Shadow Lake Herbicidal Treatments: Date of Application – June 29, 2015

from Middletown Public Information:

In an effort to control excessive growth of waterborne plant life, aquatic herbicidal treatments will be performed at Shadow Lake in June 2015. The herbicide “Navigate” will be applied to approximately 39.5 acres of the 85-acre lake. The approximate treatment area includes the inlet section of the lake near Stevenson Park and extends eastwardly to portions downstream and along the shoreline of Shadow Lake. This aquatic plant management will focus on the control of a highly invasive plant called Water Chestnut (Trapa natans).

Herbicide treatments will be conducted in a one-step process as follows:

On or about June 29, 2015, weather permitting, a granular herbicide Navigate application will be applied via mechanical spreader from an airboat. This will be completed in one day....

Residents and property owners bordering the lake and visitors to Shadow Lake will be required to follow the posted drinking water restrictions and water use restrictions as indicated above, and should make necessary arrangements during the restriction period.

ther efforts by Middletown Township to control growth of Water Chestnut in Shadow Lake shall include the mechanical removal of approximately 4 acres of invasive aquatic vegetation from the portion of the lake adjacent to Stevenson Park later in 2015;

Should you have questions regarding the application schedule or need general information on the project, please feel free to call me at 732-615-2110. Specific questions about the application process or herbicide information may be directed to the contractor, Allied Biological, at (908) 850-0303.

Read More...

Shadow Lake Herbicide Application 9/8/14

From Middletown Alerts:

In an effort to control excessive growth of waterborne plant life, aquatic
herbicidal treatments will be performed at Shadow Lake. The approximate treatment area includes the inlet section of the lake near Stevenson Park and extends eastwardly to portions downstream and along the shoreline of Shadow Lake. A follow-up herbicide application will be applied on or about September 8, 2014 weather permitting. The purpose of this second application is to treat plants that were washed free of herbicide by incidental boat traffic. This application will be completed in one day. The first application was applied in June.

Shadow Lake Notice

Shadow Lake Gets Hydroraked

What happened to dredging the lake?

From Middletown Alerts:

About 4 acres of Shadow Lake adjacent to the Stevenson Tract were hydroraked this summer to help remove invasive aquatic vegetation including the Eurasian watermilfoil and Water chestnut. A hydrorake is a floating barge with a backhoe mounted on it with several different rake attachments. The equipment removes weeds, silt, and other organic debris that have collected at the bottom of the lake.

Read more.... Here

3-4-13 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

Here is the video from the March 4th,2013 workshop meeting of the Middletown Township Committee. I'm a bit late in posting this meeting, see how tonight is the regularly scheduled business meeting of the Township Committee, but better late than never I always say and if you intend to make it out to tonight's meeting, then you can prepare yourself buy watching this video so that everything is fresh in your head.

This workshop meeting was brief, it lasted only 30 minutes.

There was some discussion this night regarding a Hazard Mitigation Grant that the Township will be applying for in order to assist Hurricane Sandy victims. It was said funds would not be available for 12-18 months.

Since it looks like Shadow Lake will never be dredged, a plan to rake vegetation from the lake and treat it with herbicides was proposed. Although this has been done in years past, its' effectiveness could not be stated.

It was announced that the ordinance which was introduced in January to regulate building heights in flood prone areas will be modified to conform to the State law and reintroduced for adoption at tonight's meeting (3/18/13).

Committee members had no comments, except for the mayor who had many social events to report on.



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

Township Officials Say Costs Of Proposed Dredging Project Are Too High

In case anyone thinks that I may have overstated the other day when i posted that "Middletown's Shadow Lake may never be dredged", think again. The Independent has posted an article on this also this week.

 

In the article " Shadow Lake bids rejected again " it states that:

• There is a $2 million gap between the lowest bidder for the project and $4.8 million cost estimate that the township engineer placed on the dredging.  
• Township Administrator Tony Mercantante stated that it would be unlikely the Township Committee would go out to bid the project once again. 
• Dredging only a small portion of the lake would not be worth it and the cost to do so would be questionable. 
• If the dredging project were to proceed the township would have to reapply to the state's Environmental Infrastructure Trust for a much bigger loan which would need to be paid back and that the committee has committed as much money as they are comfortable committing to it (dredging of the lake).
• And, if only the DEP would relent and allow the township to permanently keep the contaminated dredge spoils on the grounds of adjacent Stevenson Park (which they won't), the dredging of Shadow Lake would proceed. 

 So, there you have it.  After spending close to $400,000 of precious tax payer dollars on feasibility studies and engineering fees over the past few years, Shadow Lake seems as though it will never be dredged. Of course the Township Committee will spin it by saying that they will be saving residents over $4 million by not proceeding with the dredging ,when in actually the cost for the engineering work never should have been done in the first place.

The only reason why this failed project proceeded in the first place was to buy the votes of area residents that live along side Shadow Lake. It was as simple as that. What a waste.

Middletown's Shadow Lake May Never Be Dredged

1-22-13 Township Committee Meeting, Linda Baum asks the Township Committee if they could discuss their earlier vote on Resolution 13-67 to reject the latest bids for the dredging of Shadow Lake.

All the bids that the Township received for the dredging of the lake came in over the budgeted amount for the project, the lowest bid came in at $4.8 million - over a $1million difference in the budgeted amount.

It was stated by Township Administrator Tony Mercantante, that it was unlikely that new bids for the dredging will ever go out unless there is a "significant change to the scope of the project...".

For the past 6 years Gerry Scharfenberger and his Republican cronies, both on and off of the Township  Committee, have been coddling and kowtowing  to a few local residents who around and near the lake, promising them that it would be dredged.  Now due to their unrealistic cost expectations, Gerry and friends will have to break their promise.

A simple Google search will lead you to the history of Shadow Lake dredging project and the farce for votes that it has become.

8/20/12 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

Due to a death in the family this past week its has been a little crazy, I haven't been able to review this video of the the August 20, 2012 meeting of the Middletown Township Committee as of yet but I intend to soon and may comment on later.

Some of what took place included:

• Six new police officers were sworn in during this meeting.
• All bids to dredge Shadow Lake were rejected
• A$750K bond ordinance ws approved to purchase new radios for emergency responders
• An ordinance increasing fees in the Township was approved.

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.

Sayreville Officials State, “No Shadow Lake Dredged Materials Will Becoming To Sayreville”; What Is Middletown’s Plan?

For Immediate Release:

August 1st, 2012

(Middletown, NJ) The Middletown Township Committee announced earlier this month they will move forward with plans to dredge Shadow Lake, even though there does not seem to be agreement on where the arsenic-contaminated soil will go once extracted.

The Department of Environmental Protection supposedly approved of the former National Lead industrial site in Sayreville as the final resting place for the estimated 150,000 cubic yards of Shadow Lake sediment; however, the Sayreville Economic and Redevelopment Agency (SERA) has not agreed to accept the shipment and will not accept contaminated soil. The Sayreville site is scheduled to become the future location of The Point, a redevelopment project that will include housing, retail, office and entertainment uses.

Sayreville residents have expressed concern over the possibility of the dredged material passing standards and remained skeptical about the soil transfer.

The Middletown Township Committee has not proposed a back up plan, or what it might cost in new bonds or (worst case) our own open space land to pay for an alternative dumping site. Yet, they press forward potentially at our later expense.

Fellow citizens, this summer, as you pack up with your children for the quintessential family road trip, do not make the same mistake as our Township Committee. Plan the route from start to finish, check your itinerary, and make reservations for lodging at your final destination. Even if your desired hotel is AAA- approved, don’t start driving unless you know they will have room for you when you arrive. Your family should expect nothing less. As Middletown residents we should expect nothing less, also.

Don Watson, Chairman
Middletown Democratic Executive Committee

Sayreville To Middletown " You Can Keep Your Stinking Dirt! "

Last week an article appear in the Local section of the Asbury Park Press, about how officials in Sayreville have come forward and stated to residents that arsenic and heavy metal dredging spoils from the bottom of Middletown's Shadow Lake, will not be welcomed in their town.


Middletown has been saying for over a year now that the DEP has approved of a plan to cart the material to Sayreville's abandoned National Lead site. However, that 453 acre site is being redeveloped as a housing, retail, office and entertainment complex called The Point and residents aren't to happy with the idea of bringing contaminated fill dirt to their town.


Here's the story, you can read all about it.


So what is Middletown to do? They have no back up plan and Middletown officials, Tony Fiore and others, have  stated that they don't care if the 150,000 tons of dredged material sits in Stevenson Park forever, as long as they spend the $3.7M to dredge the third of the lake that falls within the township's jurisdiction. 


This is a boondoggle waiting to happen and shouldn't proceed until residents know exactly how much this dredging will cost the town if the dredged spoils have to sit on the grounds of Stevenson Park for years and carted off later (or never).  


All of Middletown's residents are paying for this dredging with their tax dollars, while this project only affects  and benefits a few people that live by and around the lake. It's time to step back and demand a back-up plan before proceeding.

7-16-12 Township Committee Meeting: Buffoonery From The Dais Reigns

Here is the latest video of the Middletown Township Committee at work. It is of the July 16, 2012 meeting. The meeting lasted all of 41 minutes so again, it should be easy viewing.

The first thing that I need to point out about this meeting is the childish buffoonery displayed by Deputy Mayor Steve Massell and his colleagues on the dais. This is now the second meeting in a row where Massell has walked into the meeting late (you can witness him walking down the center isle as the Township Clerk is announcing the start of the meeting) playing to the camera. He gets to his seat on the dais (which at this point is not in the frame) just in time for the clerk to announce his name. He smiles, winks and wiggles his finger as if pointing and shooting a gun, announcing "Here" to the giggles of delight from all those in frame.

The other thing from this meeting that shouldn't be missed is the game of "Telephone" that was played between Township Attorney Brian Nelson and those on the dais in order to pass information down the line to Steve Massell during the Public Comments portion of the meeting.

Linda Baum, who is running against Massell in this years election was speaking in regard to the dredging of Shadow Lake and how the township was planning on paying the winning bidder of the dredging project; Was the winner of the bid to dredge Shadow Lake going to be paid upfront, in full, for the whole job prior to the job being complete? Or for just the dredging portion of the job then paid in full after the dredged spoils are carted off Stevenson Park after drying out for two years? Her concern was that the winning bid firm would be paid in full, upfront and then two years later would want more money to cart the spoils away.

At the 29:12 mark of the recording, two minutes into Ms. Baum's comments, Township Attorney Attorney Brian Nelson can be seen leaning over and whispering into the ear of mayor Tony Fiore, who then in turn leans to his right to whisper in the ear of Committeeman Settembrino. Settembrino can then been seen writing a note of some kind that Steve Massell stretches his neck for several seconds to read.  Steve Massell, then and only then, asks Ms. Baum if she was for or against the dredging project.

When she ignores Massell's question and stays on point by responding that she is only there to seek information, Brian Nelson, the attorney, jumps in to badger Ms. Baum over the questions she raised.

This whole exchange is one of the most unprofessional displays I've seen in a long time coming from the Township Committee and that's saying a lot!



I would like to congratulate Assistant Township Clerk Lauren Kirkman who received a commendation for her years of service to the Township. She recently passed the NY/NJ Bar Exam and will be leaving the employment of the township sometime in the near future. I wish her well.

And 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.

Middletown Township Committee Meeting 7/2/12

Here is the latest video of the Middletown Township Committee at work. It is of the July 2nd, 2012 workshop meeting. The meeting lasted all of 35 minutes so it should be easy viewing.

At the workshop meeting a resolution was passed to amend the unadopted budget for the current year and another resolution was adopted to begin the bidding process on the dredging of Shadow Lake.

Resident Leo Christofolli asked during the public comment portion of the meeting if approval was given to dispose of the dredge material at the designated location in Sayreville. Mayor Tony Fiore and the Township Attorney said that the permits to dredge the lake were issued and they are going to proceed even though no permanent location for the dredged materials has been approved. Mr. Fiore stated it will remain on Stevenson Park until the DEP decides where it will be located..




And 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.

Corruption Behind the $4 Million Tab for Tax Appeals in Middletown

By guest blogger Linda Baum

I’m sure we all recall the big jump in our property assessments on 2009 tax bills. That was the result of a town-wide revaluation done at the height of the market in 2008 -- a huge mistake. It guaranteed there would be an onslaught of appeals and the drastic measures we saw this year by the Mayor and Township Committee to find extra money to pay the $4 million dollar tab.

Remember the ugliness? The seizure of $500,000 of library funds and threats of police layoffs to gain concessions. Middletown certainly didn’t feel like a great place to live.

The Township should have done a revaluation years earlier. It had been at least 15 years since the last one. The company hired to do the revaluation had difficulty explaining the delay. That company, Realty Appraisal, does loads of revaluations around the State, and the cause for the delay didn’t stem from their efforts. So then where does blame lie?

If you spoke to the County Tax Administrator, I’m sure he would tell you that revaluations should probably happen every 4-5 years. By waiting, Middletown drew the ire of the County Tax Board.

Middletown Republicans basically thumbed their noses at the County and refused to do a revaluation while other municipalities followed the law. Meanwhile, the richest property owners in the Township saw property values increase hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in that time period while their taxes were based on assessments from long ago.

Residents in less affluent sections of the Township were picking up the tab for the Navesink River Road crowd. That’s because when expensive properties are dramatically under-assessed, the effect is to remove potentially hundreds of millions from the town-wide assessment base. The result is that everyone else pays proportionately more.

The low assessment base means that the tax rate would have been set too high. Evidence of that is the big decline in the overall tax rate upon revaluation – it went from $3.787 in 2008 to $1.725 in 2009 (per $100 of assessed value). Owners of newly built homes would have been among the most adversely affected by the inflated tax rate, which, coupled with their higher more up-to-date assessments, means they were paying more in property taxes than they should have been in the years prior to the revaluation.

The bottom line is that the more valuable your property and the longer you owned it, the more money you stood to save from the Township's failure to revaluate.

Per the County, around 60% of Middletown residents saw a reduction in taxes as a result of the revaluation. Since the Township still needed to collect the same total revenue, it stands to reason that owners of high end properties saw the largest dollar increases in their taxes after the revaluation.

It seems to me the Township most likely delayed the revaluation for two reasons.

First, the Republican Party leaders resided along the Navesink River Road corridor and had enjoyed tax-free, enormous increases in the value of their homes. As they took advantage of this increase in equity, the Township gave them a free pass. A revaluation would have increased taxes for many of them.

Second, Democrats had started to take seats on the Township Committee and the Republican Party desperately wanted to avoid losing votes, and possibly control of the Township, by doing a revaluation. Republican strongholds like Shadow Lake might have punished Republican leaders for tax increases and shifted the balance of power.

The County was upset with Middletown officials and, in 2008, took the unprecedented step of suspending our tax assessor, Charlie Heck, for failing to submit the paperwork necessary to do the revaluation. In a brazen admission of the underlying truths, then Mayor Scharfenberger actually referred to Mr. Heck as "Saint Charlie”. And this year, Mayor Fiore and our all-Republican Township Committee voted unanimously to award Mr. Heck a $15,000 bonus.

While you can draw your own conclusions, it seems obvious to me that Republican officials manipulated the process for their own political and personal financial gain. Due to their delays, when they were finally compelled by the County to submit the data for the revaluation, they did so on the eve of the financial crisis, just before property values plummeted. It would have been wise to postpone the revaluation until the market settled, but they couldn’t ask for another extension because they were already in deep trouble with the County for waiting as long as they had.

The delay cost taxpayers dearly. To deal with the unrealistic property data created by the poorly-timed revaluation, the Township was forced to undertake a costly reassessment this year, forcing taxpayers to expend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a reassessment that could have been avoided.

The overall tab may be $6 million or more now. Township officials won’t reveal how much or exactly where the money is coming from to pay for it. But appeal awards continue to roll in, and one thing is certain. Middletown residents will be feeling the sting for years to come.

A Simple Observation And Reason As To Way Shadow Lake Dam Collapse Wasn't As Bad As It Could Have Been

Bill Stevenson is a life long resident of Middletown who lives adjacent to Shadow Lake. If there is anything anyone wants to know about the lake, he is the one to speak to.

Mr. Stevenson sent along, via email, his observations as to why the collapse of Shadow Lake dam was not as cataclysmic as it could have been, it seems that the precautions that were taken back in 1938, after the dam washed out a second time in 4 years, was enough to save it from total collapse 73 years later.

Mr Stevenson also expresses an idea on how to temporarily fix the road and open it back to traffic in a timely manner in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene.

The collapse of the Shadow Lake Dam has not caused the water level to drop even 1 inch below normal. Let me explain why.

The dam was originally constructed with a spillway at the south end. After the dam washed out twice (1934 & 1938), they added a 2nd spillway at the north side. This was a few inches higher than the main spillway, so that is only needed when the water rises. Beneath the earthen dam are interlocking steel beams which were pile driven into the earth to about the level of the spillway. In addition, a creosoted wooden bulkhead was constructed between the earth and the water. The top of this was slightly higher than the spillways.

Both the steel beams and the bulkhead survived the washout. Thus the lowest point was the original spillway. The beams may have been bent slightly, but I don’t think that it is serious.

Now as to what happened to cause the washout. This is what I believed happened.

The heavy rain caused the level of the lake to rise well above the spillways. I don’t know how much, but at the west end of the lake at Stevenson Park, the level rose about 3½ feet above normal. At the main spillway, the level was so high that the spillways could not handle it and water started to flow against the berm at the north side of the spillway. Once it had eroded a small portion of earth, the erosion expanded and got worse as it got larger, eventually washing away more than half of the top of the dam and eroding a big hole in Hubbard Avenue. I think that they should fill the hole in the road with large rocks & maybe concrete. There should not need to have a big rush to replace the washed out portion of the dam.

Bill Stevenson

Those are some good observations but it leave the question of why didn't the water go over the 2nd spillway also? If it had maybe Hubbard Rd. wouldn't have been damaged as badly as it has.

I suppose we'll just have to wait for that answer however and be thankful that it a total collapse of the dam did not occur or much more damage would have resulted.

Picture; Shadow Lake Dam Breach

This picture was sent to me by a friend that lives on Hubbard Rd., just down street from the Shadow Lake Dam. As you can see in the picture this breach isn't any small leak, a large section of the berm seems to be gone. The road is beginning to buckle from all the water washing the soil away from underneath. The guard rail is just hanging, no longer anchored to anything.

It will be a long time before this road is passable, expect travel in the area to be a nightmare for the foreseeable future

Shadow Lake Dam Breached: Portion Of Hubbard Rd Washed Away And Toxic Lake Sediment Spilling into the Navesink River

Big trouble for those living in the Shadow Lake / River Plaza area of Middletown, I've just been told be a friend who lives on West Front Street that the Shadow Lake Dam was breached as a result of Hurricane Irene.


I have been informed that the earthen berm is nearly gone and the water rushing from the lake has washed away a large section Hubbard Rd. and is spilling it's arsenic rich and heavy metal contaminated toxic sediment into the Navesink River turning the river a dark muddy brown color.

I guess there wont be much of a need to dredge Shadow Lake after all seeing how there wont be a much of a lake left if the breach of the dam isn't fixed and the lake waters contained soon.

Also a major concern for the area residents I have been told, is that the recently replaced section of Navesink River Road near Hubbard was also washed out and will need to be replaced again.

This will cause a huge problem once school begins next week, it will be extremely difficult if not near impossible for kids to get school with these roads needing to be closed for an extended period of time.

Middletown Still Kicking Around Shadow Lake Political Football

I was glad to hear after last week's Middletown Township Workshop meeting that nearly $2.7M maybe freed up soon by the state, for the long talked about Shadow Lake dredging project.

According to what I had been told of the meeting and a subsequent article posted on MiddletownPatch.com it seems that Middletown resident and NJ State Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-13) found a way to partially fund the estimated $4+M dredging project by co-sponsoring legislation that will provide funding through the state's Environmental Infrastructure Trust (EIT) fund.

The legislation that originally created the Environmental Infrastructure Trust fund was intended to provide special financing, in the form of a low-interest loans to companies and municipalities looking to clean up environmentally contaminated "Brownfields" in order to return them to tax rolls.

Kyrillos's bill that would provide funding for Middletown under the EIT, still needs to be voted on by the full Senate before moving onto the Assembly for approval and signature of the governor, which is not a given. I wouldn't exactly call Shadow Lake an environmental "brownfield" that needs to be cleaned up so it can be returned to the tax rolls.

But what disturbs me here is the fact that Middletown Republicans are still playing the equivalent of political football with this issue and sending mixed messages with the intent on blaming state and local Democrats for delaying the dredging of the lake and contributing to it's skyrocketing cost.

Officials ran into a project roadblock when the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) made it clear that, when removed, any dredge spoils gleaned from the lake would have to be transported to a safe, licensed off-site location, dried out and then taken to a legal dumping ground, Middletown Mayor Tony Fiore said.

Township Attorney Brian Nelson had said that where the township had no luck with the last administration’s state DEP officials, the new DEP principals seem more receptive. The township governing body is all-Republican, as is the Christie-appointed administration.

“We can’t do anything without permits,” he had said a couple of months ago at a Township Committee meeting. “But the DEP is working with us much better than it formerly did. Before it was clear they were not giving us permits.”

Now, knowing that the funds are being secured, Mayor Fiore said that the next step would be to go out to bid for the project.

“Thanks to the efforts of Senator Kyrillos the residents of the communities surrounding Shadow Lake can rest easier knowing that a project more than a decade in the making is nearing reality,” said Fiore. “In addition to the senator’s efforts in helping secure financing for this project, he has assisted the township with the DEP to find a qualified site outside of Middletown for disposal of the dredge spoils.”

It wasn't Democrats that said this project was going to be an easy slam dunk just before the 2007 election and how it wasn't going to cost residents a single dime (but proposed bonding for it) because local college students would perform surveys of the lake and other services for the township for free. And that the rest of the cost for the dredging would come from grants or planned to have the arsenic, heavy metal and carcinogenic contaminated spoils buried within Stephenson Park without proper permits from the NJ DEP. It was Gerry Scharfenberger and the rest of the Middletown Republicans who were attempting to secure last minute vote from residents who live around Shadow Lake by proposing such a plan.

Local Democrats want to see Shadow Lake restored but want it done smartly, cost efficiently and with in the law. The last thing Democrats or residents want is to clean up a lake only to create an environmental hazard somewhere else, namely Stephenson Park.

The NJ DEP was right not to issue permits for that and insisting that the dredged spoils be carted to a properly secured landfill.

And the following comment left on the MiddletownPatch article by a Mr. Dave Venture seems to agree:

Coming from someone who is an environmental professional who grew up on Shadow Lake and lived there for 22 years and still fish it weekly, I can tell you this issue has been twisted and misused by various media groups as well as private landowners on the lake . The lake has become naturally shallower in some areas which is normal succession for a man-made lake. The problem of increased vegetation is in large part not due to the depth of the lake. The lake is surrounded by residential development and Shadow Lake Village all of which contribute tremendous amounts of nutrient runoff to the lake in the way of fertilizers etc. The lake also sits in an area that was all farmland until the middle part of the 20th century. The groundwater may still be pumping nutrients from the historic farms into the lake contributing to the eutrophic environment. This is very similar to what is happening on a much larger scale in Barnegat Bay. The issue of depth of the lake and water quality/aquatic vegetation are two separate issues that have been blurred. If the goal is to make the lake deeper than I agree dredging is the only option. If the issue as they have proclaimed is to decrease the aquatic vegetation then dredging is not a cost-effective or ecologically sound solution. Green stormwater infrastructure and practices must be instituted to prevent the runoff that is making the lake an overly enriched ecosystem. State the goals clearly before dumping 4mil into a project.

So it's about time now for Middletown's "non- partisan" Township Attorney Brian Nelson and other finger pointers to point the finger at themselves. Too often Nelson acts like he is the 6th member of the Township Committee and gives bad, partisan advice that cost the town tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees because he has a vested interest Republicans maintaining control in town and it's about time members of the Township Committee stop taking his poor advice.

It's Catch-Up Time

If you've notice over the past two weeks the postings on the blog here have been a little thin. I've had a temporary change to my work schedule for the month that hasn't allowed me to focus on thing the way that I would've liked to. This coming week my schedule is back to "normal" before being disrupted again for another two weeks, so it's time to play caught-up.

Along with some local items of interest such as a discrimination charges filed against Middletown's Chief of Police by a Middletown Police officer, news on the AVAYA and Bamm Hollow redevelopments and some funding being secured for dredging Shadow Lake. A number of readers have also sent me items of interest that others may be interested in knowing.

So over the course of the weekend I hope to get back up to speed on number of items so stay tuned.

Transparency Once Again Turns Opaque in Middletown; APP: Middletown missed loan deadline for dredging of lake

Very interesting article that was online at the Asbury Park Press the other day which I have been meaning to post about. One of the big issues of this past years election was the issue of Shadow Lake and whether or not the lake was going to be dredged any time soon, according reporter Kevin Penton it now doesn't seem likely to happen before 2012.

It seems as though, the low cost loan that Middletown had planned to apply for that would cover some of the costs of dredging was never applied for. The loan application needed to be handed in by Oct. 4th to meet the deadline for possible funding and it was never sent.

What I find most disturbing about this, is how Gerry Scharfenberger and other Middletown GOP members (remember Tony Fiore's letter) mislead many residents that live by and around Shadow Lake into believing that dredging was eminent if only they could get approval from the DEP to bury the contaminated spoils in near by Stevenson Park.

Scharfenberger attended a number of meeting with residents of Shadow Lake Village while campaigning in October and never once mentioned that funding for the dredging of the lake was a problem. He lead all to believe that as soon as the DEP agreed to Middletown's demand of using Stevenson Park as a dumping ground for the spoils the project would begin.

With this latest revelation about the dredging of Shadow Lake, it is sad to say once again that transparency of those in charge in Middletown is sorely lacking and is turning, as resident Jim Grenafege has said at many Township meetings this year, opaque.

It just goes to show that Republicans in Middletown will do and/or say anything in order to retain their position of power in town even if it means that they have to deceive others to get it.

My thanks go out to Kevin Penton for following up on Shadow Lake and bringing this information to light, it shows residents that those elected in Middletown like to play fast and loose with certain information that they deem a possible threat to them.

Eventually residents will wise up and show the likes of Gerry Scharfenberger and the others the view form the other side of the doors at Town Hall, the view looking in from the outside.

Slippery Scharfenberger Avoids Answering Shadow Lake Question On Technicality

During the public comments segment of the Middletown Township Committee meeting this past Monday night, resident Marilyn Michaels asked Gerry Scharfenberger if he had attended a meeting with Cindy Randazzo of the NJDEP and others on Oct. 21, 2010 in Trenton, which she thought may have been a conflict of interest between his duties as an elected official and his new job as Director of the Office of Planning Advocacy (she also brought up a number of valid concerns that I will deal with later).

This exchange between Ms. Michaels and Gerry Scharfenberger is a classic example how slippery Scharfenberger can be when he answers questions from residents or reporters. His responses are classic examples of deception through omission, that many seasoned career politicians engage in.

I posted on Nov.9th that representatives from T&M Engineering, State Senator Joe Kyrillos, the new Director for the Office of Planning and Advocacy (Mayor) Gerry Scharfenberger and several Middletown Township representatives met with Randazzo and other reps from the DEP on October 21,2010 in Trenton to discuss dredging concerns as related to Shadow Lake. This post was based on information that was forwarded to me by a third party that wished to remain anonymous.

Most of what was posted was factual, what wasn't as it turned out was the location of the meeting. My third party source had mentioned that Randazzo expressed concerns about coming to Middletown for this meeting and wanted it held in Trenton. My source then added that the meeting took place in State Senator Joe Kyrillos's office. It was then assumed by myself and the informant that the meeting took place in Trenton, when in fact it took place at Kyrillos's office here in Middletown.

Why Scharfenberger had to make an ass out of himself over this is anyone guess, I suppose by squabbling with Ms. Michaels over this small point, he thought that it would discredit her in someway. What it did do was to further discredit him in the eyes of reporters there covering the nights event.

When asked about the Shadow Lake meeting afterwards, he admitted to reports that the meeting did take place on Oct. 21st but it never happened in Trenton, He confirmed the fact that it happened in Middletown.

The other valid concern Ms. Michaels brought up during her comments in front of the Committee was, if during his re-election bid, did he know if anyone may have contributed to his campaign, knowing that he was going to be or had recently been appointed as the head of the Office of Planning Advocacy Governor Christie.

She felt (as do I) that if someone was to have contributed to his campaign this year or in future years, that they may expect some special treatment if ever they may need special consideration for the state office that he now represents.

That assumption on Michaels part is, as I said, a valid concern. It goes to the heart of the issue of whether or not Scharfenberger acted ethically or not by not divulging information about his appointed during the campaign. It should be explored now and watched for in the future.

Was The New Director Of The Office of Planning Advocacy "On The Clock" When He Was Acting As Middletown Mayor During Meeting With NJDEP Officials?

Back on October 21st a meeting took place at the office of Cindy Randazzo, the Director of NJDEP office of Local Government Assistance, in Trenton for the purpose of discussing options for dredging Middletown's Shadow Lake.

In attendance at this meeting were various DEP personnel that had concerns with the dredging plans presented by the Township, representatives from T&M Engineering, State Senator Joe Kyrillos, the new Director for the Office of Planning and Advocacy (Mayor) Gerry Scharfenberger and several Middletown Township representatives.

From what I understand the meeting wasn't very productive, the two sides (Middletown verses the NJDEP) couldn't come to an agreement concerning the scope of the project or what to do with the spoils. The NJDEP made it clear that burying contaminated spoils from the bottom of Shadow Lake in neighboring Stevenson Park was out of the question and recommended that the project be downsized to fall within budget constraints while the Township, lead by the new Director for the office of Planning Advocacy (Gerry Scharfenberger) and Joe Kyrillos insisted that dredging the whole lake and burying the spoils near by was the only way of dealing with the lake. As you can imagine, no resolution to this issue was forth coming and another meeting was planned on for a future date.

After learning this yesterday I began to wonder about Scharfy's role during this meeting. As the Director for Planning Advocacy, Gerry's duties are "asking questions about policy, overseeing planners and GIS specialists. To help spur economic growth and revitalize the economy by, for example, reusing commercial properties" he has stated and the purpose of the Office for Planning Advocacy is to stimulate new growth and business opportunities for those wishing to do business in the State. His position is a full time job, 40+ hours a week, that pays him $95K a year.

What was he doing on "company" time, at a meeting with Joe Kyrillos, the NJDEP, Engineers from T&M and other from Middletown discussing Shadow Lake in the middle of a work week?

He certainly wasn't there to promote smart growth or new business opportunities I can tell you that as require by his job title, he was present representing Middletown as it's Mayor.

It's nice to know that in his new position as Director of Planning Advocacy, his boss the Governor, allows him time to pursue other interests that are contrary to what he is suppose to be doing as Director.

I am sure that the 1,200 State employees will be happy to learn of this as well. Here they are losing their jobs while Gerry is running around the city of Trenton wasting tax payer dollars, acting as Middletown's mayor when he should be in his office somewhere, asking questions about policy, overseeing planners and GIS specialists to help spur economic growth and revitalize the State economy.

Do you think he left early that day or did he stay late to make up for the time he was conducting Township business on State time?