Millstone boasts money saved on some 2006 projects
BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer

MILLSTONE - The township's roads were on the agenda and a matter of public concern at the Sept. 19 Township Committee meeting.

Resident Ramon Recalde called access to the new middle school on Baird Road "an accident waiting to happen." He said the roads there are "too tight" and asked the governing body to take a look at the situation.

Township Engineer Matt Shafai said the county must improve the two culverts on Baird Road before the township can do any road improvements there.

Recalde also said that traffic traveling onto Millstone Road from Schoolhouse Road in the area of the elementary and primary schools has been dangerous because drivers have not been observing the speed limits.

Mayor Nancy Grbelja said Township Committee members have monthly meetings with the New Jersey State Police. According to Grbelja, the township's former state police liaison said Millstone could set up radar and speed traps within its borders.

"There are several roads in the township we have identified that are horrendous when it comes to speeding," she said. "Millstone Road, Clarksburg Road. We get a lot of complaints that people don't follow the speed limits."

A resolution passed by the governing body that night wrapped up the township's 2006 road program, according to Deputy Mayor Robert Kinsey.

The resolution stated that portions of specific general capital fund appropriation balances, in connection with certain capital bond ordinances, remain and are no longer necessary for their authorized purposes. The total amount of the canceled unexpended balances amounted to $439,088.

The balances include $190,000 from ordinance 06-13, adopted on April 5, 2006, for the 2006 road program.

"Due to re-engineering and other costsaving measures instituted during the administration of the 2006 road program, the township realized savings of approximately $190,000, or roughly 13 percent of the original projected costs," Kinsey said. "This allowed the Township Committee to reduce its original capital bond ordinance 06-13 by that amount to permanently eliminate the need for that indebtedness and pass that savings along to the residents."

The balances also include $200,000 from ordinance 6-14, also adopted on April 5, 2006, for the 2006 acquisition of property and road reconfiguration.

Kinsey explained that when the township goes out to bid for such projects, it needs the maximum amount of money the project is expected to cost. He said the $200,000 from ordinance 6-14 was allotted for the Backbone Hill/Schoolhouse Road realignment project. The township will be reimbursed for that amount through an interlocal agreement with the Millstone Township Board of Education, he said.

The balances also included $49,088 from ordinance 06-30, adopted Sept 6, 2006, for open space acquisition of Block 13, Lot 3; Block 14, Lot 4.01 and Lot 4.03; Block 13, Lot 4; and Block 14, Lot 3 and Lot 4.02.

The committee has passed a bond ordinance for its $1 million 2007 road program, and $900,000 of the work has already gone out to bid.