9-3-13 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

Due to the Labor Day holiday last week the Middletown Township Committee met on Tuesday night Sept.3rd for its month workshop meeting. The meeting last just 32 minutes and would have been rather uneventful if it weren't for the astonishing bit of arrogance on display yet once again on the part of  a certain former mayor of ours that was eluded to in an earlier post.

When a a few basic questions were raised by Linda Baum regarding the Middletown Disaster Relief Fund a heated response by Tony Fiore and others on the Township Committee ensued that also included a few other members of the public that watched in disbelief as the events unfolded. You can watch the it all unfold starting at the 24:20 mark of the video below.

The most astonishing part of the exchange between Ms. Baum and Tony Fiore is the fact that  it could have been avoided if Ms. Baum's direct inquiries to the Middletown Disaster Relief Fund were answered by the funds principal trustee, Mr. Fiore, himself. However as he so arrogantly responded at the Township Committee meeting, Fiore chose not to response to Ms. Baum simply because he felt she didn't warranted one. 

Here are a few other highlights from Tuesday night's workshop meeting:

A new Deputy Tax Assessor was appointed and bills for the town were paid. The Committee 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. 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 contact 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.

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. 

As always, you can download a copy of the meeting agenda that contains the discussion items and the proposed resolutions and ordinances that were voted on or presented during the meeting. A box around an item is a link, bringing you further into the document to that resolution or ordinance. At the end of the resolution there will be a link bringing you back to the agenda. Attached to this agenda is also the monthly bill list, so that everyone can see how the Township is spending our tax dollars.