Earlier this year, Manville was awarded $5 million dollars from New Jersey's Resilient Communities Grant program. We covered the grant in great detail previously, as it involves the former Rustic Mall as the property to be used for relocating Borough services.

At the Council meeting on November 12th, a Resolution was adopted where the Borough of Manville will spend $30,000 to create "30% Design Drawings for the proposed joint DPW/OEM Building; proposed South Main Street underpass stormwater basin, and public alert system siren improvements.."

The Borough of Manville does not own the Rustic Mall property at this time, yet will be spending $30,000 to create design drawings to begin estimating costs for the project, as well as for the environmental review process.

A resident inquired during the Public Portion asking if Manville owns the land. The answer was no, and that the Borough will negotiate with the landowner, or pursue condemnation on the property, to acquire it.

How come the Borough is moving forward with engineering designs on land it doesn't even own? More importantly, taxpayers will be paying the bill of $30,000.

It was clear in the Resolution that the grant funding awarded will not cover this expense. Shouldn't the Borough at least wait until the land is formally acquired before spending $30,000 of taxpayer money on design drawings?