South Amboy started its Jan. 16 City Council meeting by recognizing the tenure of its first female firefighter, Lois Larkin.
Larkin has spent 25 years with Independence Fire Co.
Following the proclamation, Mayor Fred Henry spoke of the importance of volunteers in the fire department and the need for more of them, especially women.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” Henry said of Larkin’s tenure. “Hopefully we can get a few more women involved.”
During the public comment portion of the meeting, resident Barbara Pasternack asked about the current state of donated supplies for Hurricane Sandy victims.
Business Administrator Camille Tooker said most of the donated items were distributed or went to the hurricane relief center in Sayreville, which is also supporting South Amboy residents. In addition, she said, gift cards were distributed. However, she said the city did have some supplies left.
Pasternack also expressed her dissatisfaction with the current state of the city’s website.
“It’s pretty much dead,” she said. “You can’t really find out anything.”
Residents also had criticized the website’s limited information in the days and weeks following the Oct. 29 storm.
“You’re correct about that,” Tooker replied. “We have a [request for quotations] out for people to come out and tell us what they can do for us.”
Resident Tom Kross, of Grace Drive, spoke about a vacant property that is in disrepair at the corner of Raritan Street and Ridgeway Avenue. He said he has been in contact with code enforcement about the property for about three years, and said he and others have at times tried to do maintenance on it, especially, he added, because there is a line-of-sight issue due to the overgrowth. In addition, the storm resulted in a tree on the property falling and taking down a telephone poll, an issue that has yet to be addressed.
“It’s been lying directly across the front lawn for three months,” he said.
Council President Joe Connors said he would look into the issue.
Kross later asked about possible grant monies for rehabilitating the city baseball fields, something officials had said in the past that they were pursuing. City Engineer Mark Rasimowicz said the city recently applied for open-space funds for the fields, noting that the process was delayed because of the storm. He added that the city would need to match whatever funds the county may award.
The rehabilitation project, he stressed, is only for the ball fields, not for Veteran’s Park, for which the city will seek funds in the future.
Resident Vincent Mackiel asked about the future of the waterfront in the wake of storm damage. He said other municipalities were making improvements to their waterfronts in order to mitigate potential damage.
“Is there anything we can do to help the future of this town?” he asked, stating that with the NJ Transit train line in the floodprone area, officials should be concerned.
“What can be done to help stabilize our waterfront? I’m not asking for the moon or anything. Other communities are appropriating millions of dollars,” he said.
“The basic answer is yes,” Henry responded to the first question. “Obviously we’re not going to leave the beach as it is.”
He said he plans to have engineers look at the waterfront and make recommendations.