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.
The borough’s Master Plan consultant has created a website for public input. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Love it? Want to change it?
Red Bank residents and visitors can now weigh in on the borough’s Master Plan update-in-progress.
Debbie Nagel, who then served as the borough’s backup animal control officer, with a raccoon pup rescued from a tree on Brown Place last May. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Just six months in, Red Bank is rethinking its deal for animal control services with the Monmouth County SPCA.
The agreement generated a firestorm last spring, in part because it ended an in-house service provided by a borough employee who many residents praised for his dedication to the task.
Fair Haven’s borough hall and library share the same building on River Road. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
UPDATE: On Tuesday, Little Silver announced it was closing all borough buildings to public access starting Wednesday and until further notice. Details can be found here.
By JOHN T. WARD
Amid a steep rise in positive COVID-19 tests, Fair Haven has put its government and public library at arms-length for the second time in the pandemic.
His position eliminated, Red Bank Animal Control Officer Henry Perez has been reassigned to a new job, says McConnell. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Effective Thursday, calls for animal control services from Red Bank and Fair Haven are being handled by the Monmouth County SPCA, acting Red Bank business administrator Darren McConnell tells redbankgreen.
The fair will return in August, said Councilman Mike McCue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The summer-ending food-and-fun extravaganza known as the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair will return in August, borough Councilman Mike McCue said Monday night.
That sparkler of news, another sign of the waning COVID-19 pandemic, came amid council action on the budget, cannabis, waterfront property and more.
A Google Maps satellite view of the public works yard and adjoining property to the east, roughly outlined in red. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank should move quickly to bond for an overhauled public works facility, according to a recommendation adopted by the Redevelopment Agency Tuesday evening.
Estimated cost, including the acquisition of property adjacent to the Chestnut Street site: $9.3 million.
Closed since early in the pandemic, Fair Haven’s borough hall and library will reopen June 7, administrator says. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A new council member, a call for budget cuts, a planned reopening of borough hall and a pandemic ponytail were among the topics at what might have been the last Fair Haven council meeting of the pandemic Monday night.
Architect Margaret DeSantis describing the design of the proposed new police station, at right, and storage facility at left. (Concept by the Goldstein Partnership. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Fair Haven moved to the fine-tuning stage on two major redevelopment projects Monday night, offering residents yet another chance to influence the looks of a new police station and a new public works yard.
Both, located in residential areas, continued to draw praise for fitting in.
A view from the northwest of the proposed DPW garage and offices. Recycling compactors would be concealed by a fence. (Concept by the Goldstein Partnership. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Fair Haven planning board members and residents heaped truckloads of “love” Tuesday night on a revised plan to overhaul the town’s public works yard. More →
Red Bank snowplows stuggled to clear Cedar Street, above, after last week’s two-day snowstorm. The story was a bit different on Madison Avenue, below.
As reported by redbankgreen, police issued a near-record number of $38 tickets during the storm for violations of a borough ordinance requiring that all vehicles be removed from all streets during snow emergencies.
Still, the move-your-car message seems to be getting through, and compliance levels were also high, public works director Cliff Keen told the borough council Wednesday.
“I think residents are starting to understand that if the cars are off the road it makes our job a lot easier,” he said. That includes not driving and “competing with our snowplows,” he said.
With another storm expected to drop 4-to-8 inches more snow Sunday, residents who don’t have access to driveways may park vehicles in two municipal lots. Details here. (Video above courtesy of Suzanne Viscomi; below by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
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Councilwoman Susan Sorensen working a booth at the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair in 2013. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A divided council cleared financing to advance plans for new police and public works facilities in Fair Haven Monday night.
At its final session of 2020, the council also extended the employment of Theresa Casagrande as borough administrator and bid goodbye to Councilwoman Susan Sorensen.
A plan for bike lanes would advance with a parking ban on the north side of River Road between Lake Avenue and Hance Road. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Parking, borough facilities and more will keep Fair Haven’s elected officials busy on their Zoom session Tuesday night.
Also on the agenda: a plan to terminate an “interlocal services” agreement under which Fair Haven disposes of Rumson’s collected yard brush.
The former Sunoco station on River Road, as seen from Cedar Avenue this week. The site is being used to store materials for an unrelated New Jersey American Water project. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
An ambitious plan to consolidate Fair Haven’s police station and borough hall into a new municipal complex appears to have run into a complication.
The former gas station the town has targeted for the proposed municipal complex has a new owner, who apparently wants to build two dozen townhomes on it.
Fair Haven’s new borough hall could look like this, its architect said. The view is from the firehouse on the opposite side of River Road. (Rendering by Eli Goldstein. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Fair Haven officials rolled out a set of concept drawings Thursday night for a pair of new borough buildings at the heart of an ambitious consolidation plan.
They also unveiled a timetable for the proposal, which calls for a domino chain of real estate acquisition, construction and the sale of property to help fund it all.
Officials are negotiating a deal to buy the former Sunoco station site at 626 River Road, marked with the star above. (Image by Google. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Fair Haven residents are slated to get their first look Thursday night at a plan for a possible new borough hall and police station.
Here’s what to expect.
Part of the plan calls for a new park-maintenance shed at Fair Haven Fields, just south of the Methodist church. (Image by Google. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Fair Haven residents peppered the borough council Tuesday night with questions about an ambitious plan to build a new town hall, consolidate operations and sell real estate.
The questions appeared to reflect a sense that residents were caught off guard by the scope of the project, which was first reported by redbankgreen Monday.
Fair Haven officials hope to acquire the former Sunoco station for redevelopment as part of long-range consolidation of municipal operations. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A vacant gas station site in Fair Haven could become the home to a new borough hall and police station under a plan up for consideration Tuesday night.
Councilwoman Linda Schwabenbauer, seen here last May with GOP colleagues Mark Taylor and Mike Whelan, found herself at odds with them, and Mayor Pasquale Menna, Wednesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank adopted its 2017 budget Wednesday night amid some odd political frictions.
Councilwoman Linda Schwabenbauer, who leads the budget-setting finance committee, took clear umbrage at a last-minute critique of the spending plan by Mayor Pasquale Menna. Then, the only ‘no’ votes when it came up for adoption were cast by her two fellow Republicans on the dais.
And before the night was over, Schwabenbauer’s main adversary in this year’s election, Democrat Ed Zipprich, issued a press release commending her.
Councilwoman Linda Schwabenbauer, a CPA who heads the finance committee. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Typical Red Bank homeowners would see a $x increase in the borough portion of their 2017 property tax bills under a budget introduced at Wednesday night’s council meeting.
For the owner of a home assessed at the town-average $362,342, that means an increase of $57.25 for the year.
The council may authorize the creation of a concept plan to turn the former landfill at West Sunset Avenue into a park.  (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council has a packed agenda for its semimonthly meeting Wednesday night, including possible progress toward a long-dreamed-of new park on the West Side and some bad news for landlords who neglect vacant properties.
A recent deal allowing the Count Basie Theatre to sell parking spots at borough hall on specified dates paved the way to a new budget.  (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The owner of a typical Red Bank home will pay $35 more in local property taxes this year, rather than $40, following passage of the first Republican-led budget in a generation Wednesday night.
The borough council’s unanimous approval of the 2016 spending plan marked the anticlimax to a brief standoff that began when Democrats raised eleventh-hour objections to  what they later called “‘fluff and ‘slush funds” in the GOP budget.
Council members Kathy Horgan, left, and Linda Schwabenbauer, seen at last year’s Halloween parade, are now at odds over the budget. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two weeks after it was shot down on the mayor’s tiebreaking vote, Red Bank’s first Republican-led budget in a generation faces its next test on Wednesday.
That’s when council members will square off over cuts suggested by Democrats to what they called “‘fluff’ and ‘slush funds.'”
Mayor Pasquale Menna confers with Councilwoman Linda Schwabenbauer during the council’s budget deliberation Wednesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s first Republican-led budget in a generation failed to win approval when Mayor Pasquale Menna cast a tiebreaking vote at Wednesday night’s semimonthly council meeting.
His vote against the spending plan followed a 3-3 deadlock that included a “no” by a member of the budget-crafting finance committee, Democrat Kathy Horgan, whose caught committee chairwoman Linda Schwabenbauer, a Republican, by surprise.
A half-dozen or so residents, outnumbered by borough employees and officials, attended the budget session. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
[Update, May 20: Visuals from this presentation are now available online here.]
By JOHN T. WARD
A controversial increase in parking fees will trim the local property tax increase to less than half that previously anticipated, Red Bank officials said Wednesday.
At the annual informal budget presentation, held at borough hall, Councilwoman Linda Schwabenbauer said the spending plan scheduled for adoption next week calls for a two-percent tax increase, or about $35 for the year for the owner of a home assessed at the town-average $354,006. More →