UPPER FREEHOLD – Officials in Upper Freehold Township have authorized a $430,000 increase in a bond ordinance that funds capital improvements and added $409,523 in bonds or notes to help cover the costs.
During a recent meeting, Township Committee members adopted a bond ordinance which authorizes an increase in a 2011 appropriation. The 2011 ordinance appropriated $1.78 million ($1.69 million in bonds or notes and an $88,900 down payment) for improvements.
Amendments to the ordinance in 2013 and 2018 increased the appropriation to $2.36 million ($2.24 million in bonds or notes and a $117,900 down payment).
With the most recent amendment in place, the appropriation now totals $2.79 million ($2.65 million in bonds or notes and a $138,377 down payment).
According to the ordinance, the increase in the appropriation is focused on capital improvements in the township’s Recreation Department.
The ordinance states that the appropriation is for repairs, renovations, replacements and improvements, including, but not limited to improvements to basketball and tennis courts; walking trails and paths at Byron Johnson Park; improvements to the walking trails and paths along Ellisdale Road; and the walking trails, paths, footbridge, basketball courts and parking lots at the Mark Harbourt Soccer Complex.
Those improvements are estimated to cost $1.18 million, according to the ordinance.
In other business, committee members authorized Mayor Stephen Alexander to sign a memorandum of agreement between the Monmouth County Board of Health and Upper Freehold for the provision of local public health services.
The committee also authorized the Monmouth County Mosquito Control Division to conduct aerial mosquito control operations in Upper Freehold during 2020.
Employees from the Mosquito Control Division will apply pesticides by aircraft in areas of the township designated by the county as being larval mosquito habitats or harboring high populations of mosquitoes constituting a nuisance, a health hazard or both.
And, committee members passed resolutions appointing Patrick Jeffery as township engineer, Tiffany Morrissey as township planner, John Cantalupo as bond counsel, and Randall Gottesman as housing administrator and administrative agent for 2020. Each appointment will be effective for one year.
Finally, the committee appointed Dianne Kelly, Upper Freehold’s township administrator and chief financial officer, as municipal housing liaison and authorized her to take the training necessary to maintain the position.