Last Monday night Oct. 1st, 2012, the Middletown Township Committee got together for their monthly Workshop Meeting. The meeting lasted just over an hour and turned out to be rather interesting.
After watching the video of the meeting 3 things that stood out:
There was a special hiring about the renewal of a license for some guys pawn shop in town. Evidently he purchased some jewelry from an undercover police officer without the proper documentation. This is a big NO-NO seeing how the jewelry could have been stolen. It stood out because I and others have never seen such a hearing take place at a Township Committee meeting were there was police testimony and a shop owner pleading his case to keep his license. Ultimately the Township Committee voted to suspend or revoke the license.
Secondly, there was a discussion about administering a users fee to the various sports leagues that use Township parks. Currently, various township sports leagues pay only a nominal application fee to use the sports fields around town. The fees generated only amount to ~$10K a year, which is just a mere fraction of the amount it costs Middletown to upkeep the sports fields in town. That's way so many of the fields around town are in such disrepair, too much usage and not enough money coming in to fix them.
Janet Dellet, Director of Recreation, put together a study that show other towns in the area charge an hourly fee for the use of their township owned fields and if Middletown adopted such a fee schedule, the township could generate upwards of $300K yearly that could be used to upgrade and maintain the fields.
I think this is a good idea, but I would caution against raising these fees all at once. There is the possibility that by jacking up the user fees to quickly and steeply, some sports teams or leagues could not afford to play and the kids playing would be heart. A gradual increase of fees over the next 2 -3 years would seem appropriate.
Lastly, during the public comments portion of the meeting Linda Baum's questions about the use of Bio Diesel were stunning! The township spent nearly $400K on vehicles a couple of years back toting how "Green" and cost effective they were to purchase. Now the story has changed and it has become evident that Gerry Scharfenberger's Green Team didn't do there homework or set in place a plan on how to maintain the fleet (the vehicles are not Bio Diesel compatible) and generate Bio Diesel on their own. It seems that it's more complicated than just thinking that collecting old veggie oil from local restaurants and filtering it before usage would be enough to get them by. A whole setup is needed to convert the used oil into a usable form suitable for todays more advanced diesel engines; the trucks purchased need to be retro fitted with different seals and gaskets. And to top it all off, there is now a market for used cooking oil, so the once thought of as free fuel is now to cost prohibitive to collect.
Once again, lack of planning on the part of the Township Committee has wasted the tax payers money.
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.
2 comments:
For Dr. Scharfenberger and the rest of the Township Committee, promoting green projects, with partial implementation, is first and foremost done as a tool for re-election, or election. These projects are predominately fluff and offer very little substance, which is probably why the Committee avoided appointing Ms. Baum to the Green Committee, as well as failing to inform her of scheduled Green Committee meetings.
What happened to the touted Solar Project, other than paying out consulting fees to T&M? And, lets see how much credit the Township Committee tries to claim for the proposed regeneration projected planned for the Sewerage Authority. Especially, after years of claiming that they, the Township Committee, have no say in the Authority's internal workings, or budgeting activities.
The only substantive planning the Township Committee does regarding 'green iniatives' is planning how to leverage the activity for poltical purposes and ends.
Mike,
I just want to clarify that the two trucks that were purchased are natural gas powered vehicles. I asked if trucks such as these can be ordered new with diesel engines that are compatible with bio-diesel, and Ted Maloney (DPW director) said yes. The Township currently collects and utilizes used cooking oil to fuel some of its fleet but there is no process in place to create bio-diesel from the oil, where the bio-diesel might be a better option than using the filtered oil. There is an increased demand now for used cooking oil as society becomes more aware of the benefits of bio-diesel. The market demand may increase the cost for the oil, which is now free for the taking, but the demand may also mean there are more persons out there who know how to create bio-diesel and can provide this service to the Township. There may be cost involved, but then we will be paying for gasoline, diesel fuel, and natural gas, too. Bio-diesel is the cleaner, more sustainable option and should be explored further.
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