11/18/24: Middletown Township Committee Regular Meeting

 Hey Middletown, take a look at your Township Committee in action. Once all the pomp and circumstance was over the actual business of our governing body was completed in 15 minutes so there should be no excuses for not tuning in and seeing your tax dollars at work. 

So what took place during the 15 minutes of actual business at this month's Township Committee meeting?

There were Public Hearings of 4 proposed ordinances that no one from the public cared to address so they passed without issue (see below): 

• 2024-3436 Ordinance Amending Ordinance No. 2024-3429 Setting Salaries For Non-Contractual Employees For 2024-2025 
• 2024-3437 Bond Ordinance Providing An Appropriation Of $3,571,000 For Various Capital Improvements By And For The Township Of Middletown In The County Of Monmouth, New Jersey And Authorizing The Issuance Of $3,392,450 In Bonds Or Notes Of The Township For Financing Part Of The Appropriation. 
• 2024-3438 Bond Ordinance Providing An Appropriation Of $4,491,000 For Various Park Improvements By And For The Township Of Middletown In The County Of Monmouth, New Jersey And Authorizing The Issuance Of $3,704,050 In Bonds Or Notes Of The Township For Financing Part Of The Appropriation 
• 2024-3439 Ordinance Amending And Supplementing Chapter 423 Of The Code Of The Township Of Middletown Governing Stormwater Regulations To Include Article VII Privately-Owned Salt Storage Requirements As Required By State Law 

And there were the introduction of  several other proposed ordinances that are scheduled for public hearing at the December 2nd meeting of the Township Committee (see below):  

• 2024-3441 Bond Ordinance Amending And Restating Ordinance 2024-3434 By Providing An Appropriation Of $2,100,000 For Acquisition Of Property By And For The Township Of Middletown In The County Of Monmouth, New Jersey And Authorizing The Issuance Of $1,995,000 In Bonds Or Notes Of The Township For Financing Part Of The Appropriation 
• 2024-3442 Ordinance Authorizing Acceptance Of Declaration Of Restrictive And Protective Covenants For Stormwater Maintenance And Various Related Deed Of Easements Over Portions Of Block 720, Lots 4.01, 4.02, 4.03, 4.04 And 4.05 (Atlantic Avenue) 
• 2024-3443 Ordinance Amending The Code Of The Township Of Middletown Governing Smoke And Vape Shops And The Sale Of Vaping And Smoking Products And Paraphernalia In Business Establishments 
• 2024-3444 Ordinance Establishing Mixed Use Development Standards for Affordable Housing 
• 2024-3445 Ordinance Amending § 240-23 Of The Code Of The Township Of Middletown Establishing Fee For Carfax Accident Reports

After Committee Comments, no one from the public wished to address any concerns so the meeting was adjourned after 37 minutes. 

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.

March 16, 2020 Middletown Township Committee Meeting: The CoronaVirus Edition

Last weeks meeting of the Middletown Township Committee meeting could be characterized as the 'Coronavirus" edition. The meeting lasted just over 17 minutes while Committee members, as well as the paid professionals took seats well spaced from each other, due to the potential contamination from the virus.

Here are the highlights:

Proclamations were read into the record due to no recipients to receive them.

An ordinance was adopted that allows the Township to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits, if needed. Another ordinance was introduced to purchase property on the east side of Hubbard Ave., by Shadow Lake. There will be a public hearing and a vote to approve this purchase on April 6.

Resolutions were adopted to extend contracts for tree trimming, plumbing and electrician services with the current contractors. Other resolutions were adopted to permit the CFO to pay bills if public meetings are cancelled, to reaffirm the townships' opposition to the Northeast gas pipeline that is proposed to run in the Raritan Bay and another to apply for a grant to help the township become more energy sustainable.



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.

February 3 & 18, 2020 Middletown Township Committee Meetings

February 3, 2020 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

The Township Committee voted to make Sunnyside Road a through street and lowered the speed limit on the road to 25 MPH in two separate ordinances.

A new ordinance was introduced to increase the number of Deputy Police Chiefs to three and Members of the Committee congratulated the Mayor on his reception of the Spinnaker Award.

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.

February 18, 2020 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

The meeting began with an above capacity crowd. The room was filled, with the aisles packed and out into the lobby. It was an evening to celebrate the right for women to vote with the passing of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution on August 18, 1920. Women, who have been elected to office, attended as did five young ladies from Nut Swamp School.

If this was not enough, the Township Committee adopted an ordinance increasing the number of Deputy Chief of Police positions from one to three. Two new Police Chiefs were sworn into the new positions. Three other officers were sworn in as Sergeants and two other officers sworn in as Lieutenants. One of the Lieutenants just happened to be a women, the first women Lieutenant in Township history. Overall, it was an amazing night for women.

After all of the ceremonies were over, the Court Room cleared and the Committee continued with the business of the Township.

An ordinance was adopted that would restrict parking at Normandy Park. A parent spoke regarding his son parking there during school hours. The family lives in the HS North area, but decided that their son would go to HS South. To avoid paying for busing, they allowed their son to drive to school. Normandy Park is the closest place for the son to park because he is not a senior and only seniors are allowed to park on HS property. The Township Committee recommended that the father bring his concerns to the Board of Education. The Committee explained that the parking lot at Normandy Park is for park use only, according to Green Acres rules and the Township recently received Green Acres funding to upgrade the fields in the park.

Another ordinance was introduced to sell a small, unused lot to a developer who owns adjoining property. A different ordinance was introduced to regulate the amount of leaves and brush a homeowner can place at the curb for collection. The ordinance will limit the amount of debris placed at the curb to 4 cubic yards, or the size of a pickup truck bed filled to the top of the cab. A public hearing and a vote for adoption will be held at the March 2 Township Committee meeting.

As always you can download 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.

December 17, 2018 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

With all of the holiday hustle and bustle, I never got around to posting the Middletown Township Committee meeting that was held on December 17th. This meeting was rather significant because at this meeting the Township Committee voted to move forward with the proposed new municipal complex that will cost residents over a $100M dollars when all is said and done. The public hearing on the project begins at approx. 29:30 to 1:15:15 of the video.

Another public hearing was held right afterwards concerning a redevelopment plan off of Half-Mile road. The Township committee voted to adopt the resolution even though the Township Planning Board voted against it's approval. That hearing begins approx 1:16:00 and finished at 1:56:02 of the video.

Comments from the Public began at the 2:12:20 portion of the meeting and continued until the end of the meeting some 30 minutes later.




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.

The Curious Case Of An Email And The October 1, 2018 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

I can't believe that I haven't posted about this earlier, but seeing how the Middletown Township Committee will be meeting tonight for the last time before the November 6th election, I thought that I better say my piece about this.

Over the weekend of September 29th, a mysterious email started to make the rounds to inboxes of Middletown residents. The email from a group calling themselves, "RESIDENTS AGAINST OVER DEVELOPMENT", warned about the over development of Middletown, specifically the Village 35 project that is being planned between Kings Highway and Kanes Lane, along Route 35. Upon closer inspection this email was nothing more than a thinly veiled attack on Middletown Democratic Candidate for Township Committee, Sean Byrnes.

No one seems to be sure exactly how many residents through out the township received this email (I personally did not receive it), but it's safe to say hundreds did. Through a little detective work and the process of elimination, it was determined that the common denominator between those that received this email was that all subscribed to the township's Alert system.

Not sure that this was the case, Sean Byrnes attended the Oct. 1st workshop meeting of the Township Committee and asked for assurances that the email which residents received 2 days earlier did not come from the township. More specifically, if anyone on the committee had knowledge of the email or if it came from anyone on the committee seeking election this year (the video below is queued to the start of Byrnes's question).

As you'd expect, everyone at the table denied any knowledge or involvement with the email. There was however, evidence to suggest otherwise.



The email from Resident Against Over Development was sent through the automated email service MailChimp. As part of the service, those that receive emails can opt-out from receiving emails by clicking on the link to unsubscribe. When the unsubscribe link was followed all the way through to completion, the link took the unsubscriber to the Twitter page of Committee person Tony Perry.

On October 5th, the Asbury Park Press jumped on the story and published, "Middletown official won't deny sending mysterious political email", in which Tony Perry wouldn't deny having any knowledge of the email previously. He also, unpromted, offered that the Township email lists are public record that anyone can access via an OPRA request.

After the Asbury Park Press's article was published, the local Middletown Patch published a follow-up report, "Middletown: OPRA Request Forced Us To Share Residents' Emails", where it's evident that after the Press's article came out, Township officials decided that the best course of action was to deny knowledge of the email and blame an anonymous OPRA request for the release of a list of township residents email addresses. When the Patch questioned Perry about any knowledge of who may have been behind the email and linked it back to his campaign Perry stated that, "he hires various political consultants to run his campaigns".

That's not a very convincing denial. To blame this on various "political consultants" running his campaign is weak and shows what kind of backbone Tony Perry has; one that's crooked and spineless. I suppose though I shouldn't expect anything different from someone who was appointed to his seat on the Township Committee by his father-in-law, Gerry Scharfenberger.

The attempt to deceive Middletown residents by sending out an anonymous, dirty trick email, thinly disguised as an anti-development appeal is underhanded and unethical. Middletown Republicans must be truly afraid of losing control of the township committee this year, to have been so desperate to send this kind of email to hundreds or thousands of residents, hoping that it would swing a few votes in their favor.

It also shows the lack of character of Tony Perry and those currently running Middletown. If Tony Perry continues to refuse to take ownership of this and would rather continue to cover it up after tonight's Committee meeting, where I'm sure he'll be asked about it, then he doesn't deserve to be elected and hold office in Middletown or anywhere else for that matter.

December 4, 2017 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

Better to be late posting than not at all, here is the video of the December 4th, 2017 meeting of the Middletown Township Committee. This meeting was the first official meeting of Gerry Scharfenberger's son-in-law, Tony Perry, as a sitting township committeeman.

Here are the highlights:

• An ordinance was passed that delegated who would be responsible for enforcing nuisance penalties.
• An ordinance was introduced that sets fees for the purchase of extra garbage carts.
• A resolution was given a separate vote to set the salary for the Tax Assessor at $121,088 and appoint Assistant Tax Assessor, Alex Worth, as Tax Assessor, replacing Charles Heck.
• Of the discussion items, the Clerk spent a great deal of time to explain how an online records request system would work and be of benefit to the town.

• A representative of the Lincroft Village Green Association provided a status of the progress being done in their irrigation project at the Village Green Park in Lincroft.

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.

November 13 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

As promised, here is the video and the business conducted at the November 13th meeting of the Middletown Township Committee. I haven't had time yet to go through he whole video but here are the highlights:

The Committee seat left vacant by Steve Massell was filled with the appointment of Anthony Perry, the son-in-law of Mayor Scharfenberger. The Mayor actually saw no conflict in voting to sit his son-in-law on the same governing body that he sits on.

• A certificate recognizing the Thompson Middle School Girls Cross Country Team was presented for winning the title in their sport.
• A proclamation was presented to the Municipal Alliance for recognizing December as National Impaired Driving Prevention Month.
• Other proclamations were read into the record.
• Ordinances were passed that granted an easement to a land locked property and to dissolve the municipal garbage district.
• An ordinance was introduced to amend the enforcement of nuisance penalties.

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.

September 18, 2017 Middletown Township Committee Meeting: It's All About Garbage

At the September 18th meeting of the Middletown Township Committee, a resolution that would include all of the township into the garbage collection district was presented for public input. This means that all of the homes in town will have their garbage and recycles collected by one company and there will no longer be private collection, which means that there will be some winners and losers when this resolution goes into effect on January 1st, 2018.

The cost for garbage collection will be included in the property taxes of all resident s that live outside of the current garbage district; Some of these residents pay as little as $67 per quarter now and will see a sharp increase in their garbage fees, while others will see moderate increases.  Those on the governing body however, say that those increases will be offset by the fact that those currently living outside of the garbage collection district, will no longer need to pay out of pocket for bulk garbage disposal, which will save them out of pocket expenses if they have large items like furniture or appliances to throw out.

M&S Waste Services, a company that has been hauling garbage in Middletown for 57 years, created a big controversy when they announced to residents that this change was going to take place. As a result.

It seems that this decision was made "behind" closed doors and in secrecy. It wasn't going to be addressed during the meeting that night until word got out; It was a last minute addition to the agenda.

On Tuesday (on the day after the meeting), the township announced the change to garbage pick-up to residents on its website.

The discussion of the resolution begins at 38 minutes into the meeting for those interested in hearing the details.

And for those that live outside of the garbage districts, who wish to know how much this change will cost them, the tax rate for waste collection is currently .0065 per $100 of assessed home value. So for those living in the more affluent sections of Middletown, you can expect to be paying much more for your waste disposal.



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.

December 5, 2016 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

At the December 5th meeting of the Middletown Township Committee, TOMSA and the Middletown Housing Authority made a presentation which included each bodies accomplishments of the past year and what they have planned for the coming year.

During Public Comments information on the new Township Municipal complex was discussed.



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.

June 6, 2016 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

Monday night was another meeting of the Middletown Township Committee meeting. It was a brief 34 minute meeting but there were a few things of not that was discussed, such as:

• An ordinance was passed to regulate signs in the Planned Development (PD) zone (Towne Center).
• Ordinances were introduced to amend regulations for dealers in second hand goods, to expand the garbage district to cover the new homes at Bamm Hollow Estates, and to refinance $3M in township debt.

These will all have a public hearing and vote to adopt on June 20.

Public Comments begin at time mark 17:15



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.

March 21, 2016 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

While I was "away" there was a Township Committee meeting that took place on March 21 st. It was rather uneventful but proclamations were presented for Autism Awareness Month, Galactosemia Awareness Day and to T&M Engineering for 50 years in business.



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.

February 1, 2016 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

At last Monday night's Township Committee meeting a public hearing was held on an ordinance to establish a cap bank to in order to potentially exceed the 2% budget cap . The ordinance was adopted.

Resolutions were adopted to renew some shared service agreements that will allow the township to use a meter to detect lead in paint and another to utilize some health services provided by the county. The Township Committee also adopted a resolution to accept a Planning Board determination that the Belford seaport area is an area that is in need of redevelopment.

A Discussion also took place about increasing fees for recreation activities and the Green Team will apply for grant funds to conduct educational activities, which will allow the township obtain a silver status rating.





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.

November 16, 2015 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

I have to admit that I haven't watched all of the video from last month's meeting of the Middletown Township Committee. I hope to watch it all before the posting of the next Township meeting scheduled for tonight.

Here's a very brief rundown of what happened at the 11/16/15 meeting of the Township Committee:

A presentation was made of a 3-story housing project on the corner of Ocean Ave and Pt. Monmouth Rd. The presentation will be used to attract a developer for the property and three officers were promoted and sworn in.




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.

October 19, 2015 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

The Middletown Township Committee held it's monthly business meeting last week and as meetings go not much of interest actually took place. The meeting lasted a total of 44 minutes however, if you take away the 23 minutes that it took to hand out awards of recognition to Middletown Day supporters, Asbury Park Press Readers' Choice Award recipients and the newly made Distinguished Citizens Award, the meeting only lasted 21 minutes.

During the 21 minutes of actual committee business that was conducted on the 19th, ordinances to adopt a redevelopment plan on Pt. Monmouth Rd. (near Ocean Ave.) and regulating porches, lot coverage and accessory structures. The Committee also instructed the attorney to issue a letter terminating the tax inspection contract with Realty Data Systems, which Tony Fiore commented on during the Committee Comments portion of the meeting.

Speaking of Committee Com you have to listen to the comments of Deputy Mayor Steve Massell (39:20). He's up for reelection this year and according to him everything is awesome! kind of reminds me of THIS




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.

September 8, 2015 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

At the last meeting of the Middletown Township Committee back on September 8th, there were a few ordinances that were adopted to update a list of street names, allow the Middletown police to patrol the Bayshore Village, amend fees for the Registrar of Vital Statistics and to establish fees for passport services.

Two rather interesting discussions took place during the meeting concerning  possible changes to the township's zoning ordinances and the township's recycling program.

 The first discussion concerned whether or not the township should allow murals to be painted on the sides of residential homes or places of businesses. The talk circled around what would be considered appropriate "ART" and what could be considered as a sign or an advertisement and subjected to zoning ordinances.

There are currently township zoning regulations that address signage but there isn't anything in the statutes that pertains specifically to what a "mural" is. The concern of the township committee is that art is subjective and what could be seen as beautiful to some could be perceived as an "eyesore" by others and don't want murals popping up around town or up and down highways 35 & 36 unregulated.    

The second discussion concerning the township's recycling program would effect everyone in town. Due to the economic slow down in China and the relatively low cost of crude oil, the demand for recyclable material is at an historical low. Therefore the money that the township receives in return for recyclables is much lower today than in previous years. As a result, residents will need to be more aware of what "is" and what "isn't" recyclable. 

With single stream recycling, recyclable material doesn't need to be separated by residents before pick-up. Instead, the separation of materials take place at the recycling centers, where material that is considered garbage is sent to the landfill and good material is sent out for recycling. The township however gets a "charge back" by the processor for the garbage that is sent to the landfill which cuts into any money that the township received for its recyclable materials. 

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.

March 16, 2015 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

At last weeks Township Committee Meeting, the township recognized the first responders that rescued two young girls from the waters of the bay.

The township also recognized Autism Awareness Month, Volunteer Week, Alcohol Awareness Month and the HS North Ice Hockey team for winning the division state title.

Public hearings were held on ordinances to increase the summer recreation program fees, to protect the dunes along Middletown's bay front, increase the fees paid to special duty police officers, regulating electronic signs and banning commercial vehicles on town roads.



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.