Captain Darren McConnell is expected to be named chief of the Red Bank police department at Wednesday night’s borough council meeting, redbankgreen has learned. McConnell has been the officer in charge of the department since the September 23 death of Chief Steve McCarthy. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A thief or thieves cut a valuable piece of equipment from two cars in one night last month, Red Bank police Chief Darren McConnell said Tuesday.
Stolen sometime during the night of October 19 were catalytic converters, which contain precious metals that reduce harmful exhaust emissions, McConnell told redbankgreen.
From left, with their new ranks: Lt. Daniel Bannon; Sgt. Robert Gannon; Capt. Thomas McDonough; Lt. Eliot Ramos; Capt. Darren McConnell; Sgt. Robert Kennedy; Lt. Richard Mangold and Sgt. Errico Vescio. (Click to enlarge)
Following through on a recent department restructuring that Red Bank officials say will save $10,000 this year, the borough council last night promoted eight officers, including two to captain.
Lieutenants Darren McConnell and Tom McDonough were elevated to captains. With the recent elimination of the vacant deputy chief slot, the department now has four officers at the captain’s level just below that of the chief.
Sergeants Daniel Bannon, Richard Mangold and Eliot Ramos were boosted to lieutenants.
Robert Gannon, Robert Kennedy and Errico Vescio rose from patrolmen to sergeants.
An accident involving a drunk driver resulted in a brief power outage to homes in the area of East Front Street and Spring Street early Sunday morning, Red Bank police reported today.
According to Lt. Darren McConnell, a pickup truck heading westbound on River Road/East Front Street failed to negotiate the curve just past Hubbard Park at 3:02a. The truck left the roadway and hit a guardrail and a utility pole, he said.
It’s official: westbound vehicles on Harding Road are now barred from making left turns onto Tower Hill Avenue.
Here’s a press release issued Tuesday by Red Bank Police Lt. Darren McConnell of the traffic safety bureau:
Traffic Pattern Change
Motorists will no longer be permitted to make left turns from Harding Road onto Tower Hill Avenue or from Tower Hill Avenue onto Harding Road.
Red Bank officials this week began to address one of the foremost complaints about the downtown Broadwalk zone: the presence of “ugly” orange safety barrels used to supplement steel bollards installed last year.
Vehicle parking would be allowed only on the east side of Spring Street for several blocks if the proposed change passes. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A plan to flip parking from one side of Spring Street to the other returns when the Red Bank council holds its semimonthly meeting Wednesday night.
Also on the agenda: a new four-way traffic stop, an expansion of a lead-pipe replacement program, and the installation of a $4-per-transaction automated teller machine in borough hall.
[SEE UPDATE BELOW]
A worker at Red Bank Marina was extricated from a boat after becoming stuck in its engine well Monday afternoon.
A member of the State Police bomb squad emerging from a Red Bank storm sewer with a possible hand grenade Tuesday afternoon.
New public utilities director Terrence Walton addressing the audience at borough hall Wednesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s council appointed a new department head, authorized another season of in-street dining downtown, took action on the long-closed town dump and gave a thumbs-up to a plan for gardens on Broad Street Wednesday night.
Here are some highlights of the busy meeting, which ran for more than three hours:
Tom Hintelmann addresses attendees at the event in his late father’s honor. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See note below
By JOHN T. WARD
The lobby at Red Bank’s long-closed Senior Center now has a name, in honor of the late Thomas E. Hintelmann, the borough’s longest-serving council member.
Several dozen attendees crowded into the foyer of the Shrewsbury Avenue facility Tuesday evening to memorialize Hintelmann, who served on the borough council from 1975 through 2004.
Repair work continued at the Shrewsbury Avenue facility last month. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials have scheduled a dedication ceremony this week at the borough’s long-closed Senior Center.
But not, it turns out, to reopen the facility, which still isn’t quite ready for prime time, according to the interim borough Administrator Darren McConnell.
A long-vacant gas station at the foot of Cooper’s Bridge was left out of the new law by mistake, proponents said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council advanced a rewrite of the borough pot law Wednesday night, undeterred by cannabis business owners warning of lawsuits.
The proposed changes, which include a ban on marijuana retailing within 1,000 feet of schools, “please no one,” but must be adopted, their lead sponsor told a sharply divided audience at a special legislative session.
The proposal would have shifted parking on Spring Street from the west side (at left above) to the east. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
A plan to flip permitted parking from one side of Spring Street to the other was tabled by the Red Bank council Wednesday night.
The governing body also heard from West Side residents concerned about parking and pedestrian issues.
The council is eyeing requirements for electric vehicle charging in new multifamily projects and parking lots. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
On the Red Bank mayor and council’s agenda for Wednesday night: rules requiring electric vehicle chargers at new developments, and a change in the parking law for a stretch of Spring Street.
Not on the agenda: the burning issue of how to rewrite the town’s cannabis law.
The Basie acquired this onetime residence in the professional office zone. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Less than two years after completing a $25 million expansion, the Count Basie Center for the Arts has added to its Red Bank real estate holdings.
But the nonprofit theater has no plans to seek an exemption from property taxes on the newly acquired site, a spokesman told redbankgreen.
Area NAACP president William Poku addressing Councilmembers John Jackson, Michael Ballard and Ed Zippich during the special session. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Controversy over an ordinance restricting short-term residential rentals such as Airbnbs in Red Bank continued at a special hearing Friday morning on whether to override Mayor Billy Portman‘s veto of the law.
The tennis courts in Red Bank’s Eastside Park will be remade into a hybrid of tennis and pickleball surfaces under plans that advanced last week.Â
Branch Avenue resident Alberto Larotonda with a lead pipe he brought to a council meeting in 2015. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See Correction below
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council may authorize spending up to $2.4 million to replace water service lines made of lead when it meets Wednesday night.
Also on the heavy agenda: possible adoption of a controversial law restricting short-term residential rentals; a study of water rates; a change in the zoning law governing cannabis sales; and authorizing early, in-person voting for an historic May election.
White pails for the program were distributed in 2021. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Yes, Red Bank will collect plastic film for recycling Wednesday, despite the recent end of a one-year pilot program, a borough official told redbankgreen.
Cliff Keen on Broad Street last June. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
At its first working session of 2023, the Red Bank council fired public utilities director Cliff Keen Wednesday night.
Unmentioned at the meeting: he was replaced on an interim basis, at a cost of $16,500 per month, by Gary Watson Sr., whom Keen succeeded in 2016.
Red Bank residents begin their fifth year without access to the borough’s Senior Center this month.
What’s up with the repairs to the long-closed facility?
A water main break was slowing traffic at a primary entry point to Red Bank Tuesday morning.
SEE UPDATE BELOW
The owner of the house at 70-72 Wallace Street defended short-term rentals. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials postponed a brewing battle over short-term home rentals such as Airbnbs last week.
Still, a number of residents made impassioned arguments pro and con at the borough council’s final meeting of 2022 Wednesday night, previewing what’s likely to come in 2023.
Joey Fields at a ceremony marking his promotion to police sergeant in 2014. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A retired Red Bank police officer who’s a product of borough schools will be returning to work as a school resource officer, following action by the council last week.
In other RBPD news, the ranks of retired officers is slated to grow by two.