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ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS HERALD
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POLICE CONTRACT APPROVED AND SPECIAL MEETING 8/30/04 On Monday evening 8/30/04, there was a special meeting of the Keansburg
Borough Council. This special meeting began at 5 PM. I remember a time when some
people in our town criticized the former council for having one of two regular
monthly meetings starting at 5:30 PM. Now I guess starting special meetings at 5
PM is not a problem in fact this meeting was quite crowded with people. Strange
how everyone seemed to have a problem in the past attending meetings at 5:30 PM
or 7 PM but now making a 5 PM meeting seems to present no problem at all. There were three resolutions on the published agenda for the meeting. However this time as before after a lengthy executive session two more resolutions were added for consideration. The most important of the three original resolutions to me was once again the temporary emergency appropriation that was resolution number 153. This was the third time in as many meetings that this resolution had been on the agenda. It was modified for the original request for about a million dollars to only 130,000 dollars. One wonders why the three newest councilpersons were so quick to vote yes to approve over a million dollars in an emergency appropriation. Now after questions by the two minority members it turns out only 130,000 dollars was needed. Well we all have a learning curve I guess. This time since the boroughs Chief Financial Officer was in attendance at the meeting to answer our questions the appropriation was approved by a unanimous vote of council. I also had a long telephone conversation with our Chief Financial Officer about the need for the additional funding late last week. Resolution number 157 was approved by a vote of four yes and one no. This resolution was to authorize three change orders for the library construction project. One of the change orders grants a 78 day time extension, another is for the removal of buried concrete and sub-standard soil in the amount of $17,167.75 and the last was for additional new fencing on the east and west sides of the complex in the amount of $4,200.00. The last resolution #158 on the regular agenda was for another person to person liquor license transfer which was unanimously approved. The meeting was then opened to the public. Three people spoke, one of the three asked questions about the cost of the
library. He was throwing around some numbers that were inaccurate and
apparently, he thinks there is an additional amount of 400,000 dollars. He is
mistaken. The second gentleman was concerned about missing street signs with the
names of streets in our town and asked about possible synchronization of traffic
lights on Main Street at Church and Port Monmouth Roads. Lastly former mayor
Mike Minervini spoke and asked the council members about their attendance at
library committee meetings. Resolution number 160 was for the ratification of the new contract between the police officers union (the PBA) and the borough. This contract had been delayed since last year and had been in negotiation on and off during that time. The contract is very different in structure the that offered to and accepted by the other borough workers represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The CWA accepted hourly increases for all employees which is more favorable to the people who have less time on the job. The PBA was offered a similar structure but declined to accept it. In the end, salaries for all police officers in our town will increase by 16% over the next four years. The breakout of those increases was favorable to the borough in that for the first year which is retroactive the increase is only 3%. The second year is 3.5% and the last two years are at 4.75% each. Council approved this contract with four council members voting affirmatively and one abstention by the mayor. Upcoming Council meetings. For the month of September, there is one regularly scheduled meeting of the Keansburg Borough Council. The regular meeting will be on Wednesday 9/22 at 6 PM. There will be an additional special meeting for the introduction of the budget on 9/9 at XX:XX PM. As usual, all meetings will be held in the Borough Council Chambers at Keansburg Borough Hall. Upcoming town events and announcements. Keansburg Museum Fifth Anniversary Celebration: On 9/19 from 3 to 6 PM the Keansburg Historical Society will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the opening of the Keansburg Museum. There will be an open house that day at the historical society and museum building on Carr Avenue and that section of the street will be closed for a celebration to include activities for children, some food and a band for entertainment. I hope everyone in town will make an effort to come down to see what the Keansburg Museum has to offer about the history of our town. Please help spread the word about this event by telling all of your friends, relatives and neighbors. Reminders. The new Keansburg Waterfront Public Library has a web site however like our library you may find that some of the site is still under construction at this time. However, I wanted to remind everyone of the library web site. The address is: www.keansburglibrary.us. This web site has been built and is maintained by the members of our library committee and the volunteers.
http://www.ahherald.com/keansburg/ |
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