4 Herald - Lantern - Dispatch 21 August '85

Health Appointments Tabled Rename 4 to Plan Board

By E. J. DUFFY VILLAS — • Mayor Robert Fothergill "did a great disservice" to Lower Township by nominating four incumbents to its planning board Monday night, community activist Mary Baxter told him then. "And I think by appointing them, you're our problem." she added "Thank you." was all the mayor replied At least six people besides the incumbents were in the running for three regular and one alternate seat on the board But councilmen voted to back Fothergill's selections for the appointments that have been pending since June 30 Councilman Joseph Lonergan was the lone dissehter With Deputy Mayor Joseph Davis absent. Lonergan voted against reappointing Realtor Carl DeMusz. board chairman; Frank Blasi of Erma; and Villas retiree Carl H Raschke as alternate. "...I STILL THINK we need new faces." explained Lonergan i just can't go with those who are on there now." He did. however, in the nomination of township construction official O.E. Fowler Lonergan voted with Fotljirgill. Councilmen Robert Conroy and David F Brand Jr to reappoint Fowler to the board. Although Township Manager James R Stump had notified council that Fowler's position on the board was "required by ordinance." Lower Solicitor Bruce Gorman told the officials Monday that he didn't - agree "You have to have a township employe" on (he board. Gorman advised. Those who had applied for the four planning posts were: Coast Guard aviator Edward J DeWitt of Cold Spring; Erma antique dealer Dennis C. Brandenburg; Erma welder Alex A Koch; Lower Patrolman Michael P Brogan of Villas; and North Cape May retiree Joseph Ryan. Also' to be considered from a previous application was Gerald R Carty of Erma. a township Public Works Department employe BY A 3-1 VOTE with Lonergan dissenting, council appointed Koch, an alternate, to businessman Thomas Waft's regular zoning board seat, and unanimously tapped Cold Spring retiree Robert Bello for Koch's spat Bello was not among recent applicants for the position His name was selected from previous applications Brand said. THose who did apply for the zoning posts were: Brogan. DeWitt and the incunt bents, according to Stump, although Wark's application was not submitted to council before the extended application deadline last Wednesday Others considered from earlier applications were John A. Merrill of North Cape May and Chester C. Landis of Erma Despite a recommendation by Stump i as

head of the township MUA), council indirectly dumped six-year veteran Andrew II Senlick from that five-member paid r authority since no one seconded Conroy 's , 5 motion to reappoint him. i- Instead, councilmen voted unanimously n to appoint Brand's nominee,. Cold Spring J well-driller Roger W. Smith. > e CONROY ALSO NOMINATED James Walker, a GOP committeeman from North I Cape May; Lonergan nominated retired i- police officer Sam Dutill'from a previous e application. Other MUA applicants were e Smith. Brogan and Board of Health chairk man Cass Clark. She and Arthur Glass applied for reape pointment to their paid seats on the sevenmember health board, according to e Stump, but no application from Glass was i submitted to council before last Wednest day Brogan was also seeking a health i board seat. 1 But. on Conroy's recommendation, coun- » cil voted 2-1, with Lonergan dissenting and Fothergill abstaining, to table the two appointments until next Monday. No new api plication deadline was mentioned, though. "This could go on forever." Lonergan

complained, alluding to the deadline, extended from July 8 to July 28 to Aug. 14 to Aug. 26. "We just keep extending." he griped. "It just doesn't make sense."

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News Digest < From Page 1 ) Deauville Inn prompted Upper Township officials last week to restrict music on the club's outside deck. Residents said the bar's Thursday night luaus were a nuisance. The restriction, which was lifted in May on a trial basis, was reimposed despite testimony from eight other people who said the Deauville does not cause a disturbance, and decibel readings which are lower than the 60-decibel limit for residential neighborhoods. Fire Totals Bus SWAINTON — Court House smoke eaters extinguished a fire in a NJ Transit bus Thursday afternoon that held up southbound Parkway traffic for 30 minutes and three miles because of the dense smoke Driver Anthony Mangeri said he lost the tread on 2 rear tires about a mile north of the Avalon exit but continued driving to the state police station there. Flames spread from the rear to the bus interior, however, and 15 passengers were evaculated. The bus was "totaled." according to Fire Lt. Paul Hand. 'Doesn't Make Sense' VILLAS — Earl "Joe" Klinger. president of the Lower Township Taxpayers' Association, told township councilmen Monday night "it doesn't make sense" to lease municipal land beneath the . Chamber of Commerce headquarters here to the county for 99 years at a dollar a year. Council was expected to consider that proposal, and county acquisition of the Bayshore Road headquarter£then. Township Manager James R Stump said the topic was postponed while county and township lawyers talk things over. Table's (iettinf; Full VILLAS — Lower Township Rescue Squad Chief Kevin Hart asked township councilmen Monday night for a $25,000 contribution to see the squad through 'til

i— SEWS COUPON— j | Here s a coupon you can clip and save. If, at some time, you know of someone or some- I | thing we should write a story about, let us know. | Include qny^details ue may need (name, addresses, telephone numbers, etc.) and a brief I | description. ! Ston idea: — i i ' j j Name and Telephone: | ail I It JOSEPH ZELNIK, EDITOR HER ELD AND LANTERN P.O. BOA AM CAPE MAV CT. HSL. NJ. (W2I0 TEIEPH0NE 1&S-50S5 ' I

the end of the year. He also asked them to collect about $8,000 in past-due bills for ambulance service. Council, however, tabled action on that request. It also failed to act as expected on proposals to reduce township MUA and health board salaries, and a Planning Board request that council order a developer to remove a wall from the Raleigh Avenue right-of-way. Diamondroeach. Villas 1 Lost Again ' CAPE MAY - U.S. Sen. Frank R. I Lautenberg <D-NJ) is expected at an 8:45 a.m. briefing tomorrow at the Coast I Guard base on Cape Island beach ero- < sion. Lower Township councilmen David I F. Brand Jr. and Robert Conroy said I Monday night that they'll attend. Conroy was annoyed because Villas apparently" t "lost again" in erosion preventing plann- f ing. The community, he noted, isn't listed f among eroded area scheduled for the c post-briefing inspection, despite its bayside erosion. 1 c t Sandman Hospitalized ( ERMA — Superior Court Judge Charles 2 W. Sandman Jr.. 63. was listed in critical but stable condition at Burdette Tomlin e Memorial Hospital. Court House, on Monday afternoon, according to a nursing a supervisor The former Congressman, state Senate majority leader and local c lawyer was admitted Sunday after an ap t parent stroke at his Erma Park home. v Lower Township. He has had an irregular p heartbeat for years. I See Below [ TOWN BANK - Lower Township MUA s members voted last week to install f sanitary sewers to 153 properties in Cape May Beach (the Tolz tract) here "It's fc going to take a while on that." MUA Ex- d ecutive Director James R Stump said a Thursday, noting the need for state per- b mits. Cost to property owners for the f $210,000 project remains at $1,400 each s over seven years, said Stump, the tl township manager. ti See Above c TOWN BANK — Now that sanitary sewers are planned for Cape May Beach. S its developer. Realtor Herman Tolz. has tl dropped opposition to the proposed dredg- tl ing of nearby Cox Hall Creek by the p Lower Township MUA. according to its $ executive director. James R. Stump a "I've got that scheduled for dredging the t> week after Labor Day." he said, while awaiting state permits. Thursday Stump c planned to dredge the creek in May to o reduce stagnation But Tolz. maintaining h the land to be used was his, blocked the o project because the MUA never installed o sewers in Cape May Beach (the Tolz tract). (j

Dispute Headed To Court? By E. J. DUFFY VILLAS — "I've just been informed that they're not going to pay," Lower Township Manager James R. Stump said Thursday I of the $39,000 sewer bill he handed county officials in May. "When you have a contract, and you i have a dispute on it. you first try I negotiating...," added Stump who heads | the township MUA that drafted the bill. | Seeing negotiations at an end. he said. "I assume we're going to IJ^ve to go the legal route." Asked why the county wouldn't pay the bill for sewer capacity allotted its Erma airport. Stump referred the question to county Counsel Harry A. Delventhal Jr. "The only thing I indicated to Mr. Stump was that we were not going to make voluntary payment of the amount they requested." said Delventhal. "Doesn't that mean you're not going to pay?" he was asked. He repeated his remark and stressed slightly the word "amount." "Well, basically, it comes down to the sum involved," this newspaper abserved. "THAT'S RIGHT." Delventhal answered. But that's not the only thing, he said. "Now, everybody knows the history of that MUA." he added. "And they're doing a lot of things to change that around. But we have some serious questions..." Delventhal went into them in a Thursday letter to Stump about the expired May 15. 1980 sewer agreement between the MUA and county, and Stump's May 30, 1985 bill for $38,999.60 Summarizing the latter, Delventhal said Stump argued "that the agreement provided for 50,000 gallons-a-day sewage capacity" for the airport in the MUA's Villas plant. "And the agreement did. in fact, do that," the lawyer added, noting that the five-year pact also allowed a 24-year grace period from payments for the capacity. • "I told him I had several problems with bill," Delventhal continued. "I felt his calculations were not in accordance with the contract." Stump based his bill on the 50,000 daily gallon capacity, but, Delventhal maintained. payment should actually be based on or at $15,598.44 He said he's sure the dispute can be settled out of court and urged Stump to "carefully review the agreement once again." Stump has said he discovered the county owed the MUA money while investigating the authority's billing procedures in the wake of a February probe by the county prosecutor. THE PROSEC UTOR estimated $6,700 in underbillings from five of the seven businesses users he investigated, $1,000 from the ex-MUA chairman's Erma campground. The sixth wasn't billed and the seventh didn't pay the MUA. according to John Corino's report to Stump He determined that MUA bills hadn't updated to reflect increases or decreases in customers' usage since the authority was founded in 1971 Stump, who MUA executive director in midlater sent $24,000 in revised 1985 sewer bills to 75 MUA users including township buildings The executive director has said he'll try collect from users who were underbilled in past years as well. He has also vowed to collect from the county on the airport capacity agreement When he first discovered that contract. said it didn't indicate what amount county should have been billed. He said he wasn't sure if the county should the same as a residential MUA user — $70.20 for each 225 daily gallons — on the gallon-a-day airport reserve capaciover 24 years Nevertheless, that's how he did bill the county, said Delventhal. But Paragraph 5 of the contract, "fixing capacity at 20,000," said, means the county should pay (if other calculations and assumptions are ac ceptabte) less than half of Stump's bill. "At least that's the way I interpret it," lawyer said.