PETERSBURG – At its Sept. 21 meeting Upper Township Committee tabled a proposed ordinance that would regulate statutory authority of Verizon of New Jersey to use public roadways in the township for its local and through lines and other communications facilities.
“I’ve been approached by Verizon counsel for additional time for their review of this ordinance,” said Township Solicitor Daniel Young. “The current ordinance has expired after 50 years of implementation so we do need to eventually pass something as is required under state statute.”
Committee member John Coggins asked that perhaps committee should consider a time period of validity for the ordinance of less than 50 years given quickly changing technology.
Young replied, “Committee can do that of course but in my opinion there are other ways we can adapt to new technologies and requirements such as via permits or other ordinances so I recommend we leave the term as is.”
Shared Services Defense Accord
On the agenda was a proposed resolution regarding authorization to the “Municipal Shared Services Defense Agreement” relating to the affordable housing declaratory judgment action.
“Upper, along with about 150-200 other municipalities in New Jersey, has pending litigation regarding this action,” said Young. “We entered this agreement along with many other affected municipalities and now the Rutgers expert who was advising legal counsel is ill and can no longer continue in this role. Another expert must be found and this resolution allows an amendment to the shared service agreement at no additional cost as to what we budgeted and allow that to happen,” he continued.
Mayor Richard Palombo started to discuss strategic direction for the litigation at which point Young counseled him that further reference to the topic would be better left to the closed session portion of the meeting due to its nature as pending litigation.
Payments in Lieu of Benefits
Committee discussed whether it wanted to continue the township’s annual practice of paying a stipend of $2,000 to employees who are covered by another health insurance plan such as through a spouse’s or parent’s plan.
Palombo said that this was a best practice that the township had adopted. As a best practice while a vote was not necessary to keep it in place a discussion was needed among committee members which occurred.
During the public comment session, a township employee asked, “Why don’t you guys (addressing committee) ever consider giving more money to township workers? You could easily give employees $10,000 each rather than the $2,000 stipend and still save money overall by not having to pay $30,000 for a family health plan.”
Committee decided that at some point in the future it might undertake a survey to poll township employees regarding their reaction to any change to this current best practice.
Potential Purchase
Committee member Hobart Young brought to the attention of committee the availability of property adjacent to Amanda’s Field that the owner, the Seventh Day Adventist Church, has just put on the market for $240,000.
“It’s in very good condition, was formerly used as a school so would serve multi purposes and we might be able to work with the county to acquire it somehow under an Open Space opportunity,” explained Young.
“I don’t know if the township is in any position to buy it ourselves but it’s certainly worth looking into in conjunction with a purchase by the county where we would lease it back for $1 as we do with Amanda’s field,” said Palombo.
Committee decided that Palombo will send a letter to the county exploring the potential of this possibility which would require three fair market appraisals before moving forward.
“CodeRED” Weather Warning
Committee member Jeffrey Pierson reported that the township recently updated its “CodeRED” high-speed notification system for the community which automatically alerts residents in the path of severe weather.
“Calls are delivered so quickly that they frequently arrive before any other public notifications and usually before TV or radio weather updates,” said Pierson.
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.
Villas – Look what happened on Jan 6 th with Trump, I do not blame’ Michelle Obama for not coming! You cannot trust his allies for it to be a calm day, for her safety she is safer at home.
