Township Council Taxes

Two contracts worth $69,000 were approved by the Township Council at its Feb. 25 meeting. The largest of the two, worth $55,000 a year, was awarded to Joseph Smentkowski, Inc. of Jersey City for servicing the township mini-dump. The two-year contract expires on Feb. 28, 2016. A $14,000 contract for electrical services as needed was awarded to Vetter Electric of …

The Township Council is now the body in charge of the Hamilton Street business district Special Improvement Zone. Thanks to a last-minute amendment to the ordinance making that so, the council’s status as the SID’s “district management corporation” is limited to two years. Business and property owners included in the Hamilton Street SID are eligible to be named to a …

Professional contracts worth $273,000 were awarded at the Feb. 11 Township Council meeting. The largest, $200,000, was for township attorney Louis Rainone, a member of the DeCotiis, Fitzpatrick and Cole law firm. The council also approved contracts for: Township prosecutor, with the Singer & Fedun law firm, worth $28,000 Associate prosecutor, with Art Skaar of Hillsborough, worth $20,000 Alternate prosecutors, …

A host of contracts for the year for services and supplies were approved by the Township Council at the Jan. 28 meeting. Many of the awards were for state and shared purchase contracts. The awards were as follows: Somerset County and Morris County Cooperative Pricing Programs – Janitorial Supplies – CY2014 – W.B. Mason/Bio-Shine/Central Poly Corp./Spruce Industries/Mooney-General Paper Company – …

A proposed ordinance that would give to the Township Council  all meaningful power over the renovation of the Hamilton Street business district – and relegate business owners to an advisory board – is being opposed by a group of those business owners. The ordinance was introduced at the Jan. 28 council meeting, but not before Councilman Carl R. A. Wright …

They’re just temporary fixes, but crews from the township and Somerset County have been traveling township roads over the past week filling in potholes that seem to appear about this time of year. The mixture of lots of moisture, then cold and warm temperatures, as we’ve had over the last several weeks, makes the perfect recipe for bone-rattling potholes, township …

Township Council members didn’t have much to critique when they were shown the township’s newly redesigned Web site at the Jan. 7 meeting. The council was taken through the site’s new features by Justin Heyman, the township’s Information Technology director. The overarching thought behind the redesign, Heyman told the council, was to give residents “the information they want, the way …

Contracts for goods and services worth $289,723 were approved at the Jan. 7 Township Council meeting. The council approved the $39,918 purchase of a pick-up truck with snow plow from Beyer Brothers Corp. of Fairview. The money comes from the 2013 capital spending plan. A $13,000 contract with Peak Software, Sandy, Utah was also approved. The software will be used …

Agreeing that commissioners should appear at a meeting and explain why they feel they need a more than $100 a year raise, the Township Council Jan. 7 tabled approval for the proposed 2014 salaries for Fire District 3’s five commissioners. The council did, however, approve proposed raises for commissioners in fire districts 1, 2 and 4. Although fire district operations …

There’s a new portrait hanging among the presidents in the Township Council chambers, that of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The portrait was unveiled at the beginning of the Jan. 7 Township Council meeting. Officiating were Council members Rajiv Prasad and Kimberly Francois, both D-At Large; Mayor Brian Levine, R; Paul Curry from the Franklin Democratic …