Council Councilwoman Kate Triggiano, center top row, chaired the meeting for the first time since her January 1 election as council president. (Photo from Zoom. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s council debated several issues with less friction Wednesday night than often seen over the past two years.
A year of on-and-off construction disruptions along River Road in Fair Haven is expected to begin Tuesday.
The speed limit on the full length of Front Street/River Road through town would be reduced to 25 miles per hour under a Monmouth County proposal. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A ban on fireworks, a new executive director for the redevelopment agency, a reduced speed limit and more crowd a busy agenda when the Red Bank council holds its only regular session of July Wednesday night.
The agreement ends a lawsuit alleging the hospital illegally connected its Blaisdell Pavilion to the borough water system. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Under a “confidential” settlement approved by the borough council last week, Riverview Medical Center will pay Red Bank just $850,000 for water and sewer usage the town contended in a lawsuit was worth at least $5.3 million.
The hospital also will get 10 more years to pay off the obligation, some of which dates to 1984.
Mayor Pasquale Menna, upper left, and Councilman Ed Zipprich, center left, seen on Zoom during Wednesday’s council session Attorney Greg Cannon is in second row, third from left. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The final Red Bank council meeting of 2020 included a couple of apparent cases of loose lips.
In one, Mayor Pasquale Menna revealed more than the borough attorney thought he should about the settlement of a lawsuit over Riverview Medical Center’s water bill.
In another, Councilman Ed Zipprich questioned the qualifications of a newly hired official.
A lawsuit filed by the borough alleges an illegal water connection to the Blaisdell Pavilion, at right. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Riverview Medical Center owes Red Bank $5.3 million for at least half a billion gallons of water consumed over a 33-year period, the borough alleges in a lawsuit.
In its January, 2019 complaint, the town contends the hospital hid an illegal connection and meter when it built the Blaisdell Pavilion wing in 1984.
The East Front Street hospital denies the allegations, and the dispute appears headed to mediation.
Red Bank officials are looking into reports of brown tap water, but believe they know what’s causing it, Business Administrator Ziad Shehady said Wednesday.
After almost a year, a dusty and bumpy road rebuilding project in Red Bank is on track for completion this week, the borough’s consulting engineer said Wednesday.
What’s that’s strange object that cropped up recently in Red Bank’s Johnny Jazz Park?
redbankgreen’s What’s Going On Here? has the answer.
From left, council candidates Kate Triggiano, Hazim Yassin, Sue Viscomi, Michael Clancy and Allison Gregory at the West Side Community Group’s forum Tuesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A management study that found widespread “dysfunction” in Red Bank’s government provided fodder for contenders at the annual Candidates’ Night hosted by the West Side Community Group Tuesday night.
In the case of Pearl Lee, the first Republican to challenge Mayor Pasquale Menna since 2006, it provided the spark for her to run, she said. For Menna, it’s a document he accepts “ownership” of. And all five council candidates alluded to it.
Stanley Sickels at a planning board meeting in 2013. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s most powerful unelected official is slated to get an official sendoff at the semimonthly council meeting Wednesday night.
Also on the agenda: the town’s heaviest water users would be subject to higher minimum charges under a measure slated for introduction.
Kitch Organic on Leighton Avenue, above, is one of eight Red Bank restaurants participating in a monthlong effort to reduce the number of plastic drinking straws that don’t make it into the recycling stream.
Action has been delayed on water meters that would allow Red Bankers to avoid sewerage charges for watering lawns and washing cars, according to the borough administrator. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Where are the water meters that would let Red Bank homeowners irrigate their lawns without incurring sewer charges?
The secondary meters were a hot topic leading up to the borough council’s approval 18 months ago of $3.7 million in bonds to install new primary meters in every home and business, and to cover other upgrades to the municipal water utility.
Since then, though, there’s been little said about the meters — until last week, when the issue sputtered back to life.
The new structure would be built between a six-unit apartment building, at left, and Juanito’s Market, at right, with all three properties sharing parking in back. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank zoning board approved the creation of a new laundromat and four apartments on a vacant Shrewsbury Avenue lot Thursday night.
But before the project can get underway, grocer and restaurateur Juan Torres will have to reduce a possible tab for water and sewer hookups that could total $562,000.
Alberto Larotonda brought his ruptured water line, complete with a connector made of lead, to the council meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Extensive testing of Red Bank water has found no evidence of lead contamination, despite the presence of lead pipes serving some homes, a borough official said Wednesday night.
The remarks by public utilities Director Cliff Keen, made during the council’s first semimonthly meeting of 2017, came after a resident showed off a water service line with a lead connector that was recently excavated outside his Spring Street home.
“For more than 20 years, I’ve been drinking out of a lead straw,” Alberto Larotonda told the council.
An installer with National Metering Services installing a new wireless meter in a Red Bank home earlier this month. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Some quick updates on Red Bank water…
The stinky, dirty water that affected some customers earlier this month has been corrected, borough officials tell redbankgreen. But they’re being cautious about turning on the tap too quickly.
And with the townwide water-meter replacement project underway, users should be alert to a change in their billing.
Details on both below.
Red Bank reversed its seasonal water supply arrangement after complaints about taste and odor. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
After a burst of complaints about stinky, foul-tasting water, Red Bank officials reverted to the municipal water supply earlier this week, redbankgreen has learned.
Now, those officials are waiting for New Jersey American Water Company, which supplies the borough’s water for six months of the year, to clear up an algae problem at the Swimming River Reservoir before resuming the flow, they said.
Republican council candidates Kellie O’Bosky Colwell and Brian Hanlon listen as Councilwoman Cindy Burnham speaks at Candidate’s Night on October 18. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
“Tired of hearing politicians make vague promises at election time” only to ignore them afterward, the two Republican candidates for Red Bank council unveiled a “six-month action plan” Monday that calls for a freeze on department heads’ salaries and a study of the water utility.
In their plan, first-time candidates Brian Hanlon and Kellie O’Bosky Colwell pledge they won’t seek re-election if they “do not deliver on their promises.”
The Navesink Hose firehouse on Mechanic Street got its first-ever water meter Wednesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s townwide water-meter replacement project has begun, with homeowners about to get involved starting in mid-October, redbankgreen has learned.
The heavily debated program mandates that every address served by the municipal water utility get a new, remotely read meter, a process that began in recent days with the metering of borough hall, firehouses and other public structures that never had any. Read More
A block of Monmouth Street in Red Bank was closed in the eastbound direction Tuesday afternoon as workers sought the source of an unsurfaced water leak discovered when the street was opened for scheduled sewer repairs Monday night.
Public utilities Director Cliff Keen told redbankgreen that a contractor was “chasing the leak” to find its source and could not immediately estimate when the street would be fully reopened between Maple Avenue and Drummond Place. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Existing water meters are to be replaced with new technology that includes radio transmitters for remote reading, like one already in use on this new house on Oakland Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s townwide water-meter replacement project, an effort that prompted complaints about unnecessary spending, went from proposal to reality without so much as a peep Wednesday night.
At a semimonthly meeting, the borough council awarded a contract for the work, which calls for replacing some 3,800 residential meters, and hundreds more non-residential devices, with technology that will enable borough officials to get a read on usage without leaving their desks.
Council President Cindy Burnham, sitting in for the absent mayor for the first time, recused herself from the meter bond vote on advice from borough Attorney Jean Cipriani, right. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Amid criticism by taxpayers, the new Republican-led Red Bank council approved two bonds totaling $3.7 million to pay for a municipal well and water meters for every property in town Wednesday night.
Both bonds won unanimous approval, though Council President Cindy Burnham, who recused herself over what was described as a potential conflict of interest, said she would have voted no on the meter issue.
Two bonds totaling $3.7 million in debt for a new well and water meters are up for possible adoption vote. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two bond ordinances and a plan to buy new water meters for nearly all Red Bank properties dominate the agenda for Wednesday night’s council meeting.
Facing a deadline for action, the council is expected to hold an adotion vote on two bonds totaling $3.7 million to pay for upgrades they say will help the town avoid restrictions on water usage and new connections to the water system.
A wireless water meter installed on a newly constructed home on Oakland Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
With two clocks ticking down to the same deadline, Red Bank officials expect to introduce a pair of bond ordinances Wednesday night in hopes of avoiding restrictions on water usage and new connections to the water system.
One would authorize $1.9 million in new debt to replace nearly every water meter in town. The other would bond $1.83 million pay for a new water well to supply the borough-owned water utility.
Cliff Keen, above, is the new director of public utilities, and Charlie Hoffmann, below, runs parks and rec. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Recent months have brought some new faces to Red Bank government.
In particular, three departments that residents have regular interaction with, and occasional strong opinions about, are under new leadership: parks and recreation; planning and zoning; and public utilities.
Here’s a quick intro to the new directors.