June 20, 2016 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

I haven't had time to view last month's Middletown Township Committee meeting in it's entirety as of yet but plan on doing so before the July Workshop meeting, on July 11th.

Here are a few highlights from the meeting:

• Proclamations were made to the Elks for their work with youth and to the Lions for their 70th Anniversary.
• A public hearing was held by the Monmouth Conservation Foundation regarding the Richard Saker property.
• A presentation was made by Concord Energy Services on how electric is purchased by the homeowner.

Ordinances were passed to regulate dealers in precious metals and to refinance $3M in debt. New ordinances were introduced to regulate traffic in the Heritage subdivision and on Woodside Street.

Ordinances not on the agenda were introduced to set fees for special events in town and regulating drinking in public parks.




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.

August 18, 2014 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

Highlights from the August 18th, 2014 meeting of the Middletown Township Committee included:

• A new police chief was sworn in, along with a new police officer and a promoted officer.
• A Belford fireman received the key to the town for his 53 years of service.
• Proclamations were presented for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Ovarian Cancer Awareness and National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month
• The Township refinanced $3.2M in bonds
• Amended the local film ordinance
• Introduced ordinances for a 4-way stop intersection by Bodman Park and the installation of a crosswalk at theMiddletown Arts Center.

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, 2014 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

Last Monday night the Township Committee held its monthly meeting down in Town Hall. It was rather uneventful overall but there were some very good comments address towards the committee during  Public Comments. The comments start at the 24 minute mark of the video and shouldn't be missed. There were a few comments on snow removal and comments on the fate of the Middletown Human Rights Commission. Once again Committeeman Tony Fiore (who is up for reelection this year), showed his arrogance in addressing some of those who commented.




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 10, 2014 MIddletown Township Committee Meeting

This past Monday there was a meeting of the Middletown Township Committee. The meeting must have set a new record in brevity; it lasted less than15 minute! If you blinked it was over or if you were unfortunate enough to have arrived a little late that night everyone was out the door.

While the meeting may have been brief there were two ordinances  and a couple of resolutions that were introduced.

 One ordinance was introduced to set fees for advertising at township ball fields and facilities and another was introduced to lease the Grover House to the Navesink Maritime Heritage Association.

Resolutions were adopted to extend contracts for tree services and wood chipping and a Special Labor Council was appointed.




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.

January 23, 2014 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

Here is the video from the last Middletown Township Committee meeting that took place on Thursday, January 23rd 2014.  This meeting should have been held on the previous Monday night but due to the Martin Luther King Day holiday it was scheduled for Tuesday night but had to be moved again due to inclement weather.

Nothing much happened during the meeting, the business portion of the meeting and Committee comments  were over and done with  within the first twenty minutes 20 minutes of the meeting. The remaining time of the meeting was taken up by Public Comments which was dominated by a group of residents that oppose the building of the new Trinity Hall School ( a private all girls school in the "Catholic" tradition) on the old Stavola property off of Chapel Hill Road. The residents cited some valid concerns but the Township Committee refused to comment on those concerns saying that any comments would be inappropriate and it would conflict with the Planning Board.



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.

July 15, 2013 Township Committee Meeting

It's been a while since I've posted a video from a Middletown Township Committee meeting. It hasn't been because I've lost interest in these meeting, on the contrary, I'm just as interested as I've always been, I watch every video whether I've posted it here or not. It's just that over the past number of weeks I've been pressed for time and haven't gotten around to posting the meetings in a timely fashion.  By the time I remember to post the most current meeting, a new meeting has taken place. This video is from last Monday night, July 15th.

The meeting lasted just 40 minutes with nothing special or extraordinarily taking place. Here are a few of the highlights:

• Township Administrator, Tony Mercantante, recently received a proclamation form the NJ General Assembly for his efforts during Superstorm Sandy. The proclamation was presented to Mercantante by Assemblywoman, Amy Handlin.
• New Jersey American Water presented the Poricy Park Conservancy with a check for $10K to construct a water garden in the park.
• Many resolutions were adopted for changes in road construction projects and personal property restoration due to infrastructure failures.

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

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

1-22-13 Township Committee Meeting

Last Monday night's Middletown Township Committee meeting was unusual. Unusual in the sense that it deviated from the norm of the past 2 years; The meeting took nearly two hours from start to finish, whereas the norm lately has been just under 35 minutes. So to be honest, I skipped through the video quickly and still reviewing it, but thought that I should post it for others to view as well.

The reason for the exceptional length of Monday night's meeting was due to a number of residents speaking out about several ordinances that were introduced at the previous meetings. Chief among them were the lease of the facilities at the Croydon Hall property to a private school - even though the Township has not decided where the Parks and Health Department employees will be relocated and the transfer of property (25 minutes into the video)to a non-profit to build group homes for the blind in the Navesink section of town. Several residents spoke out in opposition of the ordinance and the debate got rather heated. The ordinance however was unanimously passed by the Township committee. It is well worth the time to watch. Later during Public Comments, the executive director of the organization that will be building these group homes spoke to say that there should not be any concerns about the residents living in the homes and that the organization plans on holding a public meeting sometime in the future to address area residents concerns.

Committee Comments started at 1:10 into the meeting, comments by those on the committee were brief (lasting about 6 minutes) then moved right into the Public Comments portion of the meeting.

A couple of residents ask about the Middletown Library. The first asking about the feasibility of transferring the Middletown Library system to the County, to have it included as part of the Monmouth County Library system. The second resident later (1:48:39) asked about the current crisis  facing the Middletown Library regarding closure of library branches  charge backs for health insurance the Township imposed on the Library by the Township Committee. She was arrogantly told that it was a Library issue and to speak to the Library Board about it during a shouting match between her and Tony Fiore.

A lengthy discussion (1:30) took place about the flooding of a creek along Highlands Ave. in Leonardo and whether or not it could be dredged, followed by a question about the new FEMA flood maps.

And finally, the Township refused to accept free recordings of Township Committee meetings claiming a previously submitted DVD was unplayable and reportedly contained a virus. They could not identify which DVD presented the problem.




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

Methadone Clinic Uproar At Town Hall

I briefly attended last nights Middletown Township Committee meeting, I was there for only the first 45 minutes, leaving at 8:45pm. It' to bad that I did because I could tell from the get go that it was going to be one hell of a night.

The first indication that it was going to be a hot one last night was the parking lot, nearly every space was full and that has happened in a very long time.

The other indication was the agitation of many in the audience. The standing room only, overflowing into the lobby crowd, was a mixed bag of residents who had never attended a Township Committee meeting before until last night and wanted to express their displeasure at having a methadone clinic open up just outside of the only way in and out of their neighborhood.

Having never been to a meeting before they were unaware of the protocol of following the agenda and couldn't understand why they had to wait to speak their mind.

Many hemmed and hawed having to wait their turn while sitting through the solar project presentation presented by a Birdsall Engineering representative that rushed through the presentation and a couple of public hearings on different ordinances, which by that time I had to leave.

Before I left however I did speak to a few individuals who expressed their dismay at not being informed of the methadone clinic a head of time, wondering exactly how something like this could happen and were hoping that the Township Committee would stand up to the clinic and somehow, someway have it shut down.

As I expected and found out earlier today from talking to a few that were their and reading online accounts, those that govern the Township told those in attendance that nothing could be done, that the clinic is in it's legal rights to be there and anything that the Township did to try and prevent the clinic from operating could possible lead to a very costly law suit that more than likely be decided against the Township.

When I asked if last night's meeting was really as loud and crazy as it was made out to be by the online accounts from the redbankgreen.com and MiddletownPatch I was told "most definitely". More raucous then some meetings from last year when the planned turf fields were being fought against by members of SONIC, LVGA and the Pop Warner Chargers of Trezza Field? Absolutely I was told. The reason being, which made a lot of sense, was because while SONIC, LVGA and the Chargers were against a proposed plan that hadn't been implemented yet, the residents of Apple Brook development, who's only way into and out of their neighborhood is directly past the methadone clinic, didn't have a say into whether or not they wished to be living within walking distance of a clinic that distributes one dangerously addictive drug to stop the cravings of another and who's clients have potential criminal records. And when you consider what could happen to the values of their homes because of the presence of the Middletown Medical clinic, I understood why.

So what's their recourse? According to those on the Township Committee, the Municipal Attorney and Township Administrator not much, but I have heard talk that the residents are thinking of hiring lawyers in order to, somehow, force the town to take action or force the clinic to move, neither of which I think will be effective.

I've also heard word that residents may start picketing the clinic to draw more attention to it, which would then drive away those seeking treatment, that way the for-profit clinic may come to the conclusion that it wouldn't be prudent for their bottom-line to continue operating at the location and move on their own.

I hope to have some audio of the meeting later this week for posting so that myself and others can hear how crazy it actually was.

Full House Expected At Tonight's Township Committee Meeting

With the controversy surrounding the Middletown Township Committee and it's attempted extortion to grab hold of perceived surplus funds from the Middletown Library, tonight's meeting of the Township Committee should be a good one. A house full of library supporters are expected to back the court room tonight to further voice their concerns over the money grab by the Township Committee.

Tonight's meeting is expected to be an extension of last Wednesday night's Library Board of Trustees meeting, where close to 200 library supporter showed up to let Township Committeeman Kevin Settembrino, Mayor Fiore and other members of the Township Committee that it was not OK to raid library funds in order to fill a budget deficit in the Committee's Municipal budget.

If you have been following this blog you already know the story of how the Township Committee has tried to strong arm the Library Trustees into handing over funds. The Township Committee stated that if excess library funds weren't transferred to the Township the consequences would be that 26 township employees would be laid off, 10 of which would be police officers from the Middletown Police Department and 13 from Parks and Recreation.

During Wednesday night's meeting at the Library we found out that this was not the case, the 10 police officers and others would be losing their jobs no matter what and any funds garnered from the Library would go toward possibly saving other jobs.

The Library's position is that their are no excess funds available for the Township to take, all excess funds are earmarked for capital projects or have been endowed to the Library with specific instructions for its use. The Library also contends that due to clerical issues, perceived surplus funds left over after the last Library audit in 2009 do not exist. The Township CFO should have transferred money from Library's accounts to Township accounts before the last audit instead of afterwards and now because of this issue funds seem to be available when in fact there is none.

Tonight's meeting starts at 8:00pm in the Court Room located at Town Hall, regardless of how you feel about this, it should be a good show tonight and not to be missed.

The First Issue of "It's Your Town" Newsletter for The 2011 Is Now Available For Reading

Volume 3, issue 1 of "It's Your Town" newsletter has been published and available online for all that wish to read it. This is the first issue of the newsletter for 2011 and as always is very informative.

The first meeting of the year for the Township Committee was Reorganization day and took place on January 2,2011. Candidates that won the election in November were sworn in and the Committee elected the new mayor and deputy mayor. All political appointees were voted on also, although many of them were not in attendance for thier swearing in.

As always it should be noted the newsletter is not an official transcript of Township meetings, it is written by Don Watson who takes notes and writes as much as he can while the
meeting is taking place. It is extremely accurate and is the next best thing to being there in person (that is of course until the Township decides to broadcast their meetings on public access TV).

Another alternative to the newsletter that is available to residents, are the actual Township recordings of the meetings. In order to receive a copy of the recording, an OPRA request must be submitted to the Township Clerk and individuals must pay an accompanying fees that are associated with the request.

So seeing that filing OPRA requests after each township meeting my not be your thing to do, reading the newsletter is the only true way of staying informed about what is going on down at Middletown's Town Hall.

You can read the newsletter >>>> Here

So What Did Our New Mayor Have To Say After Being Appointed To Head The Committee?

So what did our new mayor, Tony Fiore, have to say about himself after being appointed to lead the Township Committee during his reelection year? Pretty much what you would expect.

He praised Gerry Scharfenberger and his fellow republican committee members for their efforts last year and let everyone know what how difficult this year will be trying to implement Governor Christie's budget 2% cap.

During his comments, I think Fiore took a page out of Gerry Scharfenberger's notebook because he followed Gerry's lead and praised Governor Christie up and down. He he sang his praises anymore, I would have thought that he was angling for a State job just as Gerry did.

If you are really interested in what Fiore had to say listen to the 10 minutes of audio below or you can read what the Asbury Park Press wrote about it his words >>> Here

While your at it, if you are interested the website RedBankGreen.com also has a posting about Fiore begin appointed mayor with a video of most of his remarks.

"SoundBites" From Middletown's Recent Township Committee Meeting

This past Monday night's Middletown Township Committee meeting once again did not disappoint those that were in attendance when it came time for comments by Committee members.

I walked into the meeting late and didn't have the opportunity to witness or hear for myself the introduction of Resolution 10-210, which calls for supporting property tax relief through State assumption of per pupil educational costs that our mayor, Gerry Scharfenberger has been touting recently by suggesting that a "percentage" increase to the State's sales tax would be the key to lowering property taxes in Middletown.

(Scharfenberger introduces tax resolution)

Many feel that this resolution is nothing more than an attempt by Sharfenberger and those in the majority, to play a political "shell game" that would divert Middletown resident's attention away from the proposed 14% increase in the municipal tax rate that is called for in the as yet adopted 2010 Township budget.

After the resolution was passed by a 3-1 vote (Committeeman Sean Byrnes being the lone decenter and Committeeman Steve Massell not present to vote), it was time for committee comments.

In the audio that can be heard below Byrnes explains why he voted against the mayor's resolution. He stated that it was designed to take the focus off of the Township's proposed budget that includes a 14% tax increase and clearly shows the lack of planning on the Township's part on budget issues and finance. After his comments many of those in attendance shows their appreciation for Byrnes's level-headed and sensible explanation as to why this resolution would do nothing to alleviate taxes in Middletown and why it was nothing more that a distraction a way from the Township's budget.

(Byrnes's Comments)

Deputy(dog)-mayor Tony Fiore took offense to much of what Byrnes had to say, stating that terms like consolidation, planning and committees were nothing more that "soundbites" and that indeed the Committee(those in the majority) had a plan to control costs through the use of lay-offs and the reduction of insurance costs once employee contracts were up at the end of the year.

(Fiore's Comments)

After the Committee comments portion of the meeting was finished and the floor was open to members of the public a handful of those in attendance who had just received their tax bills came up to the podium to question the Committee about the large increases that they saw in them. These people were assured that by the 4th quarter of the billing cycle all would be well and not assume that based on the 3rd quarter bills have any bearing on what their new yearly tax bills were going to be.

A few weren't feeling very assured and questioned the mayor and deputy-mayor about what their plan actually was because they had been hearing most of the night that a plan was in place to control costs and limit tax increases, but when pushed and prodded they had no answers.

Dustin Racioppi of Redbankgreen.com has an account of what went down Monday night. When reading his column make sure to read the ending comments left by readers, they are fascinating and real eye-openers.

Residents are not as foolish as Scharfenberger and Fiore think they are. They know when they are being made out to be fools and are intelligent enough to tell the difference between being deceived and told the truth.