Middletown Township Committee Workshop Meeting 5/06/24

 It's been a long time since I posted a meeting video of Middletown Township Committee and it seems that nothing much has changed; a lot of fluff with little substance. The meeting lasted a total of 29 minutes however,  any discussions or information that really mattered to residents was conducted in the last 8 minutes!  

The May 6th meeting was a Workshop meeting and as such the meeting should be used to "discuss items which will be acted upon at the next meeting unless otherwise posted" per the Township's own website. 

Instead of actually talking or discussing important upcoming items that will effect the lives of residents, Tony Perry and the other members of the Township Committee have been using these meeting to recognize others, present awards or use the meetings for personal promotion. In the past this fluff has always been regulated for the general business meetings. Fake outrage and indignation during these meetings is the norm rather than the exception.

As residents we allow our elected officials get away this because very few individuals attend Township Committee meetings. While I'm guilty of not attend meetings, I do make every attempt stay informed and watch the proceedings on YouTube later. It's not ideal, but at least I'm informed to what is going on. In the future, I  will be making more of an attempt to attend as many meetings in person as possible and I encourage others to do the same. To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, "An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people ". 

As in the past, 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.

May 6, 2019 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

I failed to post videos from the past couple of months of video postings of the Middletown Township Committee here on the blog. Today I am posting the the May 6th workshop meeting. Interestingly, when i first saw this video a few days ago I notices that the meeting took place in the court house as opposed to the small conference room next to the Clerk's office. I'm assuming it was because the Township Committee adopted the 2019 fiscal budget at this meeting and they wanted to have extra room incase there was a bigger than normal turnout due to the budget adoption.

Anyway, here are the highlights from the meeting, but please watch the video (it's only 29 minutes long), it's alway enlightening to hear what members of the Committee and public have to say when giving comments:

• The governing body voted to approve the 2019 budget.
• An ordinance was adopted to sell various properties around town. An auction date was also adopted to set the date of the auction to May 22.
• Resolutions adopted include authorizing fireworks displays to Navesink Country Club on 5-26 and 7-3, Riverview Foundation on 7-3 and to Beacon Hill Country Club on 7-3.
• Discussion items included planting a tree at Bodman Park in honor of Bill Coyle and to modify the procedure to elect Fire Dept. officials. It was said that the current procedure is too restrictive.

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.

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The link to this month's Meeting Agenda also contains a copy of the adopted 2019 Fiscal Budget

February 4, 2019 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

The February 4th workshop meeting of the Middletown Township Committee was uneventful and over after 30 minutes.

Here are the highlights:

• The Committee adopted a salary ordinance that provides salary increases to management and non-contractual employees and professionals.
• Ordinances were introduced to borrow funds to purchase radar equipment, repair sidewalks and increase recreation fees and reduce the time allowed to apply for refunds. These ordinances will be voted upon at the February 19 meeting.
• Resolutions were adopted to appoint a member to the Library Board and name Toll Brothers as the developer of the residential portion of the Circus Liquors Site, more commonly known at Village 35.

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 4, 2018 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

This month's Workshop meeting of the Middletown Township Committee took place on Tuesday night September 4th. It was held in the courtroom of Town Hall this week due to the large crowd that wished to speak at the public hearing that was conducted on the  proposed development of Stevenson Park.

Stevenson Park is located on W. Front Street and is an undeveloped park on the western end of Shadow Lake.  The Township is proposing to construct up to 9 soccer fields in the park. There were many people attending to express their concerns, on both sides of this project.

Also at this meeting, ordinances were adopted to increase the amount of money the town will borrow to provide more playground and remote control equipment in the parks, land swaps within the Bamm Hollow development project for utility easements and to provide death benefits to EMS volunteers.

Ordinances were also introduced to amend the municipal complex development plan and to purchase more property along Rt. 36 in Pt. Monmouth.





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.

May 7, 2018 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

Here are the highlights from last Monday night's Workshop meeting of the Middletown Township Committee. Interesting to note that committee members Stephanie Murray and Rick Hibell were not present for the meeting:

• An ordinance was introduced to allocate $250k towards the new municipal complex that is under development.
• An ordinance was introduced to revise floodplain maps according to FEMA mandates.
• An ordinance was introduced to designate certain intersections as stop intersections.
• An ordinance was introduced to limit parking on various roads.
• All ordinances will have a public hearing at the May 21 meeting, after which a vote will be taken on each.
• Various resolutions were adopted in the consent agenda.
• Of all the items on the agenda for discussion, there were only two that drew any discussion.
• The Township Attorney mentioned that there should be some resolutions granting easements on some properties.

During Public Comments, members of the public expressed concerns about the pavement on the dunes at Ideal Beach, security guards hired by the Board of Education, lines of sight at various intersections and thanking the township for supporting the R.A.G.E. group in opposing the power lines along the train tracks.



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.

April 17, 2018 BOE Workshop Meeting & April 25, 2018 BOE Voting Meeting

I'm slowly working my way through these videos, it's tough when there are two meeting within 7 days that you need to get through. However, for the April 17th Workshop meeting, we have the luxury of having the Meeting Minutes available to cheat a little. 


April 17, 2018 BOE Workshop Meeting



At the April 25th meeting, a final budget presentation was given (which I recommend watching) and the budget for 2018/2019 school year was voted on. The budget for the 2018/2019 school year contains a 1.24% increase over last years school budget which means an increase of  $131 per year for the average Middletown home.

The budget passed on a 5-4 vote and you can read more about it HERE


April 25, 2018 BOE Voting Meeting


You can find the various agendas for these meetings ... HERE

April 2, 2018 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

There was a Middletown Township Committee meeting last Monday night, but if you blinked you might have missed it. The open public workshop meeting was all of 13 minutes long, if you had intended to go to the meeting but were running a little late, you would have missed it and been left wondering, "where did everyone go?". It's a good thing that we have  video to prove that a meeting actually took place.

Here are the brief  highlights:

• Ordinances were adopted to establish a property tax "CAP" bank and to set a fair market value for some property the township wants to either purchase or acquire by eminent domain in Belford.
• Ordinances were introduced to reissue an ordinance from 2017 authorizing to borrow $3.172M for various projects and the other to allocate $259K to begin funding the construction of the new municipal building.
• Resolutions were adopted to purchase a truck for DPW, award a contract for GIS services, award a contract to construct a pavilion at Poricy Park and to establish an agreement between the township and the Affordable Housing Alliance to prevent homelessness.

For further information on these, you can access the agenda for the meeting at the link below the video.



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 Board of Education Meeting 7-26-2017

I'll admit, since the school year ended I haven't paid much attention to what's happened at the Board of Education, so I haven't watched this video. That however, doesn't mean you shouldn't. And since the Board of Education recently held August's meeting, we should get caught up before the new school year begins in 2 weeks.

You can find the Meeting Agenda... HERE and the Meeting Minutes... HERE

May 17th & 23rd Middletown Board of Education Meeting Vidoes

I'll admit I've been a little remiss lately with following the goings on at the Middletown Board of Education. I've finally got a change to look at the videos of last month's meetings and have posted both below. For viewing, the video of the workshop meeting runs 2 1/2 hours, while the voting meeting is a more manageable 42 minutes in length. Be warned however, the audio for the voting meeting is the best. It sounds like the proceedings were under water.


BOE Workshop Meeting - May 17, 2017

BOE Voting Meeting 5 23 17

For those that like to follow along the Meeting Agenda's can be found HERE and the latest available posting of Meeting Minutes of the Middletown Board of Education can be found HERE

June 5, 2017 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

What a disgrace! Last night's meeting of the Middletown Township Committee seems to have set a new record for brevity. The meeting lasted less than 9 minutes. Total.

Very little information was available for the public and it seemed as if the members of the committee were just going through the motions, just waiting for the meeting to end. Here is a brief rundown of what transpired in approximately 8 minutes and 32 seconds :

• There is no Executive Session agenda or ordinances introduced for this meeting.
• There were a couple of resolutions to incorporate grant funds into the budget.
• A change order for the recently completed artificial turf field at Croydon Hall was adopted.
• The Township Social Services Dept. was consolidated into the County run system due to the retirement of the person that administered this department.
• Committeeman Fiore instructed the Administrator to draft an ordinance to reconfigure usage at the Croydon Hall artificial field.

As always, when available, 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.

May 1, 2017 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

At the recent meeting of the Middletown Township Committee which was held Monday night, an ordinance was introduced to amend the Zoning Map. This involves 2 ordinances that were previously introduced and adopted. It is not certain as to why they were never enacted at the time of adoption, but this ordinance was introduced to ensure that the zoning map is actually updated.

Another ordinance was introduced to accept the Belford Redevelopment Study done by T&M Engineering. A large portion of the Belford wetlands is included in this redevelopment study. The study that is the focus of this ordinance can be viewed... HERE

The Lincroft Village Green Association announced a fundraiser, to fund the well and irrigation system at the Lincroft Village Green. The fundraiser will be a food truck and antique car show at Parking Lot 1 of Brookdale Community College on Friday, June 16 from 3-8pm

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 BOE Meetings: April 19th & April 25th

I'm really getting backed-up with all the videos I need to watch and comment on. I only recently finished watching the BOE videos from March.  Life happens sometimes I suppose...

I know that the capital budget was discussed and that teacher contract talks are pending. If anyone has anything to comment on from these two videos, let me know and I'll put it on top of my priority list for this weekend.


BOE Workshop Meeting - April 19, 2017

BOE Voting Meeting - April 25, 2017

For this that like to follow a long the Meeting Agenda's can be found HERE and the latest available posting of Meeting Minutes of the Middletown Board of Education can be found HERE

April 3, 2017 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

How does a 15 minute open public meeting benefit residents? Answer. It doesn't. If you blinked, you missed it.

Here's what very quickly happened:

• Ordinances were passed to add regulations to the clothing bin laws, establish senior recreation activity fees, amend the ABEF flood control ordinances and amend the dumping laws.
• Committee members had no comments to make during discussion items or the Committee comments portion of the meeting.
• One member of the public spoke about the decrease of water level at Shadow Lake. Someone else from the LVGA announced some of the activities the LVGA were conducting during the Spring Season.

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.

BOE Workshop Meeting - March 22, 2017 & BOE Voting Meeting - March 28, 2017

I'll admit, I haven't watched these videos yet but it will.

You can find the Agenda for the meetings HERE and the Minutes to the March 22nd meeting HERE

March 6, 2017 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

Last week the Middletown Township Committee held it's monthly workshop meeting. Below are the highlights:

• An ordinance was introduced to repeal part of the township code relating to retirement incentives.
• Some of the resolutions adopted include appointing the Township Attorney to provide land acquisition services in Pt. Monmouth, extending the contract for tree trimming services, to purchase vehicles for DPW, allocate funds to cover costs of running the town and an increase in the costs of providing ADA improvements at Tonya Keller.
• Residents expressed concerns of the number of accidents at the intersection of Hosford Ave and Leonardville Rd., the lack of information from the township on the new municipal center and the progress of the required ADA improvement plan adopted in 2012.

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 6, 2017 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

This past Monday night's Middletown Township Committee Workshop meeting was actually pretty good. Normally these meetings have been short on time and details, this meeting however, while the meeting was still relatively short, we got a lot of information about things that are being proposed and what's going on.

• Ordinances were passed to update the Code Book of the town, establish a CAP bank and borrow $3.1M for various capital projects.
• Resolutions were adopted to obtain bids for a coffee shop in the Arts Center, appropriate excess funds from projects to the general fund, amend the 2016 contract for Sodon Electric and reauthorize a GIS contract with Maser Engineering, among others.
• Members of the LVGA continued with their proposal to irrigate the Lincroft Village park. 
• Questions were asked concerning the refinancing of debt. A proposal was made to construct a roundabout at the Phalanx Rd entrance to Brookdale Community College
• And the Committee was asked why residents are allowed to park illegally in front of HS North, but could not disobey a no idling law.

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.

BOE Workshop Meeting - January 18, 2017

I meant to post this video of the January 18th Workshop meeting of the Middletown Board of Education last week, when it was first published, before last night's scheduled BOE meeting, but just didn't get around to it. I suppose that was because the meeting was routine and filled with Committee Reports from the various ad-hoc committees that actually do the heavy lifting for the school district.

On a brief side note, I just wanted to mentioned that for her very first meeting as BOE president, Danielle Walsh, though obviously nervous, did a fine job at conducting the meeting.



You can find the Meeting Agendas, Committee Report and the program for the Student Recognition HERE.  If you'd like to watch the video of the Student Recognition from earlier that evening, you can do so HERE.

BOE Workshop Meeting - September 21, 2016

Last Wednesday night's Middletown Board of Education Workshop meeting lasted 2 hours and to be honest, I haven't had time to review it completely, I'm about halfway through but I thought it important to post nevertheless for others to view.

One of the items discussed last week that I'm interested in, is the policy revision to the regulation regarding security for groups who rent our school with more than 75 people in attendance. The revised regulation would require Tier 2 and Tier 3 users to incur costs for a security guard to be present at events.

What this means is groups such as the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, BYAA, MYAA, sports or day camps, St Mary Soccer or other types of community groups, that use Middletown Board of Education facilities may not be able to do so due to the added costs to their programs.

This discussion item will be voted on at the next Board of Education meeting which just so happens to be this evening Tuesday, September 27th.

I would implore those concerned about this change of policy to attend the meeting and speak out against it.

September 6, 2016 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

The September 6th meeting of the Middletown Township Committee lasted 18 minutes. It was quick and like most Workshop meetings not a lot of details or enlightening information came out of it. That is of course, if you consider the Township's plan of installing lighting on the Nut Swamp fields.

If you weren't paying attention, the discussion of the field lights  at Nut Swamp would have been missed. While discussing a grant for new LED lighting for the Middletown Library (6:11),Tony Fiore off-handily mentions a grant application for lighting at the Nut Swamp fields and that the Township should also look into LED lighting for them (6:38-7:25).

To me this is significant, lighting of sports fields is a potential hot button issue, you either like the idea because your kids or other family members get to play under the lights or you hate the idea because you live in or around the area and don't want your quality of life being effected by the noise, light pollution or additional traffic in the neighbor at night when your trying to relax after work or get the kids to bed. It's a discussion that the Township should have with the residents in the area and I don't believe that notices to the residents most affected have been issued to notify them of the plans. It should also be mentioned that money from a Grant isn't free money, it has to be paid back at some time.

Other items of interest discussed during the meeting included:

• An ordinance was adopted to enter an agreement with Middletown Emergency Medical Services.
• An ordinance was introduced to vacate a portion of Atlantic Ave.
• Resolutions were adopted to enter agreements with towns along the NJ Transit rail line where a high voltage power line is proposed to be installed. The agreements are to set aside funds to retain legal counsel and retain a utilities expert to oppose the installation.

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.

May 2, 2016 Middletown Township Committee Meeting

At last week's Middletown Township Committee's monthly Workshop meeting, the Committee voted to adopt the 2016 Municipal Budget, T&M Engineering was awarded a contract to draft a development plan for the Port of Belford and Maser Consulting was awarded a contract to redesign the Rt. 36 corridor.

We also found out when a public document is considered a public document. It's when Middletown's governing body says it is!

During public comments, resident Don Watson asked about documents that he requested via an OPRA request, pertaining to the transfer of the Township's 911 system to the County. His OPRA request was denied because the Township Clerk had stated that no such documents were available.

Mr. Watson questioned this denial at the meeting, stating that at the last township meeting the Township Committee voted on a resolution accepting the terms of the County's takeover and if the resolution was voted on, then there must be a document stating what the terms were?

As usual, when someone legitimately points out an error and questions why the cart was placed before the horse, they are met with aggression and disdain.

See for yourself starting at the 17 minute mark of the video.




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.