September 3, 2013 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

The video of this meeting can be viewed at: http://youtu.be/EuuJHHW2O8Y

A new Deputy Tax Assessor was appointed and bills for the town were paid. The Committee members were all excited to be opening 2 new ball fields at Nut Swamp School this Friday.

The attorney explained that a paper street will be vacated where some housing will be built in the Navesink section. He also said that an ordinance will be introduced to dissolve the Swim Club Utility now that all of the bonds are paid off.

The DPW Director said a recommendation will be made to award leaf collection contract to Bennett Landscaping.  He said extra zones will be awarded to Bennett if township employees are overwhelmed in the work they have. Bids will be opened Wednesday for janitorial services in township buildings and a new contractor was added to the list of snow removal contractors.

The administrator said a contract will be awarded to demolish 7 homes that were destroyed by Sandy. 90% of this cost will be paid by federal relief dollars and liens will be placed on the properties to collect the balance of the costs.

Public comments included questions regarding the placement of the departments that used to be located at Croydon Hall. The health department, parks and social services will be housed in the former Pt. Monmouth Library building and the former Lincroft Library Branch will house the Crossroads drug counseling program and a meeting room will be located there for meetings in that area of town.

Questions were raised regarding the Middletown Disaster Relief Fund. Basic questions were posed as to when the organization registered with the IRS. Mr. Fiore said he formed the organization last October and papers were filed about 60 days ago and he thought the fund operates on a calendar year, but was not sure. When asked who appoints the board of the fund a heated response was presented with many members of the Committee, appointed professionals and public members contributing with no control of who was speaking.

Another member of the public presented an application to the Clerk expressing the desire to be reappointed to the Human Rights Commission in January because she did not see appointments being made to this commission in the past few years. Comments were made regarding conditions at a former restaurant in Leonardo were deteriorating with the display of graffiti and the placement of private vehicles for sale.
Someone else asked if funds would be made available to restore a historic stone building in Leonardo. It was said that this structure was not in any plans. The meeting ended thereafter.