RED BANK- The Borough Council got down to business at the Jan. 14 council meeting.
The meeting was the first for newly elected Councilwoman Kathleen Horgan after being sworn in at the reorganization meeting on Jan. 1, and the meeting agenda included a long list of resolutions and business to attend to.
Updating park equipment, allocating grant money and purchasing borough vehicleswere three of the actions voted on by the Borough Council Jan. 14.
The first issue the council tackled was the reallocation of grant money for the Red Bank incinerator demolition project.
The borough had previously received Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for the project, but because of the necessity of a complete environmental reviewof the entire site, plans to use that grant have been put on hold.
“Unfortunately, due to some of the environmental conditions that were detected, there are concerns fromthe county that they could not go forward with awarding the grant. Part of the problemwas that they required full site decontamination. Our project was limited in scope to the demolition of the building itself and we did not have the funding to go forward with a complete environmental review of the entire site,” said BoroughAdministrator Stanley Sickels.
Instead, at the suggestion of county officials, the borough has found another use for the $117,000 CDBG funding.
The funding will go toward a roadwork project for Bassett Place, which is one of the streets on the borough paving schedule for the 2007-08 road program, and will include paving, road replacement and work being done on a sanitary manhole.
“It’s basically 310 feet of full-depth roadway, reconstruction and curb replacement [and] 365 feet of water main replacement with the lining of a sanitary manhole. They estimate the work cost to be approximately $120,000 to 125,000,” Sickels said of the plan for Bassett Place.
Council members and residents were still concerned about the incinerator stack and stressed the need for it to be taken down swiftly.
“I think it’s time that the borough steps up and takes that stack down,” said CouncilmanMichael DuPont.
“I’mjust curious as to what the status of that tower is,” said Ben Forest, Locust Avenue. “Is it presenting any danger to the area? It looks awfully tall and it looks like it’s in bad condition.”
Councilwoman Sharon Lee, who is the commissioner of the Public Utilities Committee, said there is no immediate danger of the smoke stack falling at this point and it is currently housing the borough’s supply of road salt.
“We are just concerned that it will take two to three years to secure funding and go through this process again before we are able to remove that stack,” said Lee.
Sickels said that the borough has been in talks with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and is looking for additional sources of funding to cover the full demolition of the stack, the environmental cleanup of the site, and recouping some of the costs already expended in the application process.
“The state puts guidelines on taking the stack down, as far as environmental [impact], and that’s the problem,” said Councilman Arthur Murphy, who is also a member of the PublicUtilities Committee. “After you do one set of tests, this thingmushrooms because it’s contaminated soil, let alone the smoke stack is contaminated.Asmuch aswe want it down, we have to go by the guidelines to get a grant.”
After the discussion about the incinerator grant money, the council focused on the replacement of Marine Park playground equipment.
Director of Parks and Recreation Bob Evans said that after theMarine Park playground is completed, the “oldest park playground in the town will be approximately two years old.”
Murphy added that that the Marine Park playground equipment will be the last borough park playground equipment to be refurbished.
“The larger playground is for ages 7 to 12 years old,” Evans said. “The smaller playground is for ages 3 to 5, and you have your tot swings. We’ll be taking out the existing sandbox. That’s where the younger ages’ play areawill be put in, andwe’ll be redoing the whole fence area around the play area.”
Evans also said the Count Basie Park playground is expected to be finished this week and the Marine Park playground equipment will be installed byMarch.
There was a resolution at the council meeting to awardMidAtlantic Park&Playground Concepts Inc. of Pennsylvania the state contract for the Marine Park playground at a cost of $36,022.
“Mr. Evans was able to work with the vendor to identify in the contract a client discount. Because we had purchased the other [Count Basie] playground fromthe vendor, it was provided for in the contract to further reduce the price,” said Sickels.
The playground will be paid for with a $25,000 DEP grant, a $10,122 Monmouth County Improvement Grant (MCIG) from 2005, and $900 from the Recreation Trust Fund, Councilman John Curley, who is the council liaison to the Parks and Recreation Committee, said at the meeting.
Curley had announced previously at the Jan. 9Westside CommunityGroupmeeting that the Parks and Recreation Committee was in negotiationswith Red Bank Catholic High School to put artificial turf on the borough football fields.
Of the 21 resolutions listed on the Jan. 14 councilmeeting agenda,DuPont said several of them were “housekeeping in nature” and were to set up the council for the New Year. One that was not a “housekeeping” resolution was the purchase of two new police vehicles for $44,300.
The Borough Council awarded a state contract to Chas S. Winner Inc. of Winner Ford in Cherry Hill for the two Crown Victorias.
“We’ll be taking two off the road and we will be receiving two withMCImoney,” said Murphy, who serves as commissioner of the Public Safety, Police and Fire Committee.
He said the funds received were about $24,000, and through a joint venture of the Red Bank and Tinton Falls police departments’ car auction, the borough received $29,252, which will help with the cost of the new vehicles.
The Red Bank Police Department also had a busy night at the council meeting, with the appointment of two newprobationary officers,NicholasD.Maletto andMilton A. Gray IV.