>Breaking News: Special Middletown Township Committee Meetings Scheduled for Thursday and Friday @ 5 PM

>Posted shortly ago on the Middletown Township website, two notices for special Committee meetings to be held on Thursday April 28th & Friday April 29th.

It seems that contract settlements with the Township’s unions, the SOA and PBA are imminent.

No further details are given.

The question is however, did the unions give enough in concessions to the Township to avoid the planned April 29th lay-off of 16 Park & Recreation workers and 10 Middletown Police officers?

If so, than it would be a sure bet that the Middletown Arts Center will, more than likely, remain open and other doomsday service cuts will not be implemented.

Below are the notices:

Thurs, April 28 Special Meeting 5pm

Notice is hereby given that the “Open Public Meeting” of the Township Committee of the Township of Middletown is scheduled for:

DATE: Thursday, April 28, 2011
TIME: 5:00 PM SPECIAL MEETING
PLACE: Middletown Town Hall, Main Meeting Room, One Kings Highway, Middletown, NJ 07748

at which time the following matters of business will be conducted:

KNOWN ACTION ITEMS:

Possible Adoption of Resolution Ratifying Collective Bargaining Agreements (SOA and/or PBA)

EXECUTIVE SESSION TO FOLLOW

and any other matters that may come before the Township Committee.

Heidi R. Brunt, RMC, CMC
Township Clerk

April 26, 2011
The Independent
Asbury Park Press
Two River Times
The Star Ledger

Fri, April 29 Special Meeting 5 p.m.

posted: April 26, 2011
Notice is hereby given that the “Open Public Meeting” of the Township Committee of the Township of Middletown is scheduled for:

DATE: Friday, April 29, 2011
TIME: 5:00 PM SPECIAL MEETING
PLACE: Middletown Town Hall, Main Meeting Room, One Kings Highway, Middletown, NJ 07748

at which time the following matters of business will be conducted:

KNOWN ACTION ITEMS:

Possible Adoption of Resolution Ratifying Collective Bargaining Agreements (SOA and/or PBA)

EXECUTIVE SESSION TO FOLLOW

and any other matters that may come before the Township Committee.

Heidi R. Brunt, RMC, CMC
Township Clerk

April 26, 2011
The Independent
Asbury Park Press
Two River Times
The Star Ledger

>Allan D. Burns, Candidate Middletown Board of Education

>

I received the following letter from Allan D. Burns, who is seeking to be elected to fill the 1 year unexpired term on the Middletown Board of Education during tomorrow’s April 27th, 2011 school board election:

I would like to take a moment to share with you the reasons for which I have decided to run for the Board of Education.

I am a lifelong resident of this community and like many of you I’m concerned with the budget, the direct impact this has on our tax payers, the lack of accountability and the lack of transparency. I’ve been an observer and listened to others use our children and their futures as bargaining chips for their own personal gain and propaganda. And when the only solution offered is to “increase taxes and cut services” I knew we had to do better and can do better! Our children deserve more and it should not be at additional cost to the tax payers. Positive change begins with hiring the right individuals who are not afraid to challenge the budget and put it to task. That is what I intend to do. For the well being of the whole community, I am running because I believe I can do better for my child, my parents, the students of Middletown and the tax payers alike!

I pledge my unwavering commitment to all the members of this great community. I promise to challenge every dollar and be accountable. These values are critical because we will have to soon hire a new superintendent and negotiate new teacher contracts. These decisions will shape our future. We need a superintendent who will work hand and hand with a unified Board, the tax payers and the community’s best interest and in doing so, our children will receive the benefits they deserve. I cannot possibly have all the answers though I know when to listen and will put the necessary time in for discovery, ensuring that every option is explored, with your best interests at the forefront.

We need people with a sense of community, negotiating skills, business skills, the ability to speak with an open mind and challenge the system, now more than ever. It is these principles that help benefit the community as a whole. If we take the right steps now, we will not be handcuffed in the future.

If I am elected on April 27th, I promise I will fight for what is best for our community, as a whole. I thank you for your time. Allan Burns position #1 for the one year term.

Allan D. Burns,

Candidate Middletown Board of Education

>Heard It In The Hallways….

>This should come as no surprise to anyone after it was announce that 26 Middletown employees will be laid off due to budget woes on April 29th, I just heard that the Middletown Cultural Arts Center will be shutdown!

The “Jewel of Middletown” located next to the Middletown Train Station, will be closed when nearly all of the Middletown Parks and Recreation Department is laid off at the end of this week.

The only thing that will keep the building open and operational, will be if the Township can find enough qualified volunteers to keep the building opened and programs running. If not the building will be shutdown.

The shame of it all is that even though the building will be shutdown it won’t save the township much money in utility charges. The heating and air conditioning will still need to be kept running 24/7 so that the floors in the building don’t buckle due to the humidity issues that plague the building. It’s been reported over the past few years that the utility bill for the Arts Center run upwards of $350K a year.

What a waste!

>It’s Your Town – Newsletter Volume 3, Issue 8- 4/18/11

>This edition of “It’s Your Town” Newsletter covers the Middletown Township NJ monthly meeting of the Middletown Township Committee of April 18th. 2011. The meeting was sparsely attended by the public, there were only two people in attendance.

Many ordinances were approved without public comments, namely ordinance 2011-3027 which amended management and non-union employee salaries. This is the ordinance that provided $20,000 worth of bonuses to the Township Tax Assessor Charles Heck and his assistant.

There was also further discussions about the 2009 Township audit that contained many non-compliance irregularities and whether or not an action plan was written to address them as recommend by the State (It should be noted that this flawed audit was the basis for the Township’s reasoning to take $500,000 from the Middletown Library).

Also discussed was the status of the solar projected and the issuance of bonding notes to finance road construction and balances left on old debt.

You can read the current issue of the newsletter >>> Here

And if you are interested in receiving the “It’s Your Town” Newsletter via email, send a request to itsourtown@yahoo.com

>MiddletownPatch: Six Candidates Vie For Three Open Full-Term Dais Seats

>MiddletownPatch this morning has followed up yesterday’s article “Three BOE Candidates Seek One-Year Term” which profiled the three people who are seeking the 1 year unexpired term to the Middletown Board of Education, with a profile of the six who are seeking three – 3 year terms to the board.

Today’s article “Six Candidates Vie For Three Open Full-Term Dais Seats” is very well written and informative. If you haven’t seen or heard the candidates speak for yourself at the various Candidate Forums held over the past two weeks, the column on the MiddletownPatch website gives good impressions of the individual candidates.

Below is a portion of what was written, go to MiddletownPatch to finish reading:

“The three incumbent Middletown Township Board of Education members whose seats are up on the nine-member board are not running in this year’s election. Vying to fill their three-year seats are six newcomers to the race.

Each has pointed to a vast number of issues they’d like to address in the district if elected.

In interviews with the candidates, everything from better budget balancing, to improvement of school facilities, to exploration of more shared services, to greater focus on academics were listed as motivations for running.

Others cited imminent district needs such as transparency, tackling pension reform and review and reassessment of administrators’ salaries. One candidate said that the simple addressing of “negative rhetoric” on and around the board is critical.

All felt they had the expertise, qualifications and background necessary to make them most qualified for the job.

Voters will decide at the polls tomorrow, April 27, which of the three candidates running for the three-year terms will serve as their new Board of Education members.

In the meantime, Patch has the background and comments of each for your review …

Bob Superti, 36 Oakwood Road

Superti has been retired from AT&T, where he worked for 35 years, since 1989, as an auditor and technological consultant. In his line of work, he said, reducing costs for customers, improving productivity and expanding AT&T’s client “enterprise” were his areas of expertise.

Outside of the corporate structure, in the political arena, for approximately three years Superti has been a county Democratic committeeman. He also volunteers his time promoting the Middletown Fire Department and working with the non-profit 180 Turning Lives Around. He is a life member of both the Red Bank Elks and the McKee Technical High School Alumni.

While he has never served on the Middletown Board of Education, Superti is a former board member of the Paramus board. He also served on the ad hoc committee for Middletown’s Building and Maintenance Committee, which was charged with studying the school facilities.

“I would bring expertise in maintenance and deteriorating facilities, and finance,” he said. “I know what needs to operate a school system,” pointing out that in his career he has analyzed insurance policies and understands contracts. With that sort of experience, he feels he can better help clarify and address areas of concern in the school district.

Calling himself a troubleshooter by nature, Superti also said his understanding of how spending works and past experience examining proficiencies in a company would be beneficial contributions to the board.

“I would attack all the negative rhetoric that is hurting our schools, clarify the false statements, such as demonizing our teachers,” he said. “Many things that are said that are inaccurate about our schools, I would be the voice to verify some of those things,” he said….”

>Middletown officials must block Avaya development

>The following letter was published online last night over at the Asbury Park Press. The letter was written by Lincroft resident Walter L. Horan and implores the Middletown Township Committee to stop the planned development, which would contain 342 housing units, at the former Avaya site in Lincroft:

In Middletown’s race to meet a deadline set forth by the state Council on Affordable Housing to accommodate an irrational number of required housing units, the Middletown Township Committee has done a grave disservice to the residents of Lincroft by allowing a 342-unit townhouse and apartment complex development to be built at the Avaya property on Middletown-Lincroft Road.

Township Committee members are singularly responsible for this fiasco, since they alone changed the zoning to accommodate such a massive development. They reassured the residents this would not come to fruition.

To further allay our concerns, they promised they would rezone as soon as they were able. They said it would never be built due to the down economy. They said there are no developers on the horizon interested in such a large project.

They were wrong. And now here we are with the owner of the property proposing a development with 342 townhouses and rental apartment buildings, three stories high, which will forever change the landscape and character of Lincroft Village.

The Township Committee must right this inexcusable wrong and do whatever is necessary to block this development.

Walter L. Horan

MIDDLETOWN