BOROUGH OF RARITAN AGENDA MEETING DEC 14th The Agenda Meeting of the Borough of Raritan Council was held on December 14, 2010 in the Municipal Building, 22 First Street, Raritan, NJ 08869 at 6:30 pm. Mayor Jo-Ann Liptak presided and stated: Notice of this meeting has been made by advising The Courier News and the Star Ledger of the time, date and place of this meeting, posting a notice on the official bulletin board, on the Raritan Borough website, filing a copy in the Borough Clerk’s office and including this statement in the minutes. ROLL CALL Present: Victor Laggini, John Lamaestra, Stefanie Gara, Greg Lobell, and Denise Carra Absent: Maureen Wilson Also Present: Mayor Jo-Ann Liptak; Daniel Jaxel, Borough Administrator; Mark Anderson, Borough Attorney and Rayna E. Harris, Borough Clerk DISCUSSION 1. Engineer’s Report Mayor Jo-Ann Liptak offered the Borough Engineer’s report. Orlando Drive The final documents pertaining to the Orlando Drive route survey have been forwarded to the County Engineer’s office. The County Engineer will review the documents then arrange a meeting to discuss and determine the next action steps for County consideration of the Orlando Drive takeover. A plan entitled “Exhibit Plan for Block 116.02, Lot 7 and Block 116.02, Lot 12.01” has been prepared for the purpose of illustrating all analysis of boundary evidence, lines of possession and referenced deeds and maps. This map should resolve the boundary dispute with the Lot 7 property owner. Cardinal Woods Pump Station All equipment damaged in the flood event of October 1 has been repair and or replaced wit the exception of the control panel. The panel, which is a custom design, is expected to be delivered later this month. The restoration of the station should be finalized before the end of the year. The station is still on bypass. Pumping Services is not charging the Borough any rental costs. Dog Park We are preparing a map of the park on First Avenue near Tillman Street. This map will be available for use in discussing various aspects of the proposed Dog Park. 2. Council meeting format Mayor Liptak and Rayna E. Harris discussed changing the Council Meeting format to Agenda-Workshop Meetings at 7:00 PM with an Executive (Closed) Session listed on the meeting agenda on the 2nd Tuesday of the month and Regular Meetings at 7:00 PM with an Executive (Closed) Session listed on the meeting agenda on the 4th Tuesday of the month. Official action may be taken at either meeting. It was noted that this format works well in other municipalities. Daniel Jaxel noted that this format was previously tested and did not work well in his opinion. He stated that it caused delays in his experience. However, he agreed that there is a certain amount of redundancy with the current format. Councilwoman Stefanie Gara noted that any item that came up unexpectedly could be brought up under new business at a Regular Meeting. Mark Anderson noted that this current system may be overly cumbersome and in the new format, if properly noticed, official action can be taken. Councilman Victor Laggini stated that he would not like to start later than 7:00 pm. Councilman-Elect Anthony Soriano questioned the need for a purchasing agent to avoid requiring approval for certain purchase orders. Mr. Jaxel stated that the Borough does not currently have a purchasing agent and certain items he would like discussion on by the Governing Body. There was general consent to change the format. 3. Council Committee structure Mayor Liptak stated that she wanted to change the Standing Council Committees and the liaison designations. The 2011 committees would be Engineering and Public Works, Finance and Administration, Human Resources, and Public Safety. The 2011 liaisons would be Environmental Commission, Recreation, Board of Education/Schools, Senior Citizens, Board of Health, Library Board of Trustees, Basilone Parade Committee, Regional Center Partnership, Youth on Main Street, Economic Development Committee, Grants Committee and Cultural and Historic Committee. She noted that the committees would now have three members instead of two and each member of Council would have two committee assignments and two liaison posts. Mayor Liptak removed the Chamber as a liaison post. She noted that this structure would eliminate the need for ad-hoc committees. The committee would decide who will deliver the committee report. Councilman Victor Laggini noted that the Board of Education meetings are on the same night as the Council meetings and this has always caused a conflict. He questioned could he miss a Council meeting to attend a Board of Education meeting. Mayor Liptak noted that she spoke with Councilman Matthew Moench of Bridgewater regarding hold a joint meeting between Raritan, Bridgewater and the Board of Education in 2011. Councilman Greg Lobell mentioned changing the Council Meetings to allow the liaison to the Board of Education to attend the Board Meetings. Councilman John Lamaestra stated that Al Smith, Raritan Board of Education member, calls him with information and briefings on the Board of Education matters. Mayor Liptak noted the budget review meeting held by the Somerset County Governing Officials and noted that correspondence was withheld from the Raritan officials. Mayor Liptak will e-mail the revised 2011 Committees and Liaison posts to everyone. 4. Animal control contract Daniel Jaxel noted that St. Hubert’s Giralda is proposing an increase to the contract from $11,000 to $22,700. He reached out for quote from Somerset Count, but has yet to receive a reply. Mr. Jaxel noted that there are not many service providers in the area. Jolanta Maziarz noted that St. Hubert’s Giralda proposed a three year contract, but that is not permitted by Local Public Contracts Law. The only contract options are a one year or two year contract. Mr. Jaxel proposed a phased increase, if a two year agreement was reached. The first year would be $16,850 and the second year would be $22,700. Councilman Lobell stated that in his experience, St. Hubert’s has not been adequately responsive. Mr. Jaxel noted that St. Hubert’s will provide traps to residents. He assured Council that he would continue to research alternative providers for the future, but this is currently the best option. Mayor Liptak directed Mr. Jaxel to send the letter of commitment to St. Hubert’s. 5. Sanitation Collection bid with Somerville Mayor Liptak e-mailed the feasibility study that was prepared two years ago with Somerville, about merging the public works departments. Mr. Jaxel addressed the study suggestion of combining with Somerville to go out to bid jointly for sanitation collection services. He noted that the bid would have to be structured to the needs of Raritan and do you want to keep our own personnel (11 workers), you do not have to bid. He questioned how much staff would be left to perform the daily duties outside of garbage collection if it were privatized. Councilwoman Gara noted that it is important to get a cost analysis. She noted that South Bound Brook is using the truck for bulk, but going to private pick-up of household waste. Mayor Liptak suggested bulk purchases of chlorine and salt were suggested in the study. Mr. Jaxel asked what services and scope of work to include in the bid. Councilman Lobell asked to get any and all information and prices. Council President Carra would like to revisit bulk next year. Councilwoman Gara would like a DPW brochure drafted to mail to residents next year modeled after the Manville flyer. 6. Spatial Data Logic software agreement Daniel Jaxel noted that an agreement with Spatial Data Logic was sent to the Borough to sign. However, both the Borough Attorney and Insurance Agent have expressed concerns about section 13 because it weighs heavily in favor of the vendor. Mark Anderson stated that he drafted an alternate agreement, but has yet to receive a response. Councilman Lobell directed the Borough Attorney and Administrator to contact them to get this issue resolved quickly. Councilwoman Gara stated that the delay is loosing data entry input time. 7. Memorabilia cases Mayor Liptak noted that there are old display cases at the Fire Department in the Anderson Street firehouse they would like moved to the Municipal Building for use by the Cultural and Historic Committee. There was general consent to allow the move. Daniel Jaxel will have DPW move the cases to the basement level outside of the community room. 8. Sewer camera Councilman Lobell stated that he was supposed to have quotes, but due to Bob Fulminante being out of the office, they are not available. He noted that at many meetings the need for a camera is discussed for use on various projects. Councilman Lobell proposed an approximately $8,000 purchase of a mobile camera unit with sanitation funds. Daniel Jaxel will check to see if the funds can be reserved. 9. New Year’s Day Holiday Observation Ms. Harris noted that due to the 2011 New Year holiday falling on a Saturday, the Borough procedure is to observe on the Friday. A resolution to do so should be considered prior to the New Year to protect the Tax Collection and Municipal Court offices in closing the offices, not accepting payments and charging interest. Councilwoman Gara agreed to offer this resolution at the Regular Meeting under New Business. 10. Animal licensing transition Ms. Harris stated that in transitioning the animal licensing system for uniformity the issue of the license terms needed to be addressed. Mr. Anderson noted that three options are available for consideration of the Council. The fundamental options are to either shorten one or extend one to conform. Extend by having a shortened, less than a year, period and prorate the fee. A third option offered to the Council is to declare an extension without additional fee to the residents. There was general consent to declare an extension through December 31, 2011 to cat licenses without additional fee to the residents. 11. Fire Department purchase order requests Councilman Victor Laggini agreed to offer these purchase order requests at the Regular Meeting under Committee Reports. Council President Carra agreed to offer the NJDOT resolutions at the Regular Meeting under New Business. PUBLIC COMMENTS No one spoke. A motion was made by Council President Denise Carra and seconded by Councilwoman Stefanie Gara to move into Executive Session. Motion carried. Council President Denise Carra motioned to close the Executive Session and to return to the normal order of business; the motion was seconded by Councilman Victor Laggini. Motion carried. ADJOURNMENT Councilman Victor Laggini moved to adjourn the meeting and seconded by Councilman Greg Lobell. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 8:07 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Rayna E. Harris, RMC Borough Clerk