HARDING TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE
Township Committee Meeting May 15, 2017
Mr. Platt was not in attendance.
The Committee passed a resolution commending Officer Lou Perrillo for being named the LEAD national instructor for the month of May. In his remarks before the Committee, Chief Giansanti explained that the LEAD program is the successor to DARE and promotes good choices and combats peer pressure among school children. Officer Perrillo is Harding’s instructor for the program.
Tracy Toribio of DPW then gave his Annual Report and pronounced Harding’s roads to be rated Fair to Excellent using the Asphalt Institute Rating System, and plans to have all roads in the Good to Excellent (all above 90%) by the end of the year. Harding’s DPW has seven employees who maintain nearly 30 miles of roads recently requiring over 1000 tons of asphalt per year to counteract some years of neglect.
The Committee then approved Ordinance TC 04-17 which permits the Town to separate the purchasing duties from those of the Township Administrator. Also approved were the minutes of the meetings of April 10th, April 17th, and April 27th. The Committee also approved several resolutions on the Consent Agenda, including (1) acceptance of audit and corrective action plan, (2) support of Assembly Bill 4532/Senate Bill 3049 amending the Open Public Records Law to limit unnecessary disclosure of personal information, (3) an agreement between Morris County and the Town to allow the HUD grant program to be run through the county on a cooperative basis (must approve every three years), and (4) authorization of the agreement with the Morris County Cooperative Pricing Council which permits purchases without going through bidding process.
The Committee approved several resolutions on the Consent Agenda, including (1) appoint of Lorie Wright as Purchasing Agent, (2) hiring Parks Lawn and Landscape Services to maintain all municipal property for $37,780, and (3) hiring an energy and environmental management consulting firm, Greener by Design, for $18,200. The Town is looking to refinance the 2008 bond issue for a possible net present value savings of around $400,000 and appointed Phoenix Advisors as the Town’s financial advisors and the appointment of Roosevelt and Cross to serve as the bond underwriters should the Town proceed with the refi which could occur in June.
The Committee also approved resolutions to (1) authorize engineering services to prepare a dredging permit for Bayne Park Pond not to exceed $10,000, (2) authorize engineering services for the construction of a salt dome at the DPW site (current shed is inadequate and non-compliant with DEP requirements), (3) authorize engineering services for an addition to the DPW administrative offices to accommodate indoor mechanical storage, rest area for staff, and offices among other things, (4) authorize engineering services for $6500 for the Bayne Park/Municipal /Campus Trail (an application has been made to the County Open Space /fund for $50,000), and (5) authorization to accept bids for the construction of the trail. The Committee also set the date of July 10th for a scoping hearing for the Glen Alpin diversion process. At this public meeting the diversion process will be discussed and comments from the public will be welcomed in an effort to maintain a completely transparent process.
The Committee then heard from person present, Gary White of Mountainside. Mr. White, is on a mission to raise awareness of the rare orphan disease, FOP, by asking every town in New Jersey (c. 500) to support FOP awareness by making a proclamation to support this awareness. Harding is one of the remaining few towns to issue such a proclamation, and the Committee expressed its willingness to support the cause and asked Mr. White to supply a sample proclamation.
Meeting adjourned.