CLINTON TWP. – Progress on continuing projects, school issues, and a few general “housekeeping” actions were the focus of the Township Council meeting Wednesday, May 10.
Most of the time in the fairly brief meeting was spent hearing about issues being dealt with by the local and regional high school districts, reported by Councilman Dan McTiernan and Councilwoman Amy Switlyk, each of whom serves as a liaison to the respective school districts.
McTiernan reported the resignation of Kathy Miller, a member of the Clinton Township Board of Education, was accepted at the May 8 meeting of the board. He did not know the reason for her resignation, but noted she was just elected last year.
The board is now seeking applicants to fill the vacancy.
McTiernan said an interesting question raised during the same meeting had to do with steadily increasing legal costs, rising over a four year span from only $40,000 in 2012 to $121,000 in the 2015-2016 school year.
“The attorney said it is due to increased grievances being filed,” said McTiernan. “He said Clinton Township has more than any other school districts he works with.”
McTiernan said the board plans to present the results of a new study on whether or not to close one of the elementary schools due to declining enrollments, likely Spruce Run Elementary, at the next meeting on Monday, May 22. The study offers four options. A study had been presented a few years ago, but no action had been taken at the time.
One option is to repurpose a school building by establishing an early education program for an age 3-21 autism program, while a second option is to lease a building to another entity for vocational education use.
The third option is to sell a building. Realtors have indicated Spruce Run School could be sold for $2.5 million, or possibly as high as $4 million.
“One caveat is if a building is vacant for a period of time, the state Department of Education can charge the district a fee of some kind,” said McTiernan.
The fourth option is to defer closing a school for a few more years.
“The board has a lot of work ahead of them,” said McTiernan. “I think they are serious, and expect to have a decision by September.”
McTiernan said closing a school would not result in a loss of teaching jobs, but would save up to $500,000 annually in other costs for administration and custodial services.
“I’ve been talking to a lot of people in the past few weeks, and the subject comes up frequently,” said Mayor John Higgins.
On the regional high school level, Switlyk reported the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District Board of Education has not been getting much of a response to their idea of regionalizing the area’s K-8 school districts.
“They are becoming more aggressive about it,” said Switlyk.
In other business, an ordinance was adopted following public hearing to amend the redevelopment plan for the Fox Seals building in Annandale. The project includes demolition of the non-historic portion of the building, renovation of the historic portion, and construction of a 12-unit apartment building at the rear of the property.
A new ordinance was introduced that Township Attorney Kristine Hadinger described as a “housekeeping” action designed to correct the legal description in a deed filed in 1996 by which owners of property at 22 Pleasant View Road had conveyed a small portion of land to the township for roadway and municipal purposes.
A public hearing for the ordinance will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 14.