BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer
OCEANPORT – The Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority is taking its monthly show on the road.
The first stop was Oceanport Borough Hall, site of last week’s public-private partnership meeting.
The next stop will be at Eatontown Borough Hall on Sept. 20, with a meeting date to be announced for the Tinton Falls municipal building.
All three communities host portions of the 1,126-acre U.S. Army base, which is pending shutdown by the Pentagon in September 2011 under its Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process.
Although the 10-member panel had originally agreed to hold its meetings for the balance of 2006 at Monmouth University’s Woodrow Wilson Hall in West Long Branch, money and accessibility to disabled persons turned out to be issues for some members.
The university allowed the authority to use a spacious room inside a historic structure for $500, according to Eatontown Mayor Gerald J. Tarantolo, who had volunteered to host the meetings in his community’s municipal building for free.
Tinton Falls Mayor Peter Maclearie and Oceanport Mayor Lucille Chaump, Tarantolo’s colleagues on the authority, agreed that the $500 fee could not be justified, especially when the fledgling authority is still awaiting approval of a combined $1.5 million in federal and state funding to start up its operations.
Altogether, taking turns at the three municipal buildings will save the panel $2,500 for the meetings scheduled from August through December.
The meeting room in Wilson’s basement level was also not accessible to disabled persons, said Tarantolo who noted in an Aug. 23 interview that he had received e-mails and telephone calls from persons complaining about the former location.
No formal vote was ever taken by authority members to change the venue from Wilson Hall to the host communities’ municipal buildings.
Nonetheless, many who were looking for the authority found it at Oceanport’s Borough Hall on Aug. 30.
With more than 60 persons crowding into the council chambers’ benches, it was standing room only.
Many, but not all were Oceanport residents, said Chaump, who stated that she recognized several persons in attendance.
While generally pleased that the authority was no longer using the rooms at the university, Carolyn Schwebel, of Middletown’s Leonardo section, pointed out that the Oceanport facility was not entirely ADA compliant either.
Disabled persons could enter and exit the building at 222 Monmouth Blvd., but the interior lacked restrooms for the disabled, Schwebel said.
The authority, which has been assigned by the state to come up with a reuse plan for Fort Monmouth’s infrastructure after it closes, should keep the needs of the disabled in mind as it goes forward with its meetings, Schwebel went on.
“Whatever goes at Fort Monmouth should be accessible,” she said.
Earlier in the meeting, authority Chairman Robert Lucky agreed to take Tinton Falls Councilman Michael Skudera up on his offer to create a Web site detailing the authority’s activities free of charge.
Once the authority receives its funding from the federal and state governments, the Web site will be turned over to the appropriate governing body, Skudera said in an e-mail dated Aug. 22.
The planned Web site will include a list of meetings, timelines and plans, and the ability to e-mail the panel, according to Skudera.
Skudera, who said his parents once worked at Fort Monmouth, has more than 11 years’ experience as a business consultant in software development.