Present were:

Patrick Gillespie, President; Peter Davis, Vice-president; Mark Proudman, Treasurer; Robin Rosen, Secretary; Michael Jacobs, Business Administrator; Michael Spina; Nick Smolney

Absent were:

Mayor Jim Phillips; Edward Testino, Councilman; Joseph Arena; Russell Azzarello; Michael D'Agnes; Laheri Mehta; Raj Patel; Larry Redmond; Kevin Ruffler; Ellen Ritchie

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m.

Salute to the flag was followed by roll call.

Statement was made that the meeting was held in accordance with the requirements of the Open Public Meeting Act.

Mark Proudman gave his Treasurer's Report for the months of March, April, May, and June 2006.

A motion was made by Nick Smolney, seconded by Mike Spina and unanimously agreed upon for the approval of the Treasurer's Report for the months of March, April, May, and June 2006.

Mark Proudman gave his Bill List Report for the months of March, April, May, and June 2006.

A motion was made by Peter Davis, seconded by Nick Smolney and unanimously agreed upon for the approval of the Bill Lists for the months of March, April, May, and June 2006.

A motion was made by Mark Proudman and seconded by Mike Spina to approve the March 8, 2006 Meeting Summary Minutes.  Patrick Gillespie, Mark Proudman, Robin Rosen and Michael Spina were all in favor.  Pete Davis and Nick Smolney abstained.

As a carry over item from the last meeting, Chuck Fallon, our auditor, handed into the Board his final audit.  Mr. Fallon already presented a draft audit to the Board at the March 8, 2006 meeting.  The only change in the final audit report from the draft report was a typographical error on page 7 of the final report.  The percentage should read five percent (5%).  Mr. Fallon will revise that page and give Vicki DeMarco the corrected report.

Mr. Fallon discussed with the Board members that since the EDC cancelled the services of the payroll company upon Mr. Azzarello's retirement, Mr. Fallon will be filing the first quarterly report of 2006 to the Pension Board.  Mr. Azzarello's last paycheck from the EDC fell within the first week of January 2006, which generated a pension quarterly report for 2006.

A motion was made by Mike Spina and seconded by Nick Smolney and unanimously agreed upon to accept the final audit report of the EDC Auditor, Chuck Fallon.  Noting that there is a typographical error on page 7 which should read five percent (5%) in the report which will be corrected.

New Business

Mr. Gillespie discussed with the Board that the Township Council has authorized the Township Attorney to settle the Golf Center/Matzel lawsuit.  The real issue of the settlement was to permit and to allow within the plan a more primary use of retail on the Matzel site.  One of the major issues discussed was that Matzel had an application to build approximately 450 units on that site.  Under the new agreement, that application and issue will be dead forever.  Matzel, as owner of the site, will be appointed the redeveloper of that piece of property.  Under the agreement, the Township will have more control over what is actually built on this property, i.e., what it is going to look like, what gets built there, etc.   Mr. Matzel also agreed to preserve the access to the Township's site.  Diversity of use was a strong point, which the Township negotiated.  If Mr. Matzel came in with a box application the Township will not accept the concept of a "next generation" design such as that of a Walmart store (i.e., a traditional Walmart with a full service supermarket, bank, etc. all under one roof.)  Mr. Gillespie feels that the agreement is a win-win situation.  This will be a high quality ratable.  The design will be critical.  Once the ordinance is read after first reading, Mr. Gillespie said a copy of the ordinance will be given to the Board members.  The Council will be amending the ordinance once they have a signed settlement.

Michael Spina asked if anything else came out of the meeting with Ellen Ritchie and Walter Daly.  Mr. Jacobs reported that Ellen Ritchie and Russ Azzarello met with Walter Daly in regard to building a Comfort Suites hotel.  Mr. Jacobs told the Board that he will talk to Ellen Ritchie and get them a written report.

Public Portion

Ms. Seiler asked if there was any reason why the Economic Development Corporation didn't meet for several months.  Mr. Gillespie responded no.

After a discussion about the Matzel property, Ms. Seiler suggested to the EDC Board that the Redevelopment Plan that is posted on the Old Bridge website be revised.  Mr. Gillespie explained that the Redevelopment Plan was made to be modified and was not etched in stone.  There is room for changes.  Ms. Rosen also suggested that if someone went on the website and looked up the Redevelopment Plan, they would probably want to call and get in touch with someone to get a better understanding of the site.

Several of the Board members suggested to Ms. Seiler that if she had an issue with the Redevelopment Plan, she should bring her concerns to the Redevelopment Agency.  The Economic Development Corporation is not the venue for those changes and issues.  The Redevelopment Agency is more equipped to answer any of her questions on the Redevelopment Plan.

Mr. Gillespie closed the public portion of the meeting.

There was a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:05 p.m.  All were in favor.