With the assistance of the township attorney, we have diligently moved forward in our promise to cut legal fees and discontinue wasteful litigation. In fact, our legal professionals have agreed to lower fees and have provided us with caps for legal services. We have successfully resolved employment litigation lawsuits that were filed against prior administrations, and are currently negotiating settlements with several active litigants in land use and municipal law matters. To prevent incurring additional future expenses, I have successfully negotiated stays on several internal lawsuits, pending the police department audit.
2. Insisting Upon “Tangible Evidence” for Every Tax Dollar Spent
I have worked with our Business Administrator, Alayne Shepler, our CFO, and the Township Council to insure that ALL appropriations for expenses are presented with proper documentation as to the exact cost and need for the item or service. In addition, we have instituted a transparent proposal system for all vendors, including professionals, to insure that the Township receives the best quality service for the least amount of taxpayer funds.
3. Presenting an Efficient and Lean Municipal Budget
This year’s budget process is well under way and has revealed to me that while revenues have dropped substantially from last year, mandatory non-discretionary increases have put us over two million dollars behind our 2007 budget. To help meet this challenge, I have instructed each of the department heads to reduce discretionary expenses without compromising the quality of our services. During the next several weeks, I will be meeting with the individual departments to review the budgets in greater detail. These meetings will include participation of the members of the Township Council, who will assist in assessing each department’s budget for 2008. I am confident that utilizing this budget process, along with my commitment to increasing grant opportunities, and stimulating economic development, will stabilize our municipal taxes and provide the community with quality services and infrastructure.
4. Exploring the Benefits of an Independent Redevelopment Agency
Councilman LaRocca and Deputy Mayor Rosen attended seminars in Trenton to explore the creation of an independent Brownfield steering committee. As a result, the newly formed and reconstituted Economic Development Committee has established a brownfields subcommittee to examine the needs of our community. I am working with this committee, the township engineer, and planners, to investigate the benefits to Marlboro in establishing a formal committee to determine if it is best to designate specific Brownfield Development Areas (“BDA”) in town. As stated on the DEP website, these are some of the benefits.
- Under this innovative approach, NJDEP works closely with the communities affected by multiple brownfields to design and implement remediation and reuse plans for these properties simultaneously, so that remediation and reuse can occur in a coordinated fashion. The BDA process provides a framework and resources to empower affected neighborhoods to address these difficult brownfields where additional assistance may be needed from all stakeholders, including developers, property owners and parties potentially responsible for the cleanup. It is important to note that the purpose of the BDA initiative is to help reuse of these properties. In the selected BDAs, NJDEP will work closely with other involved agencies and offices, including the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) and the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Office of Smart Growth (OSG), to remediate and revitalize communities and neighborhoods, not just individual properties.
5. Protect Stattel Farm from Residential Development
Councilman LaRocca and I met with representatives from COAH and informed them personally that Stattel Farm would not be part of our affordable housing plan. As promised, I have also informed all parties, in writing, that we will not proceed with the proposed written agreement, presented to the prior administration, to develop this pristine section of our community. We also met with the Stattel family to explore alternatives to residential development, which include the preservation of the farm as open space.
6. Issuing a Status Report on the State Hospital Property
I delivered a detailed status report to the community at the April 3, 2008, Township Council meeting. In the report, I outlined the procedures discussed with the State as to the State’s agreement to cooperate with my administration for the sale and development of the Marlboro State Hospital Property. In addition, on April 3, 2008, I received written confirmation that Marlboro Township officials will be permitted access to the property to conduct environmental testing that will be paid for with the proceeds of an HDSRF grant.
7. Pursuing Viable Grant Opportunities
In addition to retaining a professional grant writer at no hard cost to the township, my administration has, for the first time in Marlboro, applied for the following grants to help preserve and improve upon our open space:
- Smart Growth Future Panning Grant
Smart Growth is the term used to describe well-planned, well-managed growth that adds new homes and creates new jobs, while preserving open space, farmland, and environmental resources. Smart Growth supports livable neighborhoods with a variety of housing types, price ranges and multi-modal forms of transportation. Smart Growth is an approach to land-use planning that targets the State’s resources and funding in ways that enhance the quality of life for residents in New Jersey. Smart Growth principles include mixed-use development, walkable town centers and neighborhoods, mass transit accessibility, sustainable economic and social development and preserved green space. Marlboro will be utilizing this service, and grant, to address our affordable housing needs in a fashion that supports preservation of open space, improves recreation, and stimulates economic development, all with a low impact upon our taxpayers.
- Green Communities Challenge Grant
In response to the passing of the New Jersey Shade Tree & Community Forestry Assistance Act in 1996, the New Jersey Community Forestry Program's 2008 Green Community Grants is awarded to communities for the development of comprehensive community forestry management plans. This grant allows a county or municipality to hire an outside firm to assist in the production of a community forestry management plan. We are happy to report that based upon the good work of our newly reconstituted Shade Tree Commission, in 2008, Marlboro was awarded the maximum Green Community Grant possible.
In addition, we are in the process of developing future applications and perfecting previous grants from Green Acres for farmland preservation, recreational development, and open space acquisition.
- Green Acres Grants
Green Acres has made grants and loans to municipal and county governments for open space acquisition and recreational development for the past thirty-eight years. Since 1989, Green Acres also has provided matching grants to nonprofit conservation organizations for open space acquisition. These funds have been used to acquire additions to state parks, forests, natural areas, historic sites, and wildlife management areas and to develop park and recreational facilities within these state lands. The Green Acres Program applies a priority system to its expenditures. For both Local & Nonprofit Funding program and the State Land Acquisition program (additions to state-owned open spaces), potential acquisition sites are evaluated based on a number of criteria. The land's environmental characteristics are among the most important, but there are many other considerations that determine whether a particular parcel of land will be preserved now or in the future.
- HDSRF Grants
Municipalities can qualify for up to $3 million per year in total grant and loan assistance for all projects within their boundaries. Municipalities across the state use the HDSRF program to reclaim and restore sites. In addition, no matter what their size, they share two attributes that make them suitable for the program. They are believed to be environmentally damaged and they offer real opportunities for redevelopment if they can be cleaned up. We are currently perfecting the $130,000.00 HDSRF grant for environmental testing of the Marlboro State Hospital Property.
8. Reexamining Marlboro’s Master Plan
On February 21, 2008, I drafted a resolution offered by Councilman LaRocca and unanimously approved by the Township Council to allow Marlboro to participate in the NJDCA, Office of Smart Growth, Smart Future Planning program. This program will allow us full access to state resources in re-examining our master plan to address the future economic, recreation and affordable housing needs of our community. The visioning process required in this program will call for public hearings where the entire community will be encouraged to participate in shaping Marlboro for the future. For more information on this process, please visit the state’s website at: http://www.state.nj.us/dca/osg/resources/grants/index.shtml.
9. Identifying and Presenting Volunteer and Mentor Opportunities
Since our post election day “call for volunteers,” we have received resumes and inquiries from over 175 residents interested volunteering for our various committees, commissions and boards. Our newly established Teen Advisory Committee has set forth specific goals, including the exploration of various synergies between teens and seniors. Currently, plans are being made by our teens to begin providing volunteer computer and electronics training for our seniors. In addition, the members of our Senior Advisory Committee have been actively meeting and are considering mentor opportunities for the teens as well.
I would like to thank the community, our professionals, our volunteers, and the municipal employees for the hard work they have done, and will continue to do in the future, in accomplishing the goals set forth in our Plan for Progress in Marlboro. While we have achieved our goals for the first 100 days, our work is far from over. We will strive to continue to meet our long term objectives, and periodically update you on the progress we make in exploring, implementing, and achieving our four year goals.
In addition to our achievements during the first 100 days, we are very excited to announce the plan and installation of a dog park at Recreation Way. In establishing a partnership between the public and private sectors, we will be providing our citizens with this great facility at relatively no cost to the taxpayers. We will also be announcing a contest to name the dog park – check the township website in the near for additional details.
