Daily News & Events
Mayor David M. Scapicchio: Mayor's Desk
January 6, 2009
State of the Township Address
Mr. President, members of the Township Council, distinguished quests and residents of Mount Olive Township; it is an honor to present to you the 2009 State of the Township Address. It has been a pleasure working with Councilman Ray Perkins as President this past year and I look forward to working with our new President Councilman Russ Tepper.
Over the past year we have seen a continuation of the administration, township council, township employees, and all the volunteers working together to make Mount Olive a better place to live and work.
The Library Board of Trusties accepted the retirement of Director, Rita Hilbert; we hired a part time interim director while going through a search process to find a new full time director. I'm happy to report that the search process was successful and we have a new director.
The Finance Department which includes finance, tax assessment and collection successfully defended 727 tax appeals filed at the County Board of Taxation, losing only 13 after the successful implementation of a revaluation of property values within the Township. We implemented an online credit and debit card payment system for taxes, water and sewer rents. We have reduced debt by over $3 million which is a direct result of our aggressive policy of paying down debt. We ended the year with a 98.38% collection rate for 2008. We continue to maintain a financial environment that takes a conservative approach to both budgeting and revenue forecasting.
The Planning Department received an initial grant of $17,628 from the NJ Highlands Council. We are in the process of conducting a preliminary analysis of the preservation area for basic plan conformance and consistency between the Highlands Regional Master Plan and the Township Master Plan and Land Use Ordinance. We are also evaluating the potential for conformance in the Planning Area and have already provided the Highlands Council with factual corrections of the Highlands Public Community Water System Map and the Domestic Sewerage Facilities map.
We met with Eileen Swan, Executive Director of the New Jersey Highlands Council and Ben Spinelli, Executive Director of the Office of Smart Growth last February in an effort to advance the process of changing the Planning Area 5 to Planning Area 2 in Budd Lake.
Preliminary site plan approval was granted to Mount Olive Center Associates for an active adult housing development on property off Route 46. The development will consist of 218 age restricted townhouse units and 54 low and moderate income family units.
We continue to have great success with open space. We completed the acquisition of Blue Atlas which is 32 acres and has a building and garage on site is located on Flanders-Netcong Road. The building and garage are being used by Parks, Building and Grounds and is also home to the Mount Olive Historical Society. The purchase price of $1,925,000 was funded by Green Acres and Morris County Open Space with the township contributing $100,000 from our open space fund towards the purchase.
A donation of 40 acres of property adjoining Turkey Brook Park by Seymour Baum was also completed this year. This will allow for a trail connection from the park out to Flanders-Drakestown and Corey Roads, connecting to the Silver Spring Manor which was purchased from Mr. Baum in 2006.
Budd Lake has seen an increasing problem with invasive weeds. Working together with elected officials, township staff, residents and professionals proved to be very productive. As a result, Princeton Hydro was hired as a consultant to come up with a program to control the weeds. This past spring an herbicide was applied with great success. Princeton Hydro is preparing another application on the townships behalf for continued weed control in 2009.
We have finally. demolished and removed the two old dilapidated DPW buildings at the beach. Our immediate plan is to put up a privacy fence to separate the beach and parking area from the business's that boarder the site, making it more attractive and giving beach user's privacy which should increase its use.
The Seward House has been stabilized. After years of being open to the elements, last month saw the completion of a new roof. Now that the building is protected, we will begin the process of seeking grants to fund interior and exterior renovations.
A $77,000 grant from Community Development has paid for a new roof and windows for the Budd Lake Fire Department building. This replaces a 27 year old leaking roof and inefficient 40 year old windows.
The Recreation Department continues to serve the community. The 3rd annual Mount Olive Carnival and Community Weekend continue to attract thousands of people. This year approximately 20,000 attended the event over the five days, with the fireworks display on Saturday night attracting close to 10,000 people.
The summer camp program served over 947 children during the six week program. Interest in the use of the Municipal Beach continues to grow with 858 Beach IDs being issued, and a total of 10,278 visitors.
By partnering with local businesses, we've been able to produce a 4 color seasonal brochure that is in local stores. The business ads provide the funding, so there is no cost to the township for the brochures which are issued 4 times a year.
This year, the Communications Division of the Police Department undertook a project to update the radio system to include police compatibility for the Mount Olive High School. An in-band repeater system was installed which allows police officers to speak directly with headquarters from anywhere within the school building using their handheld portable radios. This upgrade enables our school resource officers to communicate directly with other first responders, including police, fire, and EMS. This upgrade was critical to providing for the best police services for our high school community and students.
In conjunction with that school safety initiative the police department also conducted several emergency drills at each of the district's school buildings. The drills train police officers and school staff to work cooperatively in lock-down and evacuation situations. Every police officer was trained at the schools in entry, containment, and rescue skills.
The police department continues to aggressively pursue criminal violators. and arrests were up again this year. In 2006, the department made 891 arrests, in 2007, 958 arrests and, 2008 1,100 arrests where made. Yet with the additional contact police had with citizens we again experienced a drop in Internal Affairs Demeanor Complaints.
Demand for Senior Transportation services has increased by 33% with the newly constructed Mount Olive Manor facility.
The Building Department issued 1,226 permits compared to 1,147 issued in 2007. We closed out 1,318 permits and issued 19 certificates of occupancy for new businesses.
The Municipal Court saw 12,638 cases and disposed of 12,661.
Department of Public Works received the CO for the new DPW building. The building is in full operation and where just waiting for final sign off from Morris County Soils. Surveying and planning has been completed for the interconnections of water systems which include, Morris Chase, Goldmine, Tinc, and Lynwood.
Planning has been completed for the demolition of two water system well houses and construction of a new single well house including upgrades to the Indian Springs water system.
We have combined the positions of the Engineering Aid and Zoning Officer for a salary savings while consolidating and reducing staffing levels.
On a final note, in the present economic climate this country, state and township are going through it is important to remember that we will need to work a little harder with each other and to focus on how we can keep Mount Olive an affordable place to live, and towards that end I, and everyone in my administration will continue to work cooperatively with the Township Council, employees, volunteers and all the professionals that represent Mount Olive Township.
Thank you, and Happy New Year!
If you have comments, questions, or concerns about anything in this article, or about any Township issue, please contact me at 973-691-0900 ext. 7200 or scapicchio@verizon.net to schedule a meeting during afternoons between about 3pm and 8pm at the Municipal Building or join me walking around the oval at Turkey Brook Park on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I understand that some emails sent to me have been going to a spam folder, so if I don't respond please call.
David M. Scapicchio, Mayor
Mount Olive Township, New Jersey
