Among other action Monday night the Council authorized the application to the County Dept of Human Services for a grant of$143,550.00 for the Alcohol/Drug Abuse Treatment Program.
This is for the at present dormant Dudley House.
As you know the city lost its license to operate that program because of code deficiencies in the building. They have now been remedied, and this previously successful program will be restored although the city plans to have it run by a nonprofit agency.
When questioned about anticipated plans, Dashield noted that the application for the grant was step 1, with the grant in place by October. He anticipated a license approval in September,and making fee for service agreements with surrounding municipalities who have availed themselves of the facility by October or November. There may be a limited number of clients admitted but if the agreement with the operating agency is not in place by Dec. 31,2009 Dudley House would be shut down.
The City will hold the license until the non profit has shown that it can operate the program. The agency will be in place when patients are first entered and must take over full operation on Jan. 1,2010. Ultimately the license will be transferred to them.
There was a prolong discussion about "pay to play"when a long list of lawyers and their firms was submitted by Corporation Counsel. Professional Service contracts do not have to be awarded by competitive bidding but are ' Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40A:11-2(6) and The Fair and Ope n Process in accordance with N.J.S.A. 19:44-20.4. The discussion was about the amount of campaign contributions the individuals had made to any one candidate.
Corporation Counsel Williamson noted that he did not have that information because it was not required except in the cases of local candidates. There was some question if the restrictions included county and state elections.
Councilor Storch attempted to alter a Resolution for a contract with Remington & Vernik Engineer s for $140,000.00 for general and miscellaneous services.He feels that the engineering contracts should be award from open bids rather than by "an approved vendor" method. Storch suggested to cut the amount to $70,000.00 up to 12/31/09. Williamson reminded the Council that they could not unilaterally change the terms of a proposed contract.
Again there was talk about the pro and cons of a City Engineer position being filled and what the costs would be. The Administrator is going to supply a working estimate.
That about sums up Monday's Council meeting.
8:15 AM, I intend to post some personal commentary regarding Monday's meeting including the IT Ordinance later today.
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It is interesting that no New Dem whined about the walk on on the Visioning project.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it OK to walk on the Visioning Project and not the IT Director?
Where is the tranparency? Where is the justification? How many of you have seen a presentation on that? Where is the justification? Show us the numbers?
Why the double standards please?
9:59; See my reply to your comment where I erroneously identified your today anonymity as 9:52.
ReplyDeleteIf you read my blog, I do not justify any "walk on" item unless it is urgent.Neither were. The fault is Council's time lag between meetings when it dropped the twice monthly meetings.
A piece of advice, be interest in your community's welfare not party politics.
To 9:59am - I did not hear anyone whining about either item. Frankly, if you are not aware of the fact that the IT director's position has been discussed for months, as has the visioning study, you have no idea what is going on in this city.
ReplyDeleteCouncilman Storch had an open forum about this months ago that encouraged citizens to show up and give their opinion. Were you there?
To 1:57 - has there been any presentation on the Train Station Study? has there been any justification made? has there been any examples shown on how other towns have benefitted? has any detailed outline - timetable been presented to the public on this?
ReplyDeleteI think when you ask these questions, and when you find the answer is NO each and every time, one has to wonder what is really going on. Who is getting paid.