I guess the mayor was looking for another full time job at the publics expense. Let's see what is he qualified to do at the splash park.....Hmmmmmm

Who wants a splash park when our water is known to be in very bad shape?

The contract had not been signed when they voted to rescind ,so therefore it was not a legally binding contract. As far as the company losing money, that is part of doing business, there are certain expenses that go along with the biding process. When you put in your bid, there was no guarantee you would win (or was there?)

If the contractor files a lawsuit (which they will lose) the people to blame are the clowns who were voted out. They DID NOT have to vote on the contracts and could have left it be for a week and let the new counci handle it. But instead, they decided to set the new council up. So mature of them and Steve.

The original vote awarding the bid was passed on 12/30/11 (a Friday) and the vote was rescinded on the very next business day 1//3/2012 (a Tuesday) after the extended New Year weekend. What monies could possibly be invested in a project by this company - Stoneridge Aquatic Construction (a swimming pool construction company - web: http://www.stoneridgeinc.com) in so little time? Randolph Seitter may be a master plumber in NJ, but he is trying to pull a fast one here. If that company "invested" any monies with former councilpersons, that should not be reimbursed, but rather investigated. If they drew up a sketch of the "project" give them a few bucks towards the drawing and let's be done with this issue in this economy.

1) when the Republican council voted initially on the contract Toth voted...how....before making a motion to resind the project ?
2) did the township attorney advise the council on their Jan 30th vote of the position they could place the town in, before the new council took office?
3) why would the old council on their last day in office again put the township in this situation, knowing the position of the incoming council members?

the very reason they were voted out of office, they continued right to the very end.

"Grocery store fodder," " No support for splash park in the community," The community that Bullet Toth speaks about is non other that the blogers here on Patch. He is allowing the negative blogs control his voting status. This is a project that he voted for months ago but now since the administration has changed, he wants on for the ride. In my opinion, Toth is being controlled by his step mom who employes him as an agent in her real estate business who also, by the way ,is the broker for the old Foodtown property. Toth is wrapped up in self serving politics just to promote himself and nobody else. Did the business have a friend on the council? I wonder? Dan Toth knew exactly what he was doing by convenient abstentions and voting at the right time. Is there any wonder that the Bullet wanted to keep the Cadillac Health Plan for himself and not give it back? We musr RESCIND Bullet Dan, now.

The park could possibly create some jobs for the area, unless they get filled with the foreign exchange students like the boardwalks do.

Everyone seems to forget that all this voting on Dec 30 th took place on a Tuesday 10:00 am with no one around. The township lawyer wasn't present. Her asisstant was. This is shady business. Brick is in debt. It's all did to the Mayor and his past Council. Now the new council coming in. They are gonna play clean up... We do not need to spend money that we don't have right now in this economy. But the good ole mayor thinks its a great thing. That's because he has 2 jobs. Some families don't even have employment right now. This is ludicrous!!!

Construction of the restrooms is required before the park can open to the public? Can someone please clarify what that means? The first time I heard anything about public restrooms being installed depended on the spray park was last week in a posting from Scott Pezarras.

I hope Toth doesnt look at the handful of frequent negative posters to Brick Patch and think that is reflective of a lack of community support. This has been a foucs of discussions in my community and the overwhelming majority were outraged to hear the new council rescinded the splash park. The park could be a great, unique focal point to the project. We are talking about a water splash play area for toddlers, not a water slide park. It is a fee based attraction that would also help fill the marina slips (boaters have families too) both of which are income generators for the town. Should have skipped the sod and put in the splash park. I hope the council reconsiders their decision.

Really. Do you know the money that us involved. Our taxes just went up 24%. The mayor wants a waterpark with your money. It's not gonna generate income. The income might have paid maybe for the high maintenance up keep. We don't have the money in Brick. Never should have bought the property to begin with. We are a township fighting to stay alive with all thus debt the previous council gave us and the Mayor. We are not realtors. This is crazy. How people spend other peoples money!!!! Our taxes. Schools should be the most important!!! Not a waterpark!!!!!!!! So sad!!!

I hear ya George....That's the truth...

@Mickey...............why then do you continue to read my blogs. Does the truth bother you so much? At my advanced age of 81 I have learned truth from fiction therefore I pass this good and honest info on to people like you, I have told you about the faults of one council member and my opinion of him, now it is up to you to abstain or vote him responsible for his actions. Remember what the FBI person said. Finally.............To abstain means a no decision and a decision means a decision not to make a decision, therefore Bullet Dan is useless as a council represetative, a person who can govern your pocket book. Nice day, Mickey.

Being low bidder on a job never guarantees a contract. Unless there was at least a letter of intent, the contractor was foolish to assume it was a done deal. Not the townships problem. Unless there is more to this than we know, I would be interested in how the town attorney felt the township was open to litagation.

Sorry, typo, "litigation"

oi

Wasn't it a sealed bid? If so how would this contractor know so matter
of factly that his bid was "considerably lower " than all the other bids? Something stinks here. Within 5 days if awarding a bid, during a holiday weekend this contractor spent money in this job. Someone needs to investigate this whole matter. Too many questions right now

This whole project is a joke....and who really cares about this, unless you owe a boat. There are more important things to worry about then this project. Nothing moves fast in this town......the water park think sounds so crazy, and a waste of dollars....And they talk bond money like its free....We have Foodtown property sitting? We have a shopping center township owed with empty stores....Hopefully the new set of clowns will be better.....lol

Gary. They are new to Council. How about we give them the benefit of the doubt. Before you go and refer them to clowns. We are suffering from the last eight years of the mayor and previous councils free spending if our money!! Now its let's play catch up and blame it on the new people. No way!!! I think we finally got some honest hardworking people in Council. Finally!!!!! So unless you get to the meetings and volunteer. You shouldn't call people clowns. So glad that this is funny to you...

"We did incur costs and had expected to be awarded the project which would have allowed us to recover some of those initial costs," Seitter said in his letter.

It would be great if we knew what these "costs" were. It could be the cost of time and paper, postage to place the bid. The typical cost of doing business.

If construction materials were purchased... Why would they do that without a signed contract? -- Unless the company has materials left over from another job and they are trying to recoup the expense from Brick.

The last council meeting of 2011 was held at 10:00am on Friday 12/30/2011. This meeting was posted for all to see at the beginning of the year, just as the last meeting is posted every year. All those interested can now plan to go to the last meeting of the year on the last business day of the year at 10:00 am so that the employees of the township do not have to work extra hours prior to a holiday. This meeting is generally a work session to clean up any accounts and finish the business of the year.
The contracts where bid on Dec. 13th and the purchasing department opened the sealed bids in front of all the contractors in public as required by law. The purchasing department reviews the contract proposals as well as the engineering department prior to going in front of the council. A review sheet is set up and given to the council prior to voting, showing item prices, total amounts and whether the bids are properly filled out with paper work. This takes some time and the council generally gets the paper work several days prior to a council meeting so they can review.
The project of building this park has been worked on for many years and the last council wanted to complete as much as possible prior to leaving. The project has been downsized and put into phases so that the public can comment and see want has been accomplished as it is built. Also grants funding each phase have been received or been applied for as new phase is developed.

Original Cost of 8 million dollars, to date 6.5 million dollars has been received in grants and funding from other sources to pay for purchase. To date 6 million has been spent for design, bulk heading and fill for site and 5 million has been received for this work in grants. This new phase is 3.5 million dollars for the park area, grading, parking maintenance building and making this a park similar to Windward Beach Park; except with no playground or bathrooms. The second contract for $650,000 would have brought water and sewer in for bathrooms and a pump room to feed the spray park, as well as installation of playground and spray park. Installation only; the pieces of equipment for the playground and spray park would have been bought at a later time under state contract pricing from the manufacturer.
An item not bought out loudly enough to date is a new grant that fits perfectly with the second contract that has been rescinded. There is a new grant for playgrounds that gives $400,000 for every $200,000 spent.
Every grant that has been applied for to date has been received and used to lower the costs for the taxpayers of Brick township

Foodtown has been sold. The contract purchaser is in front of the NJ DOT to receive a new traffic pattern entrance to the site. After they receive approval they will take plans to the Local and County planning board to receive approval for specific building plans. As with most developers across the state no money will change hands until all approvals have been granted. The developer has already spent considerable money designing its plans and removing the building, which was a serious hazard for years.
I hope this answers some of the questions brought out to date, I am willing to clear up any misunderstandings if they are, asked in a reasonable fashion.

Mike how much has this property cost us in expense oviceer and above the purchase price to buy it?

To George, this contracts bond issue was done in 2010, if there were any comments they could have been stated all year, even when the resolution for approval of bidding this phase was was done in September. Pleanty of time for public comment.

Mike answer the question don't duck around it.

If your question is with Foodtown, the Township bought it for 6 million during the Scarpelli years with 6 Dems on the Council. We have lost many years of tax revune of over $300,000 per year. The past council worked to get back on the tax rolls, while giving what the public asked for, basiclly a hotel and banquet facilty. Sorry it took so long but public comment was very important to the redeveoplement plan.

The company had no legal right to move ahead without authorization. They don't have a leg to stand on.

George I heard they came up with a really cool idea for foodtown, since ballys is relocating.

I have told the truth, and will continue to tell the truth. Perhaps you should ask the Mayor about the community center. Better yet perhaps you should ask the council members who bought the Foodtown site, why they bought it. When I asked back in 2001 they said it was to stop the Home Depot. We already had property behind Shoprite for a community center.

Many of the bloggers are saying 'Flip flop Dan thats our man'. These people are in for a rude awaking. He doesn't shoot strait. His bullets fly in all directions. Take cover!

To Lori, I believe any park does need a bathroom. On a temporay basis though I believe porta johns could be used while we are waiting for some sort of permanent answer. If the council were to look again at the contract and the new grants, perhaps we could get the bathrooms, and regular playground done, leaving out the pump room and the spray park for another time. the contract can be reduced 20% without any problems.

George - Dan wants us to believe he is voting independently. Again, that is because he is flip-flopping to save his skin. I gave you your answer, so please, no more questions directly to me.

I'm not a lawyer and I can't change the past. But, I sure hope the new council did their homework between 12/30/11 and 1/3/12. All of them! If their rush to make a name for themselves and their intention to divide this township further, causes this town any legal fees whatsoever because they rescinded this contract, then they should all resign immediately. I know legally they probably can't be held accountable, but if there are any legal fees at all to settle any claim I think all of the blind faith backers such as "ME, "George" and "Maureen Mitchell" will be happy to foot the bill for the Brick Taxpayers. In politics, blind faith sooner or later has a cost.

This council has to learn they may not have all of the answers after hours on the job. Being a rookie is no excuse if you act in haste and make a bigger mess. You guys are now accountable!

No tax free George, the township gets all the pilot revenue, and does not have to share with any other taxing entities. You are getting all the benefit for waiting so long to the developement the public asked for.

Mike will that money go directly to lower taxes Mike?

While I was on the Council the money recieved for the property behind the Shoprite was used over several years to keep taxes down. I am not on the council now, so until I am I can not guarantee that this will happen. I will diffnitely tell to future councils that this was done in the past, and should be done in the future

I still hope the Foodtown property agreement falls through and it is developed as a park. Having a large paved surface adding more pollution the Metedeconk River is not needed in Brick. According to an article in today’s the Asbury Park Press our river is sick. Check out what they have to say about Windward Beach. The only Mistake is that Bob P. mentioned in the article does not live in Breton Woods as stated. He lives in Eagle Point a mile or so down river from Breton Woods.

http://www.app.com/article/20120116/NJNEWS/301190001/Barnegat-Bay-declines-further-scientists-believe

Mike Thulen, then Councilman Acropolis was all for buying Foodtown. I have the newspaper articles to prove it but he didn't show up on the night for the vote. How convenient. I don't care how many times the mayor said he was against it, there were no newspaper articles to say he was against it. If Patch wants a copy, I'll be happy to supply them.

Mike Thulen, what account are you talking about? The $6.7 million will appear in time for Acropolis's reelection and he will use that and the $2.5 million for the solar panel project to reduce taxes so he will look good for reelection.
Where on the balance sheet is this account? There is none.

Joe - From my recollection it was Mayor Scarpelli's who was instrumental in purchasing the Foodtown property to prevent the Home Depot from being build there. Mayor Scarpelli envisioned building a Sport Complex which did have the support of the public.

Correction - Building a Sport Complex which 'DID NOT' have the support of the public.

Mike, there is no account on the balance sheet. Period.
As far as the $2.5 million what a surprise! So instead of the project costing us $21 million, it will cost us $23.5 million. The $2.5 million should have reduced the debt. This is just a political ploy to reduce the taxes at our own expense.

Joe there you go spinning again, the $2.5 million is not added as debt, the redeveloper knew about this when all the developers bid on the project. There is no additional cost to the taxpayers, unless the new council decides not to go forward with the project. If the council does not sign on they will need $2.5 million to balance the budget without a tax increase from somewhere else.

Joe - Here is more information on the purchase of the Foodtown site.
+Brick Township Bulletin, Oct 1, 2009 Brick purchased the site for $6.1 million in 2003, during the administration of former Democratic Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli, to stop the construction of a proposed Home Depot store on the site.
+Brick Township Bulletin, Oct. 8, 2003 - Township announces $6.1 million deal reached in principle, bonds an extra $250,000 for purchase. Administration announces contracts signed Sept. 30, 2003.

George - I agree, purchasing the Foodtown property was a knee jerk reaction and a poor decision made by the Scarpelli administration.

Don't we now wish that Home Depot had been built on the Foodtown site! Just think of all the taxes revenue that had been lost over the years. The Home Depot at it present location has not caused a traffic problem, traffic congestion or pollution. The site has been well maintained by Home Depot.

Hello Mike Thulen, I know its hard to teach these protestors anything, especially JOe Lamb the ousted Democrat who dreams up all the numbers. I find you to be correct but it will never fly because Lamb and the others need bare feet to count, add and subtract. Maybe Bullet Dan can help you out, however he seems too occupied with abstaining.

ShoreSureySure - Anyway you want to cut it...the fact is that It was Mayor Scarpelli who 'purchased the property' and 'signed the contract'. I was also not in favor of buying the Foodtown site as you can summize from my early post. I then found out that Mayor Scarpelli had his own motive(s) for purchasing the Foodtown site which your evidently are not aware of. So keep on searching and you will come up with the answer. Mayor Scarpelli is the one who got us into the mess at the Foodtown site.

It time to leave the past in the past. Stop dwelling on the past. Are you really going to sit here and rehash 2003 press clipping? Lets focus on the future.

Roll forward a year or so and John Ducey announces his intent to run for mayor of Brick Township as many of you blind faith backers have suggested. His first advertisement will paraphase the Jim Mora Coors Light commercial --Playoffs, playoffs are you kidding me playoffs don't talk to me about playoffs

Benefits, benefits are you kidding me, benefits I don't need no stinking benefits! Paid for by the Democratic Committee to elect John Ducey

Neither do we need nor can we afford a splash park. We have beaches and playgrounds/parks. Roll back part of our taxes instead!

The contractor should read his contract closely because if ordered material and equipment prior to the execution of the contract, prior to shop drawing/catalog cut approvals and etc., etc. I hope he enjoys it for lunch because he looses and eats it. He better cancel orders now.

In addition, the cost associated with the operation and maintenance will not be offset by the income, I do not care what "Scotty Boy" says or his side kick Deluca. Nobody talks about traffic nightmare this will create when it is open. Plus the benefit to the taxpayers of brick will be minimal because of its location. The lakewood faction will luv it if it is free.

OK Concerned, I take your word, probably the academy.

From a previous post from Mike Thulen: "...the contract can be reduced 20% without any problems."

Then why not when you were on the council did you not reduce it by 20%? It there would be no problems then why did you not do it, instead the previous council decided to stick it to the taxpayers and make them spend more money then what could have been cut out without any problems.

Good thing we didnt buy the ice rink

Mike T. all these grumblers have an attorney named Joe Lamb, Esq.

Dan, the redeveloper won't be making the payments directly for the debt, the town will. But this doesn't address my point. The point is if the Standard pays Brick $2.5 million, that is built into the stream of revenue to Brick which lessens what would otherwise be paid to Brick. Standard is not paying Brick without taking this into consideration.
Brick incurs $23.5 million in debt. If anything the $2.5 million should be used against the principle so Brick only incurs $21 million in debt.
Don't get me wrong, I'm against this agreement because I don't want Brick to incur any debt. Let the developer take it on. I don't want the Township taking on someone else's risk.

Dominick, Mayor Scarpelli may have wanted to buy Foodtown but Councilman Acropolis was for it as well. I have the original articles, not copies from the newspapers.

Mike, there is no such account. There is none on the balance sheet. Stop telling people something that is not true. These past payments went into surplus and the Acropolis Team wiped out the surplus.

Mike, the budget for 2012 isn't made up yet. Why would you say the $2.5 million is already in the budget? That may be the plan and that will be wiped out as well but we'll have $2.5 million more in debt than we need.

The Foodtown property is really a joke.....from the time the township got involved to stop homedpot til now.....Homedepot received $1,000,000. to back out, and was promised the old costco property....no problem there, and then this M&M corp. another joke....did the new costco parking lot with bad soil remember that, and then he buys the trailer park....what was his plan there.....and now the same person is buying the foodtown property with no real plan.....I hear all these figures and the bottom line is the township lost money......

M&M who is this.....? its like Krista-Shay.....remember all those building, poping up all over town......There is alot of crooks in Bricktown....lol....And the jobs they receive....motor vehicle jobs, dca jobs, housing authority....ITS UNBELIVABLE...LOL