The Borough Council Meeting on May 20th was mostly uneventful, except for the final adoption of this particular Ordinance, #2024-1317. (AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 31, ARTICLE 6 OF THE BOROUGH OF MANVILLE LAND USE CODE ENACTING AN AMENDED ZONING ORDINANCE AND ZONING MAP, IN ACCORD WITH THE ADOPTED RE-EXAMINATION OF THE BOROUGH MASTER PLAN).

This ordinance covers amending the zoning ordinance and zoning map, in accordance with the adopted re-examination of the Master Plan for Manville.

The biggest take-away from this is how they re-wrote the Municipal Zone. It opens the door for the "Municipal Campus" at Rustic Mall to proceed. It re-classifies the Rustic Mall 12-acre property as a Municipal Zone. While this sounds like it would be strictly for things Borough-related: municipal facilities, parks/open space, stormwater management, EC charging stations, etc., it paves the way for the Borough to utilize the Rustic Mall as part of the plans we covered HERE.

It also opens the door to affordable housing on municipal-owned land. This would coincide with the Revised RCP grant we covered in great detail, where housing units would be placed on the land, albeit a minority use of the land. The majority of the Rustic Mall property would be dedicated to Borough buildings and use, and not residential, per the plans.

Other than this ordinance passing final adoption, the meeting had other note-worthy commentary take place.

Before the council meeting officially began, there was a resident who walked up to the dais. It was difficult to hear his exact complaint, but it sounded like he was not happy with getting responses from the Borough. He seemed like he had some sort of concern with a neighboring property, and has been trying to get the Borough to take action for quite some time. He's been in discussion with several people at Borough Hall, but nothing ever came of it. He was not pleased with inaction.

When Council President Ron Skirkanish was providing his report on Public Works, he mentioned how they want to hire a full-time seasonal employee. It's amusing how others on Council are obsessed with only hiring part-time employees.

When Council President Skirkanish mentioned "full-time," Councilwoman and Chairwoman of the PPP Committee, Dayna Camacho, started shaking her head in disagreement and displeasure. Why are they so against full-time employees? Do they not want Manville to be able to hire well-qualified candidates? The best quality of employees come from full-time positions. Looking for part-time in the name of "saving money" creates shortfalls and a worse quality of service for residents. What are they doing with the money they are supposedly saving?

Another takeaway from the Public Works report was that Manville will opt to repair, rather than replace, the street sweeper. They cited that repairing is cheaper than replacing it. The question becomes how many more years can we get by without replacing it? Then, during Councilwoman Barbara Madak's report on Public Safety, there are also vehicles in need of repairs.

When Councilwoman Dayna Camacho gave her report for Policy, Planning and Personnel, she stated that the full-time DPW clerical position they hired at the last council meeting decided not to take the position. This was interesting -- did the terms of the job change? Why did the person suddenly not want the position any longer? It was then stated the job has been re-posted, and they are looking to begin interviews soon.

During the Mayor's comment period, he specifically stated that Manville was not being fined for having a late budget adoption, and lingered on the topic for a minute. Perhaps he has read our previous reporting on this concern. He even specifically told the Borough Clerk to notate it in the minutes regarding no fines, which was interesting.

The Mayor went on to explain he's "very proud to say we've been pushing the State to leave us alone.." they will terminate the "MOU", and the State will no longer have oversight over Manville. He added: "We could manage the Borough the way we see fit, without having to get approval from the DCA. I look forward to that day."

A final takeaway from Monday night's council meeting was a resident who talked at great length about flooding concerns in Manville. Particularly after viewing The Asbestos City documentary movie this past weekend, which was a hot topic in Manville.

The resident is extremely concerned with how flooding impacts Manville, and wants to find out how to do more to get involved. Flooding is, and has become, an ever-growing concern for Manville's residents. With each major storm, it seems the flooding gets worse, causing significant anxiety amongst residents.

Manville truly needs to pressure those higher-up in government to help the town. If Bound Brook was able to get assistance to build flood walls and other solutions, Manville deserves the same consideration. Manville shouldn't be told it's "not worth it". Perhaps they should look at how our town's assessments are significantly higher now, and reconsider.