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ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS HERALD |
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HAPPY NEW YEAR AND MORE ACTION FROM 12/14/05 COUNCIL MEETING Well this week I would like to begin by wishing a Happy, Safe and Healthy New Year to all of my readers. We will start a New Year during this week. It gives us all the chance for a new start and a fresh outlook. In this column last week I covered some of the action from the Keansburg Borough Council’s last regular meeting on Wednesday 12/14. The agenda for that meeting was very busy and crowded with a great many items that should be of interest to all residents of Keansburg. This week I will complete the coverage of that meeting and the many resolutions from that meeting for action by our borough council. As I mentioned at the end of last week’s article the agenda for the 14/14 council meeting also included 16 resolutions for council action. During the course of the meeting and because of the many discussion items I wrote about last week 5 more resolutions were added to the agenda. Please note that this week I will not be covering the resolutions in numeric order, as in my opinion some are more important then others. Additionally I will have more to say about a few of the resolutions. As you will see many of the resolutions were standard borough business and do not need as much commentary as others. I would like to start with resolution #248 which I considered the most controversial of the resolutions passed on 12/14/05. This resolution passed by the slimmest of margins in a vote of 3 in favor and 2 opposed. Actually at first, the motion for this resolution almost died on the floor due to lack of a second. This resolution appoints attorney Dave Corrigan to represent the borough as a special labor counsel in the matter against our suspended code enforcement officer. I was one of the people who voted against this appointment for a few reasons. First, I did not know until the nomination came up that a name was already chosen. Second, I had not seen a resume and while some of the council members said they knew he was qualified, I did not know that. It appears that once again certain council members had information that others did not have. Third in my opinion I believe in this matter Mr. Corrigan should be conflicted. This is because this same code enforcement officer was a main witness in a trial against a person that Mr. Corrigan represented. In my opinion, it can be viewed as Mr. Corrigan getting back at this person for testimony against his client. Resolution #247 appoints the chief and deputy chief of our police department as emergency management coordinator and deputy coordinator for our town. These were the only two resumes presented to the council for this position. Resolution #247 passed with 5 affirmative votes. Resolution #249 authorizes the borough engineering firm to proceed with the repaving of Creek Road from Manning place to Kennedy Way or as far as funding allows. This work is not to exceed 20% of 32,000 dollars left from the reconstruction of Railroad Avenue and the corner of Manning and Creek Road. Resolution #249 passed with 5 affirmative votes. Resolution #245 authorized the passing of the plan for the redevelopment of three large parcels of property to the planning board for their review. The three parcels of property are currently vacant land and includes the large municipal parking lot on Beachway near Laurel Avenue. Schoor DePlama developed the plan for redevelopment for our town. The plan was one of the discussion items I covered in depth in last week’s article. Resolution #245 passed with 5 affirmative votes. Resolution #235 was an amendment to the 2005 – 2006 municipal budget as introduced a few moths ago. This amendment changes some of the numbers and adds the extraordinary aid we received into our municipal budget. These amendments lower the total tax increase to 9.6 cents. The budget is scheduled for final approval by the council during the special meeting to be held in the Cafeteria of the Keansburg High School on Thursday 1/5/06 at 6 PM. Resolution #235 passed with 5 affirmative votes. Resolutions # 241 and #242 related to the appointment of additional Class 2 special police officers for our town. Resolution #241 appoints one officer for the remainder of 2005. Resolution #242 reappoints that one officer for 2006 and adds 6 other special police officers to our police department. Both resolutions #241 and #242 passed with 5 affirmative votes. Resolution #232 was for the ratification of a sexual offender free zone map much like drug free zone maps. On the advice of our borough attorney, this resolution was tabled for possible future action if at all. Resolution #237 appoints a special risk management consultant for our borough necessary because of our membership in the statewide insurance fund. Dominick Cinelli of the firm Brown and Brown Metro Inc was appointed to the position. Resolution #237 passed with 5 affirmative votes. Resolution #238 authorizes our town to join the Statewide Insurance Fund. This resolution passed with 5 affirmative votes. Resolution #236 is a compliance resolution that was necessitated because we offer our employees a deferred compensation plan (retirement funds, 401k’s, etc.) and there were adopted changes to the existing plan. The changes were made pursuant to Internal Revenue Service Code Section 457. The Internal Revenue Service had set a deadline of 12/31/05 for state and local governments to adopt or amend all compensation plans to conform with their code section 457. Resolution #236 passed with 5 affirmative votes. Resolution #234 was the normal monthly payment of bills and it was passed by 5 affirmative votes. Resolutions #228 through #231 and #243 approved amusement game licenses for 2006. These resolutions all passed with 5 affirmative votes. Resolutions #233, 239 and 240 all were related to borough taxes. Resolution #233 was the settlement of a tax appeal and the other two were refunds for overpayments. All three resolutions passed with 5 affirmative votes. Finally, resolution #244 authorizes the department head of our water and sewage department to authorize a domestic treatment works approval for a development to be built in our town. Resolution #244 passed with 5 affirmative votes. Upcoming Council meetings. Special Council Meeting - T he Keansburg Borough Council will hold a special meeting on Thursday, January 5, 2006 at 6 PM in the cafeteria at Keansburg High School. As of now I know of two items for the agenda. The first item will be another open public hearing on the skate park proposal for St. John's and the second will be final consideration of our 2005 - 2006 budget. The budget to be considered will raise local property taxes by 9.6 cents. Regular Council Meeting – The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Keansburg Borough Council will be on Wednesday 1/25/06 at 6 PM in Borough Hall. The regular monthly meetings of the Keansburg Borough Council are always held on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 6 PM unless otherwise announced. Upcoming town events and announcements None at this time. Meeting RemindersPlease be advised that the Keansburg Hispanic Heritage Society meets on the First Tuesday of each month at 7:30 PM in the United Methodist Church located at 21 Church Street in Keansburg. Please help to spread the word of this organization and the regular monthly meetings by telling all of your relatives, friends and neighbors. The Keansburg Tree and Beautification Committee meets on the first Tuesday of each month at 7 PM in Borough Hall. All meetings are open to the public. This organization is still seeking volunteers to help with the many projects they have planned. If you would like to volunteer, please attend any of the monthly meetings. Please make note that the Keansburg Recreation Committee meets on the third Wednesday of each month at 7 PM in Borough Hall. The meetings are always open to the public. Volunteers are often sought to work on upcoming projects. Please note that the regular monthly meetings of the Keansburg Borough Council are held on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 PM in Borough Hall. 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. AHHerald's Keansburg Community Website
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