Mayor Filipek Read the Following Announcement

Council Meeting

February 23, 2017

The regular meeting of the Mayor and Council was held on the above date.

Mayor Filipek read the following announcement:

On January 11, 2016 notice of this meeting was e-mailed to the Courier-Post Newspaper and duly posted on the bulletin board of the Municipal Building. All requirements of the open public meetings act have been met in compliance with the Sunshine Law.

The meeting was called to order at 7:00PM by Mayor Filipek with the salute to the flag.

Members of Council attending the meeting: Mr. Sandrock, Mr. Casey, Mr. D’Angelo, Mr. Sauter, Mr. Hagerty, Mr. Bider, Mayor Filipek. Maria Fasulo- Certified Municipal Finance Officer, Robert L. Messick- Solictor, Joshua T. Tregear- Borough Administrator in attendance.

Absent: Charles J. Sauter, III-Borough Clerk.

Communications: None.

Committee Reports:

Mr. Sandrock- Thank you Mayor, all I have is that our Court Administrator process is going smoothly. We have scheduled interviews; actually we had over 80 applicants that have applied for this particular position in the Municipality. We have narrowed it down considerably due to the fact that some of those individuals had no experience in the Court System, they may had experience in the business world but did not fit the criteria for a Court Administrator so we have narrowed that down and we will be conducting interviews on March 1st this coming Wednesday for a full day. That is all I have Mayor, thank you.

Mr. Casey- You may see some improvements going on in the Borough Hall and we are going to continue as a new bathroom is getting done in the Police Department as was in need of being done. We will be working on the bathrooms upstairs shortly. Under schools you may see on the agenda tonight we have a Shared Services Agreement with the School District for the purchase of a new salt spreader that is going to be used obviously for our roads, but also when we clear the schools property. That is all I have Mayor.

Mr. D’Angelo- At the Recreation Department this is the time of year when we start gearing up and our fields ready and in condition so that all the teams, baseball and softball so we will be out there getting ready for them in the next couple of weeks and we anticipated the fields to be in as good of shape as they always are and we are starting early because of the weather. The only other thing I have is on a side note I don’t mean to step on anybody from the Schools but I do not know if anybody from the Schools but I do not know if anyone the other day and a gentleman passed away, Robert Wyatt who was at one time the Superintendant of schools in Bellmawr he was there when I got on the School Board in 1986 and he sort of guided me and if anyone knows Bill Evans he guided us to show us the political way because back in 1986 we were rookies and had no idea how politics worked but he was a teacher, educator and became the Superintendant of Schools I think retired back in 1990 or 1991 he was a really good guy besides being a teacher, even after he stopped teaching he taught Bill and I he kept going even after he retired. Bob Wyatt was a good guy and really an adopted member of our community as he was in Bellmawr for a long time. That is all I have Mayor.

Councilman Sauter- Thank you Mayor, thanks to a relatively mild winter Public Works has had the ability that they did not have to spend there time cleaning up after storms we are developing our Concrete and Asphalt paving schedule which we have quite a few slated for this year. Also a lot of Residents have been inquiring since we have changed the street signage throughout town a lot of people are interested in getting the sign from the street they live on. They will become available we are going to have advertized for anyone who may be interested we are going to sell them for a minimal charge probably $1.00 for people who are interested. You can stop in the Borough Hall and let them know the street sign you prefer or call Public Works Department. You may have noticed on Browning Road that from Bell Road with P.S.E. & G. Co. and Nelson Tree Company a sub-contractor for P.S.E. & G. Co., it started yesterday that 13 trees will be coming down they have all been assessed they are lifting the concrete this is creating a dangerous situation for Residents and pedestrians walking so you will see that project going on and hopefully will not take to long and that is about it. Thank you.

Councilman Hagerty- Thanks, Mayor. Just on the Police side recently some of the Patrolman have been visiting the Schools besides doing a daily walk through they have also been spending some time at lunch periods and gym periods. It is a good little thing they are doing getting out and reaching out to the kids and let them know they are on their side. The other one you will see tonight on the Agenda we are going to pass on Ordinance when you get off of Route 42 onto Leaf Avenue it will be a one way street you cannot cross over and cut through Coolidge Avenue, you will now be forced to go to the traffic light on Creek Road by J&S Auto Body. Fire Department, all the members passed their psychical last month. Congratulations to all those guys they did a good job with the training. Calls for the fire department were 88, I do not have EMS totals from Chuck Hannum I will give next month. Tomorrow the Ladder Truck at 32 will be sold at 9:00AM to East Greenwich Township as we passed that Resolution last month which is good to make room for the new one that will be coming soon. They only other thing I have Mayor is that at the Planning Board meeting this month just to give the Residents a heads up at the end of Spring or middle of Spring, Saint Joachim Parish will be starting there parking lot project, they will be adding more spaces, taking down the rectory and doing different things, new exits and entrances and at the end of the summer is when the new bridge will go up on Browning Road by the Church parking lot. There will be a lot of congestion the bridge will be higher and wider and will take awhile to complete, a five year project but will keep one side open as a temporary bridge for traffic and pedestrians. Saint Joachim will be losing parking spots, just to give you a heads up I am sure this is going to be a nightmare and something we are not looking forward to.

Mr. Bider- Thanks Mayor. A couple of items under Finance we had an opportunity to meet, Josh, Maria and I with each of the Committees for setting up budgets, everyone is complete and at this point we are finalizing to make sure everyone is below the 2% CAP which it appears to be. At the March meeting a presentation to the audience to give you the initial budget but things actually look pretty good for the Borough and we are hoping that the County and Schools chime in the same so we can have a very good presentation for you. We are going to be doing in the Resolutions you see them tonight is approving some Capital Budget items so we can get started with the roads Ect While the weather is still good and to get it done now rather than later. As far as Veterans I just wanted to bring up today a little information the people don’t know we can thank our Marine’s that today in 1945 raised the famous two Jima flag so if you are not aware of that today is when it happened in 1945, that’s all I have.

Mayor Filipek- Good evening everyone, Pastor Kovlak I know you are here as usual and I would like to give you an update on the house, you know they found asbestos and the house is now owned by the State of New Jersey they have taken the house over and have not yet made a decision. I do not know if it is feasible to take all of the house because of the asbestos. I do know half of the roof is off but we are going to try to at least take a piece of the house and put it someplace at least the part with 1776 on it. Pastor Kovlak said you mean they are taking the house down. Mayor said no I am just giving you information that we are going to do something we do not know what they are going to do. Congressman Norcross called me and said he called the State and the State said they have not made a decision but it is their home and they are going to look into the financial part and the asbestos that it may be safe to move. Pastor Kovlak stated what house that old does not have asbestos in it. Mayor stated he understands his concerns and said he is fighting as hard as he can. I know they are working on the asbestos as they have a tarp over the house. Mayor said we are lucky we have Congressman Norcross fighting for us. Pastor Kovlak stated basically they have the will to save the house. Mayor Filipek said I do not know whatever they come up with we are trying to save as much as we can if we can, we are not giving up. The word we got back was that house belongs to them when they took over from the Diocese of Camden. Congressman Norcross said don’t give up fighting he and the Legislators are behind us to. Pastor Kovlak thanked the Mayor for his quick response when we began to find out they were removing the aluminum asbestos off there I gave you a call and you sprung into action immediately. The newspapers also knew and called me and spoke to the Congressman and sent a letter and he has been on top of this and is upset too because he did not like the answer the State gave him when he asked what are you going to do and they stated they did not know but they own the house. I know what the Congressman is going through, if it was not for the NJDOT our project would have been completed 10 years ago they do what they want to do and when they want to do it, this needs to stop. Pastor Kovlak asked if we received a report about the asbestos, Mayor said no and the Congressman received no report.

Public Portion-

Mr. Shane Mertz- 202 Spruce Avenue, I would just like to know where we are Mayor. Mayor stated where we are is that we got reports that she is in the right and you are on her property and we do not own anything it is an easement not owned by the Borough of Bellmawr it is a 10 foot easement and if you want we will sit down with all of you and see if we can work something out. We got a report from everyone involved and they said it is a 10 feet easement and not owned by the Borough of Bellmawr and some of yours is on her property. Mr. Mertz asked if you could get a copy of that only because I don’t know about that 10 feet is part mine and part hers. Mr. Mertz thought it was 5 feet and was originally 10 feet. Mayor asked Josh Tregear and he stated 5 feet on each side. Mr. Mertz said to Mr. Messick I contacted you yesterday and did you find out anymore information. Yesterday Mr. Mertz contacted her original lawyer and his secretary number stated they were no longer representing Mrs. DeCoursey. Mr. Messick said he called Mrs. DeCoursey’s daughter and she was not there, left message and she did not call back so I wrote her a letter and asked her to call me immediately and tell us who is representing her so we know who to contact. Mayor asked Mr. Mertz if he spoke to the daughter at all he said no that her previous lawyer said he was to contact no one only to contact the lawyer, first time he did not reply and I called yesterday and his secretary told me she thinks they are no longer requesting her anymore. Questioned was asked to Mr. Mertz did her lawyer send you a report. Mr. Mertz said yes his name was skip, the secretary said she would check and call him back he did not hear anything and called back to Mr. Messick to see if he heard from them or another lawyer I did not know where to go from there and do not know where it stands. Mayor Filipek said I will tell you right now we do not have any say as we do own the easement. If you want to we will sit down with both parties and try to work it out we do not have any say to tell her what we do or you what to do. Mr. Mertz said Mayor you thought you owned it, Mayor stated what we thought and now what we know, this is only to get my driveway through stated Mr. Mertz the deeds were almost done and I was told to go ahead and do it, Mayor and Council stated where did we say that we do not recall that. I called Mr. Messick and said my driveway is supposed to go in this week and Mr. Messick said your deeds are almost done I have the neighbor behind you don go ahead and do it. Mayor asked did you ever get your permits for it, yes I did when I rebuilt the house it was an old house, rebuild, replace driveway. I got a curb cut from it which was the whole distance, everything. Mayor stated Mr. Burleigh is this true. Mr. Messick said to Mr. Mertz did I not tell you that you could do that at your own risk, Mr. Mertz said he does not recall him saying that. Mayor said there was no permit pulled for the shed or the driveway. Mr. Mertz said no not the shed or driveway. The driveway was put there and I pulled permits to build my house. Mr. Burleigh said we had a discussion on the house and when you do that with that part of the permit you have to call for a pre-inspection. We did have a discussion especially about opening that and that the Highway Department had to come out before you do that as you need inspections. I was never told that I was told I had to supply a copy of my survey with where the curb cut was going to be and I did supply that and they said there is enough street do it wherever you want to do it. Councilman Sauter asked who said that and Mr. Mertz replied Jim Burleigh. Mr. Burleigh said I never told anyone that and you are going to sit here and say that. Mr. Burleigh stated that is not how we run a business here, you asked me if it was doable and I said yes and saved you steps as what has to be done and explained that to you.