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Mt. Olive
Township Council Minutes
November 2 , 2006
The Special Public Meeting of the Mount Olive Township
Council was called to Order at
7:30 pm by Council President Greenbaum with the Pledge
of Allegiance.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE & MOMENT OF REFLECTION for all
those who have and continue to protect our freedoms and
our ways of life, especially during this time of Thanksgiving.
OPEN PUBLIC MEETINGS ACT ANNOUNCEMENT
According to the Open Public Meetings Act, adequate notice
of this meeting has been given to the Mount Olive Chronicle.
Notice has been posted at the Municipal Building, 204 Flanders-Drakestown
Road, Mount Olive Township, New Jersey and notices were
sent to those requesting the same.
ROLL CALL Present: Mr. Buell, Mr. Perkins, Mr. Rattner,
Mr. Greenbaum, Mrs. Labow, Mr. Tepper,
Absent: Mr. Biondi
Also Present: Mayor David Scapicchio; William Sohl, Business
Administrator;
John Dorsey, Township Attorney; Sherry Jenkins, CFO;
Lisa Lashway, Township Clerk
ORDINANCES FOR PUBLIC HEARING
President Greenbaum: This evening we have three ordinances
for public hearing. The first ordinance is:
Ord. #31-2006 Bond Ordinance of the Township of Mount
Olive, In the County of Morris, New Jersey
Amending Section 3(h) of Bond Ordinance Numbered #27-2005 Finally Adopted
August 9, 2005 in Order to Amend the Description of the Project Authorized
Therein.
President Greenbaum: At this point, I will open it up
to the public for anyone who wishes to be heard on Ordinance
#31-2006. Seeing none, I close it to the public and I would
ask Mr. Perkins to please move that for approval.
Mr. Perkins: Thank you, Mr. President. I move for adoption
and final passage of Ordinance #31-2006.
President Greenbaum: Is there a second?
Mr. Rattner: Second.
President Greenbaum: It has been moved and seconded. Is
there any Council discussion? Does the Administration have
anything to add on this particular ordinance? Roll Call
please.
ROLL CALL: Passed Unanimously
President Greenbaum: Ordinance #31-2006 is passed on second
reading and I hereby direct the Clerk to forward a copy
of same to the Mayor and publish the notice of adoption
as required by law. The next ordinance for public hearing
is Ordinance #32-2006 entitled:
Ord. #32-2006 Bond Ordinance of the Township of Mount
Olive, In the County of Morris, New Jersey Amending Section
3(i) of Bond Ordinance Numbered #37-2002 Finally Adopted
September 24, 2002 in Order to Amend the Description of
the Project Authorized Therein.
President Greenbaum: Is there anyone from the public who
wishes to be heard on this ordinance? Seeing none, I close
it to the public and I would ask Mrs. Labow to please move
this for adoption and final passage.
Mrs. Labow: I move for adoption and final passage of Ordinance
#32-2006.
President Greenbaum: Is there a second?
Mr. Perkins: Second.
President Greenbaum: Is there any Council discussion?
Any Administrative discussion? Roll Call please.
ROLL CALL: Passed Unanimously
President Greenbaum: Ordinance #32-2006 is passed on second
reading and I hereby direct the Clerk to forward a copy
of same to the Mayor and publish the notice of adoption
as required by law. The third and final ordinance for public
hearing this evening is Ordinance #33-2006 entitled:
Ord. #33-2006 Bond Ordinance Providing for the Acquisition
of Various Equipment of the Township of Mount Olive, in
the County of Morris, New Jersey, Appropriating the Aggregate
Amount of $122,000 Therefore and Authorizing the Issuance
of $115,900 Bonds or Notes of the Township to Finance Part
of the Cost Thereof.
President Greenbaum: Is there anyone from the public who
wishes to be heard on Ordinance #33-2006? Seeing none,
I close it to the public. Mr. Buell, do you want to move
that please?
Mr. Buell: I move Ordinance #33-2006.
Mr. Perkins: Second.
President Greenbaum: Moved and seconded. Is there any
Council discussion? Is there any Administrative discussion
on that? Roll Call please.
ROLL CALL: Passed Unanimously
President Greenbaum: Ordinance #33-2006 is passed on second
reading and I hereby direct the Clerk to forward a copy
of same to the Mayor and publish the notice of adoption
as required by law. We have three items on the Consent
Resolutions Agenda this evening and they deal with budget
transfers.
CONSENT RESOLUTIONS AGENDA:
Resolutions on the Consent Agenda List are considered
to be routine and non-controversial by the Township Council
and will be approved by one motion (one vote). There will
be no separate discussion or debate on each of these resolutions
except for the possibility of brief clarifying statements
that may be offered. If one or more Council member requests,
any individual resolution on the Consent Agenda may be
removed from the Consent Agenda List and acted on separately.
CONSENT RESOLUTIONS
1. Resolution of the Township of Mount Olive Providing
for the Transfer of 2006 Budget Appropriations for the
Recreation Utility Budget.
2. Resolution of the Township of Mount Olive providing
for the Transfer of 2006 Budget Appropriations for the
Water Utility Budget.
3. Resolution of the Township of Mount Olive Providing
for the Transfer of 2006 Budget Appropriations for the
Current Fund budget.
COUNCIL COMMENTS ON CONSENT RESOLUTIONS
President Greenbaum: Does any Councilmember wish to take
any of the three resolutions off the Consent Resolutions
Agenda? Seeing none, I would ask Mr. Rattner to please
move the Consent Resolutions Agenda.
Mr. Rattner: Thank you, Mr. President. I move Consent
Resolutions #1, #2 and #3.
Mr. Perkins: Second.
PUBLIC PORTION ON CONSENT RESOLUTIONS
President Greenbaum: Moved and seconded. Is there anyone
from the public who wishes to be heard on any of the items
on the Consent Resolutions Agenda? Seeing none, is there
any Council comment?
Mr. Rattner: Doesn’t it usually say when we have
these budget transfers that budget transfers are just a
normal part of our operation. When you do a budget at the
beginning of the year, it’s your best guess on what
you need to run each individual department, each type of
expense. What you have is, at the end of the year you have
some that you spent a little bit more and some you spent
a little bit less. As long as it all comes out, it means
it was a pretty good budget. So there is nothing extraordinary
about budget transfers and it is just a normal part of
the process. I do have one item because it is a rather
large item and that is on the third one, which is the fleet
maintenance. The $47,000 that we had to put in, I think
you remember over the course of the last six or seven months
I was commenting on a lot of the fleet maintenance out
of contract expenses which appeared to be and I am actually....the
cost of the vehicle but because we spent more on the vehicle
we had to expense things like the lettering the lights,
whether there would be screens on dump trucks. So to see
a number as big as $47,000 is distressing in that we had
a budget and we went through the capital. That $47,000
should have really been in capital expense or we should
have gotten a lesser vehicle to make sure we were in budget.
It’s money already spent, so we have to pass it.
President Greenbaum: Thank you, is there any other brief
clarifying statements? Seeing none, Roll Call.
ROLL CALL: Passed Unanimously
RESOLUTIONS NON CONSENT
President Greenbaum: There are two resolutions on page
#2 that are Non Consent. The first one is,
Resolution #4. entitled:
4. Resolution of the Township Council of the Township
of Mount Olive Authorizing a Separation Agreement with
former Township Administrator Rick Prill.
President Greenbaum: Mr. Tepper, do you want to move that
please?
Mr. Tepper: Yes. I move Non Consent Resolution #4.
Mr. Perkins: Second.
PUBLIC PORTION ON INDIVIDUAL RESOLUTIONS
COUNCIL COMMENTS ON INDIVIDUAL RESOLUTIONS
President Greenbaum: It has been moved and seconded. Is
there anyone from the public who wishes to be heard on
this particular Non Consent Resolution? Seeing none, I
close it to the public. Is there any Council discussion?
Roll Call please.
ROLL CALL: Passed Unanimously
President Greenbaum: Just on a quick note. I thought the
Administration did a very good job in terms of moving the
Mount Olive Government forward and treating Mr. Prill with
the dignity which the Township should always offer to its
ex-employees.
Mayor Scapicchio: I would like to add that Rick was very
helpful in the week that he remained here with Bill and
certainly helped Bill out through that partial transition.
It was helpful and we appreciated it, thank you.
President Greenbaum: Thank you. The next resolution on
the Non Consent Resolutions Agenda is #5. entitled:
5. Resolution of the Township Council of the Township
of Mount Olive Awarding a Contract to SMAC Corporation
for the DPW Garage Office Construction.
President Greenbaum: Mr. Buell, do you want to move that
please?
Mr. Buell: I move Resolution #5.
President Greenbaum: Is there a second?
Mr. Perkins: Second.
President Greenbaum: It has been moved and seconded. Is
there any discussion from the public on this particular
resolution? Seeing none, I close it to the public. I had
made the decision to put this back on the Agenda prior
to...or I should say subsequent to the last time that we
discussed this at which time it was defeated. I thought
that because it was such a close vote and because there
was a motion to reconsider, that it was worth putting back
on the Agenda for tonight’s meeting. Since that time,
we have obviously all received information concerning where
we’re at and where we are going with the DPW garage.
I don’t know whether or not you have had enough time
Mayor, Mr. Sohl, to give us a recommendation as to your
thoughts as to where we are going with the DPW project
and how we are going to go about completing, whatever it
is that we are going to complete.
Mayor Scapicchio: We do. Bill has been working with Tim
over the past few days to put together what he calls a
project overview in terms of the cost. Does everybody have
this project overview document dated 11/20/2006? Bill,
why don’t you explain to the Council what you did
and where we are and what our recommendations are in terms
of moving forward.
Mr. Sohl: Thank you, Mayor. In reviewing where we were
at, especially in light of the failure of the resolution
when we last attempted to be acted on, it was clear to
me that what the Council at least was looking for in starting
gate mode was, what is it going to cost to finish this
project? We know we had a $1.9 million bond. There is another
$100,000 in front end engineering costs in another small
account area. Looking at the $1.9 million as to what has
either been spent or otherwise accrued because of bids
and monies that have already been expended, if you look
at the sheet and you look down, I broke out the S. E. D.
the A. P.S. on construction the
R. R. which is going to do the detention basin, the water
and sewer. Various in-house, Morris County co-op costs,
where we are doing work.....we, the Township, are doing
work under Tim’s direction and we are using various
products that we have to use, Morris County soil permit,
etc. Bottom line is, with all those deducted from the $1.9
million you have a balance potentially of $303,000. We
do know and in front of you right now is the resolution
which would award $176,000 contract to SMAC for the interoffice
work spaces bid. It would exclude the electric because
that would just simply be over the top and it was felt
in discussions with Tim and with Suburban Consulting that
the contract to SMAC would just as soon left that out and
have it rebid. So that leaves $176,000 to be covered. Next,
then at this point in time, assuming you folks pass the
resolution of a balance of $127,507., then we looked at
what is it going to take to finish this project, electric,
heating and ventilation, milling and paving of the parking
areas additional in house materials for drainage for the
recycling center, communications costs, phone and IT lines,
office and locker room furniture. Bottom line is an additional
$430,000 above this $176,000. That nets out to a negative
$300,000....$302,000 to be more exact, or conversely if
you want to look at it is what the overall project is,
it’s $2.2 million. That’s what we are looking
at right now based on the last couple of days of assessment.
We met with Suburban Consulting, Tim and myself, Mr. Prill
when he was still here and this is the start, trying to
get the documentation in front of you, the Council, to
fully understand where we are going.
President Greenbaum: What is the recommendation of the
Administration?
Mayor Scapicchio: The one thing that this doesn’t
include is the actual labor that the Municipality expended
on behalf of our employees and we will try to plug some
sort of number in there for you at some point in time but
that number is not in here.
Mr. Sohl: Actually, I do have... not the number in terms
of dollars but we do have the numbers relative to estimate
of how many hours have been expended. Tim do you have that
with you?
Mr. Quinn: I didn’t bring it with me, it was approximately....
President Greenbaum: Just state your name for the tape.
Mr. Sohl: I am sorry, I have it. It’s just in the
wrong pile.
Mayor Scapicchio: To date the DPW employees have spent
approximately 480 hours with site clearing for the DPW
building. Tim is estimating that they are going to require
another 240 hours to complete the drainage in 2006 and
that work doesn’t include any work in the bio-swales,
which will happen next year. So right now, there is 720
man hours and that doesn’t include everything.
President Greenbaum: Let me start by saying that I am
very appreciative of the fact that now for the first time
since this project has moved forward we have an understanding
of where we are and where we are going. Even though Mr.
Rattner and myself and the rest of Council had been asking
for that information for the better part of a year and
a half while this project has been moving forward. You
know my position to date has not been to vote for anything
having to do with the DPW project because I had no real
feel for where we were in terms of cost. Now I know and
I know where we are going and I am very appreciative of
that. I am sure that everybody sitting up here feels the
same way that we finally have gotten what we have been
asking for, for a long, long time. Now, with the understanding
that we are looking at it $2.2 million number for a $1.9
million budgeted project, what is the Administration’s
recommendation in terms of how we are going to complete
this project? Are we going to scale back the project or
are we going to look to complete the project with additional
funding from the taxpayers of Mount Olive? Have you come
to a conclusion on that at this point?
Mayor Scapicchio: My recommendation would be to move forward
with the contract for SMAC this year and we are certainly
going to have to address....rebid the heating, ventilating
and the electrical portion of it. Hopefully, that’s
going to come in at or below the available funds that we
have to do that. The balance of the project completion
items which total about $ 305,000 are going to have to
be addressed in 2007. So for the purposes of this meeting
in 2006, our recommendation is that we move forward in
awarding that contract to SMAC and rebid the electrical,
heating and ventilation and hopefully those bids come in
at or below what it is budgeted for and we can move forward
with that. We have this building there. We need to complete
the building. I know it is a hard pill for everybody to
swallow. That $1.9 number was a number that none of us
ever believed and it was a number that we tried to back
into and you can’t back into the number and what
Bill has provided to you we believe to be fairly accurate
on numbers and having said that, Bill has only been here
five or six days working with Tim on that. I just wanted
everybody to understand that.
Mr. Sohl: I... just to the point that Rob, Council President,
made scaling back is really not an option because that
is something that may have been doable a year and a half
ago when you wanted to scale back globally but your left
with items that can’t be scaled back because they
just have to be done.
President Greenbaum: Council discussion?
Mr. Buell: Heating, ventilating and air conditioning,
does that include...one of the reasons to build this garage
was the fact that about seven or eight days a year we can’t
get our trucks started because of the cold winter up here.
Will we have the ability to heat at least the trucks to
the point that we can make sure that they will start?
Mr. Quinn: Mr. Buell, basically the sanitation garage,
the garage for the Packard trucks is not going to have
a heating system in it. That is going to have the electric
panel for the engine block heaters. The heating in the
main garage, there is going throughout the whole garage,
not air conditioning, that will basically be confined to
the employee and office area of that building. There will
be heat in the main building.
Mr. Buell: The trucks will be able to be hooked up to
the electrical system so that you can keep them heated
during the evening.
Mr. Quinn: In the Packard garage yes.
Mr. Buell: The Packard...that is the one in the back.
Mr. Quinn: That’s the long thin garage in the back.
That is going to be for the recycling and the solid waste
trucks. That garage is not going to be heated it is going
to have ventilation in it. That is going to have the power
cords for the block heaters.
Mr. Buell: So this will not affect this at all. Is the
office construction more important than the heating, air
conditioning and the ventilation in the large building?
Mr. Quinn: To complete the project, yes. That is the next
step on the project and I think it should be followed as
it was planned out. Basically, we need a place for our
employees. The areas that they are in right now there are
no decent facilities for the men to use. So they need a
place where they can clean up and use the bathroom and
such.
Mr. Buell: So we will be able to shut down the building
down near the beach and save the $6,000 or $7,000 a month
we are now spending in propane down there....
Mr. Quinn: That is the plan, yes. Basically, we are going
to be moving everything from that facility up to the new
facility and we will be pulling everything out of those
two buildings down there, that we are using down there
and the trailer.
Mr. Buell: So if we disapprove this office construction,
we would not be able to move the people from down at the
beach basically....
Mr. Quinn: That is correct.
Mr. Buell: Up to this building.
Mr. Quinn: Yes.
Mr. Buell: The cost of that is what, $7,000 or $8,000
a month...I think as I remember it, in just propane cost
alone.
Mr. Quinn: For just the propane and plus you have an additional
$300 for the trailer rental that is down there.
Mr. Rattner: Jim, the major cost of the propane is heating
the garage not the offices because it’s opened to
the wind and so we are heating a lot of the outside. I
would imagine...I don’t know what kind of heat, was
it electric heat in the trailer?
Mr. Quinn: Yes.
Mr. Rattner: Okay, so there was no propane.
Mr. Quinn: The propane is for the garage.
Mr. Rattner: That propane was just to keep the garage...
you’re just talking about what the savings are going
to be when you move the vehicles up not because of the
office.
Mr. Tepper: Mr. Quinn, how are you going to use the interior
office space without electrical or heating?
Mr. Quinn: It was spec’d out that there will be
partial electric. It is going to be installed by the building
contractor into the section where the office space and
the employee area is going to be and that is going to tie
in with the second section of the contract which will be
the rest of the electrical and the heating in the main
garage.
Mr. Tepper: So if they did everything but that, they did
the milling and paving and the in house materials and everything
accept the interior office space and electric and heating,
you would not be able to use that building?
Mr. Quinn: Well, the men would have to remain where they
are in the trailer down the road or I will have no place
to put my people. If we move forward and do the recycling
center, then we are going to lose the sanitation trailer
also. So I will have an issue as to where I will be putting
my employees.
Mr. Tepper: You can’t put that trailer here on a
temporary basis?
Mr. Quinn: The one down at the road garage?
Mr. Tepper: Yes.
Mr. Quinn: We can probably put it anywhere we want it,
it is on wheels.
Mr. Tepper: Right.
Mr. Quinn: The problem is, to get this whole site done
there is not going to be room to put another trailer up
here. What you are not understanding is, when the recycling
center is completed, the sanitation trailer is no longer
going to be there. That has to go, it is in the way of
the project.
President Greenbaum: Any other comments? Yes, Mayor.
Mayor Scapicchio: I have a question for Tim. Tim, the
electric service for that building, what contract is that
in?
Mr. Quinn: That’s what we are looking to rebid right
now, is the electrical service for the building.
President Greenbaum: What he is saying is, there is a
portion of the electrical that is in the contract for the
office.
Mayor Scapicchio: I understand that but if the office
is done and the service to the building isn’t done,
you can’t use the electric in the office.
Mr. Quinn: That’s correct. Basically, the projects
are meant to kind of tie in together. I must have
misunderstood your question.
Mr. Tepper: I don’t see how you can utilize those
spaces without having those two pieces. I would recommend
pursuing everything but those and put those off to next
year and still stay under our budget.
Mr. Quinn: We need the two pieces. The two pieces do tie
in together to get the project completed.
Mr. Tepper: I agree but your not going to get the electrical,
heating and ventilation this year. They do tie together.
You’re not going to see them this year based on what
the Mayor has just said.
President Greenbaum: No, I don’t believe that is
accurate. I think that they are looking to rebid the second
portion.....
Mayor Scapicchio: Russ, can I clarify that? There was
$142,000 for the electric, heating and ventilation pulled
out of the SMAC bid.
Mr. Tepper: Right.
Mayor Scapicchio: If we move forward with the other portion,
there is $127,000 and some change left. It’s Suburban’s
understanding and Tim’s that there is probably about
20% in this $142,000 that they took out. So we are hopeful
that we can rebid that, attract additional bidders because
it is simply electric.
Mr. Tepper: I agree but do you believe you are going to
have that rebid and award it and complete it this year?
Mayor Scapicchio: I can’t answer...I can tell you
we will probably......
Mr. Sohl: 2006, if we pass this tonight you’re not
even going to see this...
Mr. Tepper: That’s my point. It’s not going
to happen this year.
Mr. Quinn: But it can be awarded possibly by the end of
this year. The work can continue through the winter time.
It’s in a contained building.
Mr. Tepper: I agree but it can be done without the interior
office space as well this year.
Mr. Quinn: We can pull off anything you want to pull off
it.
Mr. Tepper: I mean you can pave the thing you can do everything
but that......
President Greenbaum: Russ, I believe you made your point.
I think it is fairly obvious that without being able to
move forward with the electric that the building is not
going to be utilized this year. I think that’s fairly
obvious. Not withstanding that, I think that ultimately
we are going to have to move forward with both of these
options and I don’t see any benefit to.....or stalling.
It seems to me that the recommendation was it was a good
price, let’s move forward with it and let’s
move forward with the bidding on the electrical aspect
and get that done as quickly as possible. So that perhaps
by the tailend of the winter season that it may actually
be operational. Your point is well taken. Anyone else with
comments? Let’s put it to a vote, Roll Call please.
ROLL CALL: Passed Unanimously with the exception, Mr.
Tepper voted no.
PUBLIC PORTION
President Greenbaum: At this point in the meeting, I will
open it up to anyone in the public who wishes to be heard
on any particular issue. Mr. Russell, if you would be so
kind as to just state your name and address.
Nelson Russell, Budd Lake: I know this is the three Bond
issues that we approved tonight. All three of them contain
the pole barn. The way you read it, you are authorizing
funds for three pole barns.
President Greenbaum: You had brought that to my attention
last time. I had looked at it and.....Sherry, do you
want to answer that?
Mrs. Jenkins: Yes, it is not for three pole barns. It’s
just a total cost of the pole barn, we had to revise a
couple of ordinances to come up to the amount of money
that they needed.
President Greenbaum: Mr. Russell understood that, he is
more commenting on the wording of the ordinances. They
deal only with.....it’s the way that they are worded.
It actually appears that we’re actually putting much
more money into this project. First of all, there isn’t
that kind of money in these Bond Ordinances to start with,
so that’s not a reality and I understand. I did agree
with you when you brought it to my attention. It is just
something that slipped through the cracks.
Mr. Russell: That was just my point.
President Greenbaum: That’s accurate, thank you.
Is there anyone else from the public? Seeing none, I will
close it to the public.
COUNCIL COMMENTS
President Greenbaum: At this point in time I will take
final comments from the Administration and Council. Mr.
Sohl, did you have anything this evening?
Mr. Sohl: Nothing else.
Mayor Scapicchio: Nothing.
Mr. Tepper: Well again, as we talked about the DPW garage
over the last several months, we’ve discussed the
fact that the people approved $1.9 million and we have
not believed that it would come in at that amount and we
have asked for accountings and we finally got one which
confirms our belief that it is going to exceed. I guess
I would like to have a better understanding of what we
are going to do to fund it and if we are going to take
it out of next years monies, then I believe we should expend
what we can do right now to get the building completed
without going over it. I believe we can do that since the
interior work space, the electrical and heating aren’t
going to be done until next year, that we can do the remainder
of that building. Obviously, that is not shared but I don’t
believe we should approve it at this point in time if there
is a possibility of going over what was approved by the
people when they voted on it. So I am not going to approve
any expenses that go over that amount.
President Greenbaum: Thank you, Mr. Buell.
Mr. Buell: None right now.
Mrs. Labow: I just want to say welcome Mayor Scapicchio
and Mr. Sohl. I want to say it has been delightful the
past week and a half. When I had a question or concern
to actually pick up the phone and call and actually speak
to the Administration and discuss the issues, and it is
greatly appreciated. I am looking forward to having a very
good solid year here in Mount Olive.
Mr. Perkins: No comment.
Mr. Rattner: I’ll pass.
President Greenbaum: I too will pass. Motion to adjourn
out of the Special Public Meeting.
Mr. Perkins: So moved.
Mr. Tepper: Second.
President Greenbaum: Moved and seconded, all in favor?
AYE
ADJOURN to Workshop
Motion was made and seconded, all in favor and none opposed,
the meeting was adjourned at 7:59 pm.
_______________________________
Robert J. Greenbaum, Council President
I, LISA M. LASHWAY, Township Clerk of the Township of Mount
Olive do hereby certify that the foregoing Minutes is
a true and correct copy of the Minutes approved at a
legally convened meeting of the Mount Olive Township
Council duly held on December 12, 2006 .
_____________________________
Lisa M. Lashway, Township Clerk
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