Township Council Taxes

A $311,000 contract for two dump trucks was approved at the Oct. 22 Township Council meeting. The contract is for two trucks with combination bodies and snow plows.

Although Mayor Brian Levine wondered aloud whether the money could be better spent elsewhere, and at least one councilman was unsure of the contract’s term, the Township Council on Oct. 22 voted to spend $55,000 for software that is touted to allow police departments to “predict” where crime will occur. The idea’s champion on the council, Councilman Phil Kramer (Ward …

Mayor Brian Levine said Oct. 19 that he’s already been asked by a same-sex couple to perform their marriage. The wedding will occur next week at the municipal building, he said.

A proposal to limit smoking in the township’s larger parks – and ban it outright in the smaller ones – is on its way to the Township Council. The township Open Space Advisory Committee at its Oct. 15 meeting endorsed a proposal brought by Alice Osipowitz, director of parks and recreation, to create the smoke free zones.

More than $130,000 in Community Development Block Grant sub-grants to area social service organizations helping township residents were approved at the Oct. 8 Township Council meeting. The money is targeted primarily to groups and organizations serving the township’s minority and low- and moderate-income residents.

Purchases worth nearly $380,000 were approved at the Oct. 8 Township Council meeting. The items the council voted to buy are two utility body trucks for $106,000 and two pickup trucks with snow plows for $78,500 from Beyer Brothers of Fairview, and a backhoe for $106,405 and an articulated wheel loader for $66,680 from Jesco of South Plainfield.

The Hampton Chase Homeowners Association is putting itself out of business, but helping the Franklin Township Food Bank along the way. The association’s three-member board on Oct. 5 will donate more than $11,000 – in the form of liens on homes in the single-family development – to the Franklin Township Food Bank.

Worries about the effect of a low insurance rating for the township’s code inspectors, the Township Council has decided to partially reverse a ban on taking township-owned cars home. The township’s chief multi-purpose inspector will be allowed to take his official car home, the council decided at its Sept. 24 meeting. This is so any overnight inspections can be completed.

A need for more asphalt in one road project and increases in the material’s cost in two others lead to a total $92,000 increase in the cost of those projects. The three projects total about $1.2 million.

A Somerville firm is the winner of a nearly $400,000 contract to repave part of Canal Road and Market Street. The Township Council at its Sept. 24 meeting awarded Top Line Construction the $380,334.37 contract to repave Canal Road from Blackwells Mills Road to Market Street, and also market Street.