Tinton Falls Borough Council members have authorized a decrease in the contract for improvements at one of the borough’s parks.
During a meeting on Dec. 6, council members passed a resolution which authorizes a $19,372 decrease in the contract with Precise Construction Inc. for the Sycamore Park improvement project. The initial contract for the park improvements totaled $1.149 million. After two change orders, the contract now totals $1.15 million.
Borough Engineer Thomas Neff said the reduction reflects current as-built quantities. Sycamore Park is at the Sycamore Recreation Complex, Sycamore Avenue.
In other business, the council appointed Borough Administrator Charles Terefenko as Tinton Falls’ representative to the Monmouth County Community Development Program for 2023. Doreen Hoffmann is the alternate representative.
And, council members authorized a memorandum of understanding between the borough and the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MCSPCA) for a trap, neuter and release (TNR) program in 2023. The program is for the purpose of humanely trapping, neutering/spaying and vaccinating feral cats.
Under the terms of the TNR program, there will be a $75 fee for each feral cat and the borough will be responsible for $37.50 of the payment. The total fee of the program is not to exceed $3,750 in 2023, according to the resolution. Kerry Morgenthaler will be appointed as Tinton Falls’ designee in the program.
Council members also passed a resolution authorizing a one-year contract with the MCSPCA for animal control services in 2023. The contract will total $30,000 and the borough will be charged $2,500 each month.
Finally, council members amended a contract with CME Associates for professional affordable housing administration services. The contract was initially in an amount not to exceed $34,000. According to a resolution, the contract has been amended to an amount not to exceed $46,000.
Eatontown Borough Council members have adopted an ordinance that will amend regulations relating to Planning Board appointments.
The new ordinance eliminates the portion of an existing ordinance that prohibited former members of the Borough Council from being appointed to the Planning Board by the mayor until one year after their departure from the governing body.
With that section of the existing ordinance eliminated, the mayor will be permitted to immediately appoint former members of the council to the Planning Board.
The amended ordinance states that council members believe it is in the best interest of residents to encourage volunteerism and to permit former members of the Borough Council to be immediately eligible to be appointed by the mayor as Planning Board members.
Residents who serve on the Planning Board do so without compensation.
In other business, the council members authorized an agreement with the Eatontown Choraliers for the provision of musical entertainment services in 2023.
Borough officials will pay the Eatontown Choraliers $250 for a performance in July and $250 for a performance in December.
The council members said the group has been an integral part of Eatontown by providing musical entertainment at borough functions.
Rumson Garden Club, a member club of Garden Club of America, held its 92nd annual Christmas Holiday Greens Workshop on Dec. 3 at Rumson’s Bingham Hall.
Members worked to create more than 100 festive wreaths and arrangements to spread holiday cheer and help local non-for-profits deck their halls, according to a press release.
This year the list of organizations that received the gift of these evergreen creations included Lunch Break, the Monmouth County Boys and Girls Club in Red Bank, Allaire Rehab Center, Parker Family Clinic, LOVE Inc., Allen House/Monmouth Historical Society, Sandy Hook History House, the Oceanic Library, Meridian Health Care Center, Monmouth Day Care Center, the Junior League of Monmouth County and the Rumson Firehouse.
The Christmas Holiday Greens Workshop is a tradition on the first weekend of December.
“Our members look forward to fulfilling this wonderful mission every year,” RGC President Kathryne Singleton said. “They love creating the gorgeous arrangements and wreaths that will bring a smile to the faces of all those we have reached with this project.”