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TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON, WARREN COUNTY
Regular Meeting
September 20, 2005
The regular meeting of the Township Committee was held this date at the Municipal/Police Building located on Little Philadelphia Road. The meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m. by Mayor David Dempski.
SUNSHINE LAW COMPLIANCE- The Mayor noted that this meeting was being held in compliance with the Open Public Meetings Law of 1975 in as much as a notice had been published in the Star Gazette and transmitted to the Express Times and posted at the Municipal Building.
ROLL CALL: Horensky, present; Kovacs, present; Mueller, present; Strunk, present; Dempski, present. Township Attorney Edward Glynn and Acting Township Clerk Anna Godfrey were also present.
SALUTE TO FLAG
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The Mayor had a correction in the minutes of August 16, 2005, page two, 8th paragraph, fifth line, the word o should be removed and the word to be inserted. Horensky made a motion to approve the minutes of the Executive Session Meeting of August 16, 2005 as amended, Mueller seconded. All were in favor.
Kovacs made a motion to approve the Regular Minutes from the meeting of August 16, 2005, Horensky seconded. All were in favor.
Horensky made a motion to approve the minutes from the Special Meeting of September 8, 2005, Mueller seconded. All were in favor.
RESOLUTIONS
The Mayor advised that any item for discussion should be removed prior to approval. Otherwise, one motion will cover all items on Consent Agenda. Horensky asked that Resolutions 05-131, 05-136 and 05-137 be voted on separately. Kovacs made a motion to approve Resolution 05-128, 05-129, 05-130, 05-132, 05-133 05-134 and 05-135, Horensky seconded.
ROLL CALL: Kovacs, yes; Horensky, yes; Mueller, yes; Strunk, yes; Dempski, yes.
05-128 Resolution in Support of State Funding for State Mandated Use of Alcotest 7110MK III-C
05-129 Release of Washington Township Land Use Board Escrow (Laurelwood Organics)
05-130 Release of Washington Township Land Use Board Escrow (Cynthia Donaldson)
05-132 Release of Washington Township Land Use Board Escrow, (Height Equities, Inc)
05-133 Release of Washington Township Land Use Board Escrow, (Patrick Graham)
05-134 Refund of Non Use of the Pavilion, Stepping Stone Child Care Center
05-135 Resolution for Fuel Cost CAP Exception
Kovacs made a motion to approve Resolution 05-131, Authorize & Approve Salaries & Wages for Certain Employees (Shane Zaro), Horensky seconded.
ROLL CALL: Kovacs, yes; Horensky, yes; Mueller, yes; Strunk, yes; Dempski, yes.
Horensky made a motion to approve 05-136 Resolution/Authorize & Approve Salaries & Wages for Certain Employees (Jo Ann Fascenelli), Kovacs seconded.
ROLL CALL: Horensky, yes; Kovacs, yes; Mueller, yes; Strunk, yes; Dempski, yes.
Kovacs made a motion to approve 05-137, Resolution/Authorize & Approve Salaries & Wages for Certain Employees ( Andrew Coppola), Horensky seconded,.
ROLL CALL: Kovacs, yes; Horensky, yes; Mueller; yes, Strunk, yes; Dempski, yes.
PUBLIC QUESTIONS & CONCERNS
There was none.
The Mayor said he was in Washington, DC in August and asked Congressman Garrett to get the Township a flag that flew over the Capital on September 2, 2005.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Dr. Will Austin, President of Warren County Community College, gave a presentation on the developments that have taken place during his first year of presidency and the direction in which Warren County Community College plans to head in the coming year. Horensky had met with Dr. Austin in the spring and was extremely impressed with Dr. Austin and his staff.
OLD BUSINESS
1. The Mayor said that previously there had been two proposals regarding how the Township would handle cash management and transfers. The Mayor had e-mailed everyone the proposal from the CFO and a more detailed proposal from the Tax Collector. The CFO’s proposal would amend the Cash Management Fund and the Tax Collector was creating a new policy to govern how funds are transferred in and out of accounts. The Mayor prefers the proposal issued by the Tax Collector from July 18, 2005. Strunk said he had a discussion a while ago with Dave Evans, Auditor, who advised that it must be an accepted practice and the Collector must transfer funds over to Finance on a certain date. Kovacs suggested that a copy of the Collector’s Proposal be sent to Evans to review, Horensky agreed. The Mayor will e-mail both copies to Evans to review.
2. Will be discussed later.
3. Pete de Boer and scrapped vehicles -de Boer said that he was requesting that the three (3) police vehicles and one (1) old DARE vehicle that he would like to have scrapped at Columbia Too Auto Wreckers, as per his distributed memo. The three (3) vehicles have been put out to bid twice and they never got anyone to bid on them per the minimum bid. de Boer said these cars have sat around for years and he wanted to get rid of them. On the Explorer, DARE Vehicle, was given to the Township by the Prosecutors Office, there is no clean title to it. de Boer had two quotes from local junk yards. The rear end would be removed from one of the vehicles, which would be put in another police vehicle for the Department of Public Works to use. The other items discussed in memo would be disposed of with Sparta. Strunk made a motion that deBoer be authorized to dispose of three old police vehicle and old DARE Vehicle, Kovacs seconded.
ROLL CALL: Strunk, yes; Kovacs, yes; Horensky, yes; Mueller, yes; Dempski, yes.
The Mayor said that a request had been made, due to the construction of Warren Hills and the expansion of the high school and middle school, they are going to be moving around some spaces, in particular their bus depot from middle school to a place they don’t have yet. They are going to be doing some traffic circulation and modifications. The Mayor received a request that Peter Merluzzi, Superintendent of Warren Hills Regional School asking if the Township would be willing to let them park ten buses at the Department of Public Works Depot, because it would be secured and fenced. The Mayor asked de Boer for his input on this request. de Boer said that he does not think it is a problem. It is something that can be worked out. de Boer is not concerned with giving them a key to the gate, but the gate is very heavy and takes a strong person to open it. Also, additional lighting would be required where the buses would be parked and they may have to pay for the lighting. Horensky asked if the buses were diesel and if so, didn’t they require heating elements in the winter. de Boer said this is another good point and somebody would have to pay to have some sort of electric run out to the area. de Boer will talk with Merluzzi about the various issues. Kovacs made a motion to approve this being done and that Warren Hills be made aware of the gate problem, lighting problem and potential of getting power to the buses, Horensky seconded.
ROLL CALL: Kovacs, yes; Horensky, yes; Mueller, yes; Strunk, yes; Dempski, yes.
4. Discussion of Central Warren Court - The Mayor gave a background on the issue. Horensky has met with officials of the Central Warren Court earlier this year and he had met with Mayor Adams on July 15th. Horensky and the Mayor met with Franklin Township Officials on August 19th and September 12th of this year. The current budget for the shared court is 75% Washington Township and 25% Franklin Township. This year there was a high spike in operating expenses for the court, which includes 1/3 of the CFO ‘s salary, as well as employee health and dental benefits. In addition, the court costs and miscellaneous parking violations are being distributed 50/50 as opposed to either the 75%-25% or per the monthly cash book. To date, the Township is due$10,897 in court costs and an overpayment in operating expenses. The Mayor said in 2004, the total court revenue that was received was $110,000. The Mayor said that all figures used for the report had been obtained from Franklin Township.
Kovacs said that with the new building and facilities that the Township should look into going with their own court. The Mayor said that on the proposal, which was the final offer, Washington Township’s share would be 80% and Franklin Township would be 20%. The total cost for the court, which includes rent, salaries, direct cost, indirect cost and contingency fund would be $163,689. That excludes the $2,000 for the public defender. As compared to the 2005 cost, which was $116,839, that is an is an increase of $46,850. Horensky said the concern he has had and expressed is that by lumping in the amount of fine monies that are generated, you are artificially introducing a number that has no bearing on usage. Your are not counting the number of actions that are taking place between the two municipalities. Horensky said that when has discussed matters with Chief Mc Donald, he indicated that physically, appearance wise, the summons are totally different. Although the computer system does not allow a differation, by visually inspecting the two summons, you can determine which is generated in Washington Township and which are generated in Franklin Township. Horensky said the big hump he has to get over is how to determine the percentages. Horensky said his position was that if you look at percentage of court use, based solely upon revenue, that is not an indicator of the volume of activity each one in the municipalities are using. Horensky said that without knowing exactly in identifying how much percentage being used he feel uncomfortable in going with Franklin Township.
NEW BUSINESS
7. Discussion on the Township Water Property - The Mayor said a letter had been received from the Recreation Commission which indicated that people had expressed an interest in hunting on the Water Company Property on Harmony-Brass Castle Roads. The Mayor said he thought there were yellow signs saying ‘No Hunting.” Kovacs said, in the past, “No Hunting Sings” were posted, but the Township has allowed certain individuals to hunt on the property. Kovacs said with the deer population and that being the largest wooded area in Washington Township there is a major problem. Kovacs said the next step may be to issue permits and pick the number of people to hunt there. Kovacs recommended Township Residents and/or Township Employees and keep it to a minimum so there is control on the permits. The Mayor suggested just allowing bow hunting on the area. Kovacs said there is 400 acres to hunt on. Strunk said he would go along with the bow hunting, but said the Township may need to put some control on it. He said the Township Residents are the one footing the bill, that would make sense to him to do permits. Kovacs said the Committee will have to pick a number they will limit to hunt on the property. Horensky said he did not think it was appropriate to hunt on all public property. He suggested that the Township do some research, find out what ordinances are available on hunting and put a policy in place.
Randy Harrison, 5 Old School House Lane, who is a member of the Professional Bow Hunter Society, where they act as hunters in a professional manner. He is also a member of the Compton Traditional Bow Hunters, where they promote the sport of traditional archery. He is also in the process of starting NASP, which is the natural archery scholastic program. He has been on the water company property for the last 20 years and hunted on it at different times. He said to open it to public hunting would be a horrible thing to do. First, you should contact the surrounding property owners regarding this. After further discussion, it was decided to keep the system on hunting on the water property as it has been in the past.
Frank Cregan said there was an article in the Daily Record Newspaper on Morris Township is going to allow deer hunting and suggested the Township contact them for some ideas and policy on how it is being done.
OLD BUSINESS
2. Tom Bocko, Zoning Officer, gave a presentation on the Sign Ordinance and showed pictures of violations throughout the Township. Horensky and Mueller will work with Bocko on updating the Sign Ordinance and how it would be enforced.
NEW BUSINESS
2. Discussion/permission for de Boer to go out to bid for trucks/ de Boer said he was seeking permission to go out to bid on the dump trucks. de Boer went over the revisions he made to the specifications. Kovacs made a motion to approve de Boer going out to bid on the dump trucks, Strunk seconded.
ROLL CALL: Kovacs, yes; Strunk, yes; Horensky, yes; Mueller, yes; Dempski, yes.
3. Change Order/Asphalt Oil Bid - The Mayor said there was a change order for a decrease of $17,491.81, so the total price would be $18,228.19. Horensky made a motion to accept the change order for the asphalt oil bid, Mueller seconded.
ROLL CALL: Horensky, yes; Mueller, yes; Kovacs, yes; Strunk ,yes; Dempski, yes.
A break was taken by the Committee from 9:20 p.m. until 9:28 p.m.
4. The Mayor said that Alan Lowcher, Chairman of the Economic Development Commission has asked for a key to the meeting room. Kovacs made a motion that Alan Lowcher be given a key to the meeting room, Mueller seconded. All in favor.
5. Horensky made a motion to approve the requests from Pete de Boer, Public Works Manager and Mary Ann O’Neil, Township Clerk to attend an Ethics Class in Mansfield on October 12, 2005, Mueller seconded. All were in favor.
6. Kovacs made a motion to approve the Monthly Raffle Application from Oxford Central PTO for December, January and February, Horensky seconded. All were in favor.
7. Had been discussed earlier in meeting.
8. Kovacs made a motion to approve the Raffle Application from the Washington Rotary for November 14, 2005, Mueller seconded.
ROLL CALL: Kovacs, yes; Mueller, yes; Horensky, yes; Strunk, abstain; Dempski, yes.
9. Strunk made a motion that Andrew Cappola, Deputy Treasurer, be given an alarm key and office key to the Administration Building Mueller seconded. Horensky asked what would be done to verify the hours that were worked. Strunk said that the Township could continue with the same system that was used with the CFO. Strunk also requested that a weekly sheet be submitted with their hours as well. After discussion, it was determined that it would be for between 10 and 15 hours a week. Strunk asked that the motion be amended to reflect that Cappola be notified of the maximum hours, rate of pay, sign in sheet and he should sign in and submit weekly reports, along with his request for payroll and that a review would be done after 30-60 days, Mueller seconded the amendment. Strunk asked the Clerk do a memo to Cappola advising him of the motion.
ROLL CALL: Strunk, yes; Mueller, yes; Horensky, yes; Kovacs, yes. Dempski, yes.
REPORT FROM OFFICIALS
John Horensky said that he has been working with Mueller on the sign ordinance. He will schedule meetings and have the Zoning Officer involved.
Horensky attended the Fire Department and Fire Commissioners Meetings. He asked for a response back from them on whether or not they would be interested in the land at Asbury-Anderson Road for a fire station at some time in the future.
Also, the Fire Department’s auditor needs information on the fire truck that the Township presently holds the bond on. They need something showing the vehicle will be transferred over to them. He said they are interested in knowing when the vehicle will be turned over to them, what the time frame is and what the mechanism would be to do it. Horensky said it was his understanding that the Township could not turn the title of the vehicle over to the Fire Department because the Township holds the bond on it. It was also his understanding that once the bond is paid for, then it would be turned over to them. The Mayor said the Township should ask Dave Evans for some feed back on this matter. Strunk said he will do it and check on which bond and when it was done.
Michael A Kovacs had no report.
Barry Mueller said that the Historic Commission has had their signs taken down for repairs and repainting.
Mueller said he called Bart Johnson with the County who they met with several months ago regarding the intersection of Cemetery Hill Road and South Lincoln. They will be scheduling a meeting in the future. They did do the traffic count already.
R.J. Strunk said the police may need a new car to replace the 1997 Expedition. He said he wants to research this with the Chief more before anything is done. Strunk said there is still some money available in bond ordinance 2004-06 and unencumbered to date is $18,000. de Boer said that in the future, the Township should consider taking extended warranties when vehicles are purchased.
Strunk said, on Brown and Brown, an e-mail had been sent to everyone from the architect to the State. The Township is in the middle of a grey area. The State will not allow the Township to talk with the people they need to without submitting a letter. Strunk said the procedure now is to go to the local official, then Chuck Herring, then to his regional person and then he submits it to the State.
Also, Hope Bank, Skylands, Unity Bank and Quick Check have all shown an interest in the Administration Building. Hope Bank is interested in purchasing all the property. Kovacs said that the Township should check with Enzo’s to see if they are interested in the land. Strunk said that if Hope Bank buys it they would entertain a co-parking agreement. Strunk was interested in seeing the survey of the Administration Building.
David Dempski said that Comcast is conducting a survey for the extension of lines to Freeze and neighbors.
A Comcast Representative had been invited to attend the next meeting to explain further.
Dempski had applied for the $5000 Smart Future Growth to be used for developing a study to see if the Township can use solar power in the new Administration Building as a way of costs and generating some revenue.
On Affordable Housing, he met with Scarlett Doyle, Planner, and they have completed the work on the Housing Element and Fair Share Plan for the third round obligations. He will be taking it the Land Use Board on November 9th and the Township Committee on November 15th. It is due by December 5th.
Dempski said, with regard to the Recreation Commission, Mary Buyofski has moved out of the Township and resigned. He said he would like to move Joseph De Franza up from Alternate 1 with a term ending December 31, 2005. Also, Walter Godfrey would move up to Alternate 1, term expiring December 31, 2006 and Randy Harrison to Alternate 2 with a term expiring December 31, 2007.
Three resumes had been presented on Forensic Auditors and asked the Committee to review them and check into their qualifications and references.
PAYMENT OF BILLS
The Mayor said there are two exclusions to the bills, purchase order 13590/dental for Gangaware and 13459 for $106,000 Open Space Trust. Kovacs made a motion to approve the bills, excluding purchase order 13590 and 13459, Strunk seconded.
ROLL CALL: Kovacs, abstain; Strunk, yes; Horensky, abstain; Mueller, yes. Dempski, yes.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Strunk made a motion to go into Executive Session at 9:55 p.m. to discuss negotiations and matters of personnel, Mueller seconded
ROLL CALL: Strunk, yes; Mueller, yes; Horensky, yes; Kovacs, yes; Dempski, yes.
The doors were opened. Horensky made a motion to come out of Executive Session at 10:35 p.m., Mueller seconded.
ROLL CALL: Horensky, yes; Mueller, yes; Kovacs, yes; Strunk, yes; Dempski, yes.
Horensky made a motion to adjourn at 10:40 p.m., Mueller seconded. All were in favor.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Ann O’Neil RMC/CM
Township Clerk
Typed from Recording Cassette.
