time in discussion, and we want to hear from the public and the council, so we are not going to handle these two items now. Obviously, if it were an emergency matter, you would handle it. You have to use common sense when you are dealing with this matter. The idea is no “new” business after 10:30 p.m.

Councilman Testino: You are also saying that the Council President has the option to move the business that needs to be completed that evening.

Councilman Calogera: The other side of the coin is, if you have a situation like the Crossroads and people came out to speak and they are being sent home because of the time frame what happens then?

President Baker: I found Crossroads somewhat embarrassing and offensive and I resented it. Every single member of the public spoke and what I attempted to do was end the meeting so that not just one council person had a chance to speak, but they all had a chance to speak and no one from the public was turned away. It disappoints me that some councilmen insisted on speaking at 11:30-12:00 at night and if we all had ten minutes we would be there till 3:00 a.m. The public will never be turned away that was a very difficult meeting and no one from the public will be turned away as long as I am sitting here and the council people who are elected realize that and move on to the next meeting.

Councilwoman Panos: The people were allowed to speak, but they did not get their answers. That meeting was a disgrace with its set-up answers.

Consent Agenda

C-1 Bingo/Raffle RL92-04 Court Queenship of Mary, RL93-04 Court Queenship of Mary & RL94-04 Congregation Beth Ohr

C-2 Parade – Lakeridge Community Annual Halloween Parade – Sunday, October 31 2004 at 1:00 PM

C-3 Walkathon – Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd Disaster Relief Fund Raiser Saturday, November 6, 2004

C-4 Memorialize Release of Performance Guarantee – Town Center

C-5 Confirming the Sale of Bonds - New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust Financing

C-6 Award of Professional Services Contract – Taylor, Wisemen & Taylor – to remove underground Storage Tank

C-7 Award of Professional Services Contract – RMF Architectural Firm – Renovation Municipal Building, Civic Center & Madison Park Field House

C-8 Approving the Interlocal Agreement with Old Bridge Board of Education for Grant Writer

C-9 Authorizing tax refunds to exempt veterans

C-10 Authorizing Subordination of certain CDBG mortgages

C-11 Authorizing Burt T. Lundberg, Esq. – Representation of Rent Stabilization Board in matter of Kamson & Mapleview vs. Old Bridge

C-12 Award of Professional Services Contract to Bennetts & Hysman Architects – for work on Ice Arena roof.

Hearing – October 25, 2004

H-1 Release/Reduction Performance Guarantee Highview Estates, Inc. Sections I, II, III

Certificates of Appreciation (10/25/04)

Certificates of Appreciation for Volunteers of Old Bridge Fair

Proclamation (10/25/04)

Proclamation for Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October)

Presentation of Awards (10/25/04)

Cub Scout Pack #129