At our August meeting the Township Committee continued our efforts to honor people that support out community or have done something special. This month we honored our youth by inviting two of our Little League teams to celebrate their performances this past season and hand each player a Certificate Of Achievement. In my remarks I thanked the coaches that supported the teams as well as all the coaches throughout all our youth sports programs for their volunteerism. I coached youth baseball and soccer for ten years, so I understand the time commitment – as well as the joy from doing it. We are thankful to all the parents who give their time to support our kids in the community via youth sports, scouts, PTA and other volunteer organizations
Also at our August meeting, we had a final reading and adoption of a new ordinance establishing the Transportation Advisory Committee, or simply “TAC”. The primary purpose of TAC is to explore, study, and make advisory recommendations to the Township Committee on ways to improve travel, circulation and transportation modes to include walking, biking, driving, and parking in Morris Township. I am very excited to put this Committee in place because I have a goal of getting more people out of their cars and onto their feet and bicycles.

The press release describing this new committee can be found here:

If you have an interest in joining the new “TAC” committee you should fill out the volunteer application form on our website:

I would like to thank our Recreation Department, two Pool managers and all the pool staff for a very successful summer swim-pool season. I hope the residents that joined our pools had a great time.

A reminder that Morris Township has begun publishing a monthly summary of all meetings and events in the Township – yet another reason everyone should sign up for the Municipal Messenger communications. You can find the September listing of events here:

Lastly, our town and several surrounding municipalities continue to have an issue with car break-ins with UNLOCKED vehicles. Our Police Chief urges everyone to be vigilant with locking both your car and your home at night. And as always “If you see something, say something” – call the Police.

Please forward this email to your neighbors and encourage them to sign up for our Municipal Messenger notifications by clicking here : Municipal Messenger . The Municipal Messenger is an invaluable tool to receive updates and information about Morris Township.

I encourage our residents to attend our next Township Committee meeting this Wed, Sept 18 at 7:00pm.

If you have a question or comment to share with me please send me an email to jgrayzel@morristwp.com

Sincerely,
Jeff Grayzel
Mayor, Morris Township

AUGUST 29, 2019 MORRIS TOWNSHIP MEETING RECAP
The Morris Township Committee convened for their eighth business meeting of the year at 5:00 PM for closed session and reconvened for public session at 7:00 PM. 

The full meeting agenda can be found here .

PRESENTATIONS                                                                                                                             
Morristown National Little League
ROCKAWAY TOURNAMENT (12s/11s) ALL-STARS, CHAMPIONS
MENDHAM TOURNAMENT (9s) ALL-STARS, CHAMPIONS                       
 
ORDINANCES –INTRODUCTION
The following Ordinances were tabled and will be scheduled for introduction on September 18, 2019 at 7:00 PM:
23-19:  AMENDING CHAPTER 95, ARTICLE II, SECTION 6, “ZONING MAP” TO DESIGNATE BLOCK 10103, LOT 3 FROM THE RH-20 ZONE TO THE OS/GU ZONE OF THE CODE OF THE TOWNSHIP OF MORRIS
  • MORRIS COUNTY JAIL PROPERTY

24-19:  AMENDING CHAPTER 95, ARTICLE IX, SECTION 54, SUBSECTION B AND CHAPTER 95, ARTICLE IX, SECTION 54, SUBSECTION E, PARAGRAPH (2) OF THE CODE OF THE TOWNSHIP OF MORRIS
  • OFF STREET PARKING REQUIREMENTS FOR PARKING SPACES

25-19:  AMENDING CHAPTER 57, PART 10, ARTICLE XXXV, SECTION 163, SUBSECTION D, PARAGRAPH (1) SUBSECTION (b) OF THE CODE OF THE TOWNSHIP OF MORRIS
  • AMENDING THE RIPARIAN BUFFER CONSERVATION ZONE TO BE COMPLIANT WITH NJDEP
              BUFFER REQUIREMENTS

 
ORDINANCES –PUBLIC HEARING & FINAL CONSIDERATION
The following Ordinance was adopted:
 
22-19 : CREATING A NEW ARTICLE WITHIN CHAPTER 9 OF THE MUNICIPAL CODE - BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES ARTICLE IX TRANSPORTATION AND CIRCULATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE
  • Adding a new Committee, Transportation and Circulation Advisory Committee

The full text of each of the ordinances for introduction can be found here .

RESOLUTIONS
The Morris Township Committee took action on seventeen(17) Resolutions, which can be found on the agenda (see link above) . Resolutions are formally approved by the Township Committee on matters usually relating to professional services, the awarding of contracts, and to minor personnel matters.

Resolutions of note from Aug 29th include:
  • Awarding Your Way Construction Inc. the Albert Ave, House Rd, Fanok Rd, Roadway Improvements Project.
  • Awarding MBT Contracting Inc. the Pressure Washing & Block Sealing Project for the Woodland & Butterworth STP.
  • Promoted Police Lt. James Perruso to Captain & Police Lt. Shearer to Captain
  • Appointed Rebecca Roth to serve as the Township’s Qualified Purchasing Agent
  • Appointed two(2) new probationary Officers, Kathryn Ridley & Ryan Macarico

CONSENT CALENDAR
On the Consent Calendar, the Township committee took several actions which can be found on the agenda (see link above). These include:

  • Approved a neighborhood block party for the residents of Dale Drive and Croyden Way that will be held on Saturday, September 14, 2019 from 3:00 P.M. to 11:00 P.M. with a rain date of Saturday, September 21, 2019
  • Granted consent to the residents of the Fairchild area to hold their first annual block “neighborhood” party on Saturday, October 5, 2019 (rain date, Sunday, October 6, 2019) from 12:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M.. This request includes the closing from the corner of Sherman Place between Holloway Place and Burnham Place. The request includes barricades on Sherman Place
  • Granted consent to the Olde Wheatsheaf Farms Homeowners Association to hold their annual block party on Saturday, September 21, 2019, with a rain date of Saturday, September 28, 2019 from 3:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M.. The Association has also requested the closing of Knollwood Drive between the intersection of Kahdena Road and Blackwatch Trail and use of Marge Goryeb Children’s Park
  • Granted consent to Olde Wheatsheaf Farms Homeowners Association to hold its annual Halloween Parade and Party on Saturday October 26, 2019 from 10:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. and use of Marge Goryeb Children’s Park
  • Approved Hillside Hose Company of the Morris Township Fire Department, for the 5th Annual Oktoberfest at Hayward Park, to be held on Saturday, October 5, 2019, 2:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M., with authorization to serve beer at the event (a NJ ABC “Special Events Liquor License” has been applied for). The focus of the event is to foster volunteerism and recruiting in a fun, fall atmosphere. Written notification will be sent to the surrounding area
  • Granted consent to hold the 2019 Normandy Park Olympics on Sunday, September 8, 2019 from 10:00 A.M. to 11:30 A.M.. This request includes shutting off Normandy Blvd. East.
  • The Seeing Eye, Mendham Road will be holding the sixth annual “The Seeing Eye Doggy Dash and 5K fundraising and awareness event on September 7, 2019 from 8:00 A.M. to 11 A.M. and is expecting 150 participants. The event would be a fundraising walk for humans and canines and a new 5k run to celebrate The Seeing Eye’s 90th anniversary. The 5K run request includes portions of Morris Township roads: James Street, Strawberry Lane, Applewood Lane, Cottonwood, Bell Drive and the approval to set up a course on these roads for 30 to 60 minutes
  • Granted the permanent appointment of Patrolman Darren Dungee who has successfully completed all aspects of his Field Training, as well as successfully completing his 1-year probationary period
  • Granted approval to the Football Club FCUSA NJ) Organization for the installation of temporary lighting at the Morristown Beard School softball field, Whippany Road. Temporary lighting will be used from 6:00 P.M.- 9:00 P.M. from September 2, 2019 through Sunday, December 22, 2019. The condition of approval is to notify the residents in the area who may be affected by the temporary lighting.


CLAIMS FOR PAYMENT
The Committee also voted to pay the bills for the month of July totaling $14,158,562.60. As “tax collector” for the Morris School District, County of Morris and Joint Morristown Morris Township Library, this figure includes a $5,996,048 transfer to the Morris School District, $3,338,878 transfer to the County of Morris, $456,176 transfer to the Morristown/Morris Township Library, $2,462,670 in municipal salaries/benefits, $227,567 in debt service, $2,133,41,677223 in operating expenses, and miscellaneous capital project expenses for the Township.  

 NEXT TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE MEETING DATE: Wednesday, Sept 18, 2019 at 7:00pm.

Kindly forward this email to your neighbors and encourage them to sign up for our Municipal Messenger notifications by clicking here .

If you would like more detail than this recap provides, you can now watch complete video of the Township Committee meetings here . 

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