This is a meeting March 2nd, 2026. The notice requirements provided for in the open public meetings act have been satisfied. Notice of this meeting was properly given by transmission to the Asbury Park Press and the two of her times and by posting at the Middletown Township Municipal Building and filing with the township
clerk all in January 9th, 2026. Committeeman Clark >> here. >> Committeewoman Kratz >> here. >> Committeeman Sedbrino >> here. Deputy Mayor Hibbo >> here. >> Mayor Perry >> here. >> Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I >> pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. If everyone could actually remain standing just for a second. Um, last week, Middletown
Township lost uh two uh dedicated public servants in uh former fire chief Tom Motto and uh not only a uh member of our Middletown Township Fire Department, but also a zoning board member in Andrew Bane. So, if you'll all just uh pause
with me for a brief moment and pay our respects to both of their families and thank them for their service to our township um and to all of our residents. Thank you. At this time, I'd like to ask for a moment of silence to honor the troops serving worldwide, defending our
constitutions, freedoms, and way of life. Thank you. Our first item on tonight's agenda, we have approval of minutes for the February 17, 2026 regular meeting. Motion to approve.
>> I'll second. >> Committ Clark. >> Yes. >> Committeewoman Kratz. >> Yes. >> Committeeman Senino. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Hibbell. >> Yes. >> Mayor Perry. >> Yes. Sorry, Heidi. >> That's okay. >> Thanks. Thanks, Rick.
Next item on tonight's agenda, we have public hearing on proposed ordinances. Our first ordinance, 2026-3498, an ordinance regulating parking on Brier Cliff Drive. >> Any member of the public wishing to speak on public ordinance number 2026-3498,
uh, an ordinance regulating parking on Brier Cliff Drive. Any member of the public wishing to speak on public ordinance number 2026-3498? Seeing no member of the public stepping forward, move the to close the public portion and approve. >> Second. >> Committ Clark. >> Yes.
>> Committeewoman Kratz. >> Yes. >> Committeeman Senino. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Hibbell. >> Yes. >> Mayor Perry. >> Yes. >> Motion carries to pass this ordinance on on second and final reading. At this time, we have ordinance 2026-3499. An ordinance amending chapter 240-15 of
the code of the township of Middletown governing rates for additional solid waste and recycling carts. >> Any member of the public wishing to speak on public ordinance number 2026-3499. >> Seeing no member of the public stepping forward, move to close the public portion and approve. >> Second.
>> Committeeman Clark. >> Yes. >> Committeewoman Kratz. >> Yes. >> Committeeman Senino. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Hibell. >> Yes. Mayor Perry. >> Yes. >> Motion carries to um adopt this ordinance on second and final reading. >> At this time, we have introduction of
proposed ordinances. We have 2026-350, an ordinance authorizing acceptance of deed of road dedication upon block 491, lots 56.01 and 56.02, 835, and 837 Main Street.
>> Motion to introduce. >> Second. Committeeman Clark, >> yes. >> Committeewoman Kratz, >> yes. >> Committeeman Senino, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Hibbell, >> yes. >> Mayor Perry, >> yes. >> Motion carries to pass this ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to
be held March 16th, 2026. >> Go ahead. >> Yep. Um, our next ordinance for public uh for introduction 2026-3501, a bond ordinance providing an appropriation of 3,10,000 for various parks improvements by and
for the township of Middletown in the county of Mammoth, New Jersey, and authorizing the issuance of $2,859,500 in bonds or notes of the township for financing part of the appropriation. >> Motion to introduce. >> Second it.
Committeeman Clark. >> I'm sorry. Committeeman Clark. >> Yes. >> Oh. Um, Committee Woman Kratz. >> Yes. >> Committeeman Senrino. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Hibbell. >> Yes. >> Mayor Perry. >> Yes. >> Motion carries passes ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to be held
March 16th, 2026. At this time, I'd like to ask the township committee to adopt a consent agenda, which would include resolutions 26-90 through 26-97. >> Motion to approve a consent agenda.
>> Second, >> Committeeman Clark, >> yes. >> Committee Katz, >> yes. >> Committee Senino, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Hibell, >> yes. >> Mayor Perry, >> yes. >> Motion carries to adopt the consent agenda. Tone, you want to uh do the
discussion on the parks? >> Yeah. So, as you know, we've uh recently acquired some properties um and uh we the township committee requires a resolution to actually officially name um a park uh property. So, the first one
is the uh Presbyterian Church on West Front Street and Everett Road, and we're proposing to call it West Front Street Community Center uh officially. And the other is uh the property we purchased at 127 Hubard uh which is the former Stavola property and that was purchased
we we negotiated with the property owner and one of the agreements was that we would name it after his son who's deceased. Um so it's it's going to be Tiger Stavola Park. Uh so if no one has an objection, we'll there'll be a resolution at the next meeting um
officially naming those parks those. >> Any questions for Tony on this? >> Okay. Thanks. Okay, >> we have Township Committee comment. >> All right, Committeeman Clark. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, first I'd like to
um uh echo your sentiments at the opening of the meeting about uh former Chief Amato and uh former firefighter Bane. Uh both of them had uh tremendous contributions as a former fire chief in the department and a 30-year member. Uh I interfaced with both of them over uh
the entirety of my career. Um, so and and they were continuing to be contributing members. Uh, so the department's going to miss them. Uh, I had the opportunity to meet with Scout Pack uh with the Scout Pack uh this past week here at town hall and help them with their uh citizenship badge, which
uh is always a good time. So, I wanted to thank the young men who came out with their parents to uh do that. And while I was there, I had the opportunity to see the next batch of the Alliance uh program starting, which is always exciting. Um, and uh, for right now,
that's that's all I have. So, thank you, >> Committee Senator Brino. >> I'll hold my comments this evening. Thank you, >> Committee Kratz. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh, just my condolences to the family again uh to both families and uh, and thank them both for their incredible service to the
town. But that's all for tonight, Mayor. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, DM. >> Just very briefly, mayor. Um, Committeeman Clark, did you uh wear your scout belt? your Eagle Scout belt. >> Oh, please wear it next time. All right,
Chris. I just want to give a shout out to um Ted Ted and the crew. Uh our team got battled back to back with some big snowstorms and uh um or they did a great job. I mean, you can't work that amount of hours to clean this up without uh having good people. So, very grateful
for our employees and the time they put in away from their families the last uh couple storms. That's all I have. Mayor. >> All right. I'll open up for because I'm I'm not sure I'm going to make it through any township committee comments. Uh we'll open up for public comment. Any
member of the public wishing to make a public comment may do so. We ask that you state your name for the record and that you keep your comments to five minutes. at 4 minutes. How do you let you know that you have one minute remaining? With that being said, any member of the public wish to make a
public comment. >> Good evening. My name is Bernard Doss. I'm a resident of Middletown. Members of the township committee, Mr. Mayor, thank you for your time tonight. I'm here because we have an imminent threat hanging over Middletown right now. the potential closure of three beloved
historic community schools. These schools are not just buildings. They're community infrastructure. They're the backbone of some of our historic northside villages. And if they close, we lose more than buildings. We will fracture Middletown's communities,
hurt our students, and put our tax dollars in peril. I understand this is a board of edet issue, and u I'm sorry I'm here speaking about this tonight. It's clearly a BOE problem, but closing these three schools is going to harm Middletown more broadly, which is why
I'm here tonight. I'm here to appeal for help. School closures, rushed consolidations, expensive renovations, and very crowded middle schools will be bad for our students and bad for our taxpayers. The
proposed school closures will waste tax dollar money and damage Middletown's reputation. I'm here respectfully asking for your leadership to help get the BOE out of this mess before they cause permanent damage.
The BOE's behavior so far in 2026 has been pretty unpredictable. The superintendent has resigned. Our strategic planning was interrupted by that and um you know despite a bunch of reassurance that we had runway to plan
things to plan the next 5 10 years. um suddenly have emergent budget issues and the BOE is in crisis mode again. Mr. Mayor, I rewatched your April 3rd press conference out in the lobby this morning. Um and I agreed with everything
you said last year. You suggested reducing administrative overhead, reducing duplicate roles. You emphasized how important our neighborhood schools are and how we need them to thrive. One year later, I'm sorry I'm here, but
we need your leadership again. Please come to the rescue. The good news though, this year, this supposed budget issue is minuscule and the options are more abundant this
year. The BOE can clearly reduce administrative headcount. It can lease its facilities. It needs to evaluate its transportation contracts. It needs to re request shared services and now it has the authority to sell its vacant land.
Once you see all the available options, you could suggest a dozen ways that the BOE can budget more responsibly so we can resume as a community the strategic planning in good faith and transition to a new committed and engaged
superintendent. I'm sorry you're not feeling well. >> I've studied. >> Is it that obvious? Yes, slightly. Slightly. Um, Mr. Mayor, I've I've put a lot of time into this. I've studied the school enrollments. I've exume examined the
school capacity. I have reviewed the school budgets, considered the boundaries. I've looked at Middletown's demographics, the housing development pipeline, the many redevelopment zones. We do not need to close schools right now. What we need is thoughtful
planning. I've crunched the numbers and they're peerreed and hasty clo closures and crowded consolidations will be more expensive in the near term. I assure you. Please work with the BOE to explore
financially prudent alternatives to help us plan for the next decade and beyond. With your leadership, I hope you can guide the BOE back to a cooperative, compliant, transparent, optionsbased process. I know we can solve this
cooperatively. >> Sir, you have one minute. >> Thank you. We can protect our taxpayers and we need to safeguard our children's education. Thank you. >> Thank you. And I'll just I'll just say I would just
want to thank um Eric and Kristen and and Bernie for our meeting. I thought we had a very good conversation and probably I don't know 45minut conversation. Um, but I just want to thank you uh because I think it was very
good and enlightening for both myself and and uh hopefully for you um on things that you know I I know in my wheelhouse and uh and and all the efforts that you've uh you know put in. So I just want to say thank you again for that uh that good meeting uh last
week or so. I can't remember but um thank you again. Thank you. And I and I'll just say um I know that uh Tony and uh our CFO who's not here tonight, Colleen Lap um does
does have a meeting this week uh with um Dr. Alone and with u u Miss Doerty um to discuss some of those uh items that you brought up and and just because th this
governing body has not received any type of um briefing or anything like that. Um so Tony reached out to the board of ed um to get something on the books and I know that's happening later this week. So um so he he is he is meeting with
them as as counterparts. So thank you again. Any member of the public? >> Yes ma'am. >> How are you tonight? >> Come on down. >> Price is right. >> It's okay. There's absolutely no
pressure. Just state your just state your name. >> Um Kristen Coun uh Middletown. Hi. Uh thanks for having me. It's nice to be in this building again. I was at the alliance leaders last year. That was great for my son. Thank you. Um well, I moved to this town um about 5 years ago
during COVID um based on the excellence in your school system and my son came here and really turned things around. Um so it was a big help for our family. Um and I want to thank you for all the work you've done with the Middletown Historic Society. I live in one of the historic town uh houses in town and I just love
all the work you've done um to preserve the history of this town and all that stuff going forward. It's it's part of the charm and uh I guess maintenance of town >> and their museum now at the train stations the work. I think we'll be able to award that probably at the April
meeting, right Tony? April sec 2nd. So that renovation over at the old train station because they're celebrating. Don't worry, I'm not going to take this time. >> Oh no, no, you're good. the uh they're celebrating while we're celebrating 250 for America, they're
going to be celebrating 150 for that train station will turn 150 years old. So, go ahead. I know that's not why you were >> Oh, yeah. So, it's great. So, I love all that work. So, thank you for u making that a priority. Um, but I noticed you uh opened a prek over in Cudon Hall,
which has been a really great idea and I think the community has really loved that and I was just wondering if you had any plans to expand that program. I think that would help a lot of families in town. >> Yeah. So, actually, so um so that's that's a temp it was a it's a quasi
temporary move. Um the old building that we used to use for our prek um um was over at the Tiny Keller Center. Um but some damage occurred to the Tiny Keller Center and right now we're trying to evaluate how best to move forward
with that building. Um so the kids that formerly used to be at Tanya Keller are now going to be at um at Cudon Hall. Um but the uh so it's it's just the same program just shifting buildings um for the for the time being.
>> Yeah. >> Been around been around for a long time. But part of and and as you may have heard with the >> discussion tonight >> was about the uh link former Linkraftoft Presbyterian Church. >> Yeah.
>> Um so we were able to acquire that property thanks to uh assistance from the county. They paid 75% and we paid the other 25% to acquire that property. The church is in excellent condition. They've really done a great job at maintaining that. And the the
congregation just um it merged with another church in Madawan. Um so uh and and I bring that up because we do, you know, have to look at uh increasing our reach when it comes to preschool and and
other things. And in fact, um, today we formed a strategic partnership with, um, the Mammoth Museum over on Brookdale's campus last year and, uh, to create a STEM, uh, summer camp for, you know, older kids and that sold out in minutes
today. Um, >> I know. I can't I've never been able to get into any of the summer camps. >> Hotly hot hotly hot hotly contested. >> Yeah. >> So, >> okay. So, >> the plan is to use that, former church as another preschool.
>> As another preschool, yeah, I think townwide >> already there. >> Oh, that's great. >> It'll be open in September if >> everything goes right. >> Yeah. I I know a lot of families would love more access to prek especially. >> Um, all right. That's my comment.
>> Well, thank you so much. >> Thank you, Tony. >> Thank you. Any other member of the public wish to make a public comment? Seeing no other member of the public stepping forward, move to close the public portion and adjourn. >> Second.
>> Committeeman Clark. >> Yes. >> Committ Kratz. >> Yes. Committeeman Senrino. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Hibbo. >> Yes. >> Mayor Perry. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Motion carries to adjourn. >> Have a great night everybody. Thank you all so much.