An update on plans for Marine Park is on the agenda. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The agenda for the Red Bank council session Thursday night includes a presentation on the status of planned changes at the Marine Park.
It also includes minutes of the most recent session, which for the first time, are available for public review prior to formal acceptance.
The meeting with be the last for interim administrator and police Chief Darren McConnell, seen here at the borough’s centennial celebration in 2008. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Some highlights from the agenda:
• A presentation on Marine Park by a representative of the borough’s engineering consultant, CME Associates. The agenda offers no further detail, but a 2019 plan to reconfigure the park has been mired in red tape over parking facilities on the former site of red-clay tennis courts.
• Awarding a $165,000 contract for improvements to Riverside Gardens Park.
• The agenda also includes a reference to a “graffiti ordinance,” though no corresponding documentation was included in the online agenda.
• “Activation” of a Cannabis Review Board that would comprise the borough administrator, police chief, planning director. head of code enforcement and one council member.
A resolution on the matter designates Councilmember Laura Jannone as the governing body’s representative to the board, which will be advisory to the council regarding pot businesses hoping to operate in town.
• A presentation by Michael Collins, who served as attorney to the 2022 Charter Study Commission, on changes that will need to be made to ordinances now that the borough is operating under a new form of government.
• Final adoption of an ordinance no one has objected to: restoring municipal elections to November, following a one-time shift to May that was necessitated by state law under the recent change in form of government.
The borough is not scheduled to elect any officials before November, 2024.
• Minutes of the July 13 meeting. Their pre-adoption inclusion in the materials available to the public follows a request by McLaren Street resident Alan Hill, who noted at that meeting that, among other errors, “his name and address has been recorded incorrectly before,” the draft says. And, as if on cue, the draft misspells his first name as Allen.
• A new policy up for adoption calls for all boards and commissions to follow Roberts Rules of Order too “encourage transparency on all aspects and functions of the local government and insure the rights of the public to be present at all meetings.”
• The meeting is expected to be the last one attended by Darren McConnell, in his dual capacities as police chief and interim business administrator. As reported by redbankgreen, McConnell is retiring, effective July 31.
Here’s the complete agenda. The council meets at borough hall, 90 Monmouth Street, at 6:30 p.m. Remote participation is also available via Zoom.
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