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MONTVILLE TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE
SPECIAL BUDGET MEETING MINUTES—March 13, 2007
Montville Township Committee Special Budget Meeting
Tuesday, March 13, 2007, 6:00 p.m.
Montville Township Municipal Building, 195 Changebridge
Road, Montville, New Jersey
7:00 p.m. – Statement of Open
Public Meetings Act Compliance read by Chairman Art Daughtry: “As required by the Open Public Meetings
Act, adequate Notice of this meeting has been provided which Notice specified
the time and place of the meeting to the extent known at that time. The Notice
was posted on the bulletin board at the Municipal Building, mailed to The
Daily Record, The Star Ledger, and The Citizen as well as
other newspapers and it was placed on file in the Township Clerk’s office. This
meeting has been properly noticed to the public in accordance with the Open
Public Meetings Act.”
Present: Committeeman James Sandham, Jr.
Committeewoman Jean Bader
Committeewoman Deborah Nielson
Chairman Art Daughtry
Absent: Committeeman Stephen Moscone
Also present: Frank Bastone, Township
Administrator
Frances
Vanderhoof, Director of Finance
Anthony
Barile, Township Engineer
Thomas
Mazzaccaro, DPW/Water & Sewer Director
DISCUSSION 2007 MUNICIPAL BUDGET -
CAPITAL:
Frank Bastone, Township
Administrator, stated he was going to answer questions submitted to him
previously by the Township Committee regarding the capital budget.
Township Clerk recording system –
does it use voice recognition? No. Township Committee agreed – Trudy Atkinson
will look into the price of a voice recognition system.
Video equipment $5,000. That is for the broadcasting equipment –
camera, etc.
Changebridge Road sidewalks – will
the County commit to funding? Anthony
Barile, Township Engineer, stated the County will participate in funding after
the decision regarding our grant request for the Safe Routes to School program.
Stiles Lane – County funding? Barile stated the County really never
committed funds for this. I am meeting
with Mr. Hammond Thursday to discuss that and other issues.
Committeewoman Nielson asked if
there would be any County funding for traffic lights. Barile stated the way it works is the County does the plans and
gets them approved.
Roads – liquid calcium attachments
to vehicles? Daughtry asked Thomas
Mazzaccaro, DPW/Water & Sewer Director if he thinks it is needed.
Barile stated it increases public
safety. Yes, there is a cost associated
with it. It also eats away at the
surface and the equipment.
Mazzaccaro stated it works well
below 12 degrees. The County does it
and some other towns. Barile stated the
County has the tank at the Public Safety Building site. We could phase in over time.
Gator needed? Bastone stated it is equipped with a
plow. It will plow the sidewalks and
the turf fields. Daughtry asked the
little gator is not big enough?
Mazzaccaro stated it is just more efficient to have the two of
them.
Copier/scanner – how many copies
per year do we make? Barile stated
800,000 per year. 200,000 are done
in-house. Over that amount – they are
sent out. We are sending more copies
out because of the condition of the machine.
Viewmont Terrace – why additional
funds? Projected estimate June
2007.
Horseneck Road improvements. $114,000 projected estimate June 2007, net
of grant funds.
Hatfield Creek – how much spent to date? Maybe our DPW can do the work? Obtain permits only in 2007, do the rest in
2008? It is beyond the capabilities of
our DPW equipment. Permit is good for
five years.
Road
resurfacing program - $200,000 annual maintenance program. Nielson asked do we need to fund the whole
thing? Barile stated they have not done
a program like this since 2004. There
are some roads that are really bad.
Salt
storage – what portion is Morris County funding? Bastone stated it is 50/50.
$200,000 is our portion.
Camp
Dawson $90,000. Breakdown is included
in the request: new parking lot, new
driveway entrance, new walkways, new set of bleachers, etc.
Nielson
asked if Recreation has given us a priority – because we have other facilities.
Discussion
regarding the need for bleachers.
Township Committee agreed – they do need the basic safety and handicap
access improvements.
Manchester
drainage. We received the DEP
permits. That is the number.
Stiles
Lane – Nielson stated they could possibly need a DEP diversion for the
right-of-way. Do we really have to do
the Stiles Lane project? Look into.
Utility
request for Community Park. There is
only one meter there.
Bader
asked about the $70,000 for a sprinkling system at town hall. Bastone stated he is not including this.
Senior
House carpet. Bastone stated it is for
the back room.
Aerator
$18,000. Mazzaccaro stated they would
use it more than once a year. This is a
replacement for the tine machine they have now.
Bastone
stated he has discussed with Tony Barile, Tom Mazzaccaro, and Rich Cook what
the real critical priorities are this year.
We have a $1 million list; however, that does not include what has been
discussed with other groups – i.e. baseball, animal shelter, etc.
Committeeman
Sandham stated in his opinion, they stick to the $1.2 million.
Bastone
stated things they must do: engineering
copier/auto cad; Viewmont Terrace; Horseneck Road; $200,000 road resurfacing
program; salt spreader; Hook Mountain Road/Bloomfield Avenue traffic signal. Police MDT’s –fund $25,000 instead of
$75,000.
Fleet
maintenance – 2 vehicles – Construction/Zoning SUV and passenger vehicle. Those two vehicles are no longer
operating. Daughtry stated but we are
functioning without them?
Frances
Vanderhoof, Director of Finance, stated now, the employees are using their own
vehicles, and they are getting reimbursed for mileage.
Sandham
stated there are insurance issues with employees using their own vehicles.
Other
capital budget items – bucket truck, dump truck, tire changer and wheel
balancer, rotary broom for tractor, and safety switches at Masar Park.
Finish
Towaco bus shelter. Was there money
left in there for capital improvements?
Vanderhoof will check.
Bastone
stated the total is $772,850. He
suggested purchasing the new digital recording system, new website, gator
vehicle, dual-wheel pickup truck, and aerator.
Those items come to $87,300.
Total $860,000.
Sandham
stated library – we are going to discuss tonight a 50/50 split of capital
items. Barile stated there is a
drainage issue there which would be capital.
Resurfacing is a maintenance issue.
Nielson
stated Changebridge Road sidewalks – depending on when we get the funding, it
could be late 2007 or early 2008. We
have a school there and a soccer field.
Sandham
stated we are $861,000 now. One thing I
want to push for is the VFW HVAC. There
is still money left in the original appropriations.
Total
$869,000.
Nielson
stated Changebridge Road sidewalks – top priority for the $1.2 million
balance. Vanderhoof stated if you want
to do the $1.2 million, you will have to do a $60,000 down payment instead of
$50,000.
Daughtry
stated Board of Education video – they pay their person $5,000 a year
approximately. If we want to do it,
maybe the BOE can pay for the equipment.
Bastone
stated MBSA, Animal Shelter, and Hatfield Creek are not in here. Probably will not need for 2007. Sandham stated we have $130,000 set aside we
could use if we need it for 2007. The
Long-Term Financial Planning Committee recommends going to $1.5 million in 2008
for capital projects.
Meeting adjourned at 7:10
p.m. Motion: Sandham. Second: Bader.
All in favor except Moscone - absent.
Motion approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Gertrude H. Atkinson, Township
Clerk
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