September 21, 2015 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

As the old adage says, " the show must go on" and that's exactly what happened at the September 21st meeting of the Middletown Township Committee.

The meeting was sparsely attended (as usual)  and was missing both Committeeman Tony Fiore and Committeeman Kevin Settembrino from the dais. And if you happened to be running late and wanted to attend the meeting that evening you very well may have missed it because the meeting barely lasted 20 minutes.  As a matter of fact, if it weren't for NJ American Water presenting a $2,500 grant to the Poricy Park Conservancy for work to be done at Murray Pond, the meeting would have clocked in under 15 minutes total.

After the presentation by NJ American Water, the Mayor stated that the labor at Murray Pond would be provided by volunteer students.

 After brief comments by the members of the Township Committee that were present, a  resident from Lincroft inquired about recent surveying that was done at the intersection of Rt. 520 and Middletown-Lincroft Rd. The Administrator stated that the county was performing yet another study to make this area safer. Another resident requested for enforcement of speed limits on roads around Majestic Ave. in the Lincroft section.





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.

We LOVE Poricy Park Day, June 6, 1-4pm

From Middletown Alerts:

Poricy Park Conservancy announces their FREE event, "We Love Poricy Park Day" on Saturday, June 6th, 1:00pm-4:00pm. Poricy Park is located at 345 Oak Hill Road, Middletown, NJ.

Fun for the entire family, this FREE event includes the following activities:

• Live Reptile Show (2pm-3pm) - you will be fascinated by mammals, lizards, snakes, frogs, turtles and insects, presented by Rizzo's Wildlife.
• Self-Guided Scavenger Nature Hunt - park-wide, pick up your map guide in the Nature Center; return your completed map for a “token” prize.
• Explore Poricy Park with a trained guide; sign up on site for hikes departing Nature Center.
• Pond Activity - Learn about the creatures of the Murray Pond Ecosystem; observe tadpoles and dragon flies and chat with knowledgeable volunteers about pond life and your observations.
• Nature Arts & Crafts activity table
• Look and Learn all about worms
• GeoCaching - download app on your smart phone or bring your personal handheld GPS unit and pick up geocache wavepoints from our activity table and enjoy a self-guided excursion.
• PPC Guided Geocache excursion - sign up at activity table for an instructor-led geocache excursion using your own device or a PPC GPS unit.
• Wander down to the Murray Homestead and enjoy activities/demonstrations celebrating Joseph Murray including interpretive tours of the Murray farmhouse & Barn, colonial children's games, flax processing demonstrations, butter churning, wood working demo, Colonial Garden tours and tips, colonial cooking exhibition, colonial photo ops, bring a camera!
• Nature Center/Gift Shop Open - Learn all about the benefits of membership and the ongoing impact community support has on the future of the Poricy Park Conservancy.

Subject to Change.

First The Library, Now Poricy Park ?

Not sure how many people have heard of this and i'm just throwing it out there as food for thought and wondering what the thinking was.

Every year the Township gives the Poricy Park Conservatory (overseers of Poricy Park) an allotment of dollars towards its annual budget. This money goes to support the Poricy Park Conservatory's operating expenses. This year's $25,000 allotment instead  was placed by the Township in the Capital Improvements budget, not the operations budget. This caused a deficit in  PPC's FY 2014 budget since they were not told about it until last moment.

So, let's think about this a minute and speculate a little.

Why would the township suddenly place money that is earmarked yearly for operating expenses into the capital improvements budget? One, it saves the town $25K in current cash. Two, assuming that "capital improvements" equates to debt issue, it allows an additional $25K to be raised in debt and moved outside of the 2% cap.

"Capital Improvements" may not mean debt issue, though. it could mean the delegation of town staff to do work at Poricy Park. Or it could mean that the township pays contractors of its own choosing in lieu of letting PPC decide. This puts control of the spending in township hands.

 Meanwhile the Middletown Arts Center keeps getting more money.....

Earth Day Celebration Planned for April 20

From Middletown Alerts:

The Poricy Park Conservancy, Middletown Township Cultural and Arts Council, and Middletown’s Recreation Department are teaming up to put on a special Earth Day Celebration. The event will include clean-ups at selected parks throughout the town, followed by a special celebration for all held at Poricy Park. The celebration will include a musical production by Miss Sherri featuring “Go Go Green”, arts and crafts with recycled projects, learning workshops and more. If your group is interested in cleaning up a park in your neighborhood, let us know. Contact Us