Road Improvement and Public Safety Needs Delayed by Turf Field

July 15, 2021 - Despite a packed agenda for Tuesday’s Township Committee meeting, turf field once again was the center of attention as Committeemen Tom Critelli and DJ Luccarelli voted “NO” to a $2.8 million bond ordinance that would have included $1.6 million for much-needed road improvements, $600,000 for capital improvements for the Police Department and Emergency Services Building, $213,000 for public safety equipment including necessary equipment for the fire engine, and $160,750 for IT equipment.

A bond ordinance requires 66% or 4 members of the 5-member TC for approval. With only three “YES” votes, the ordinance failed to pass.

Why did Critelli and Luccarelli vote “NO” to the appropriations that were previously discussed at budget meetings and universally agreed as much needed? They both stated that they want to increase the bond ordinance to include money for a turf field.

Specifically, Critelli said that “kicking the can down the road” is something that the government does but he won’t allow the turf field to be kicked down the road because he only has five more months left in his term. In what can be considered perverse logic, Critelli also defended his action by pointing out the presence of former Mayor Eric Hinds in the audience and saying that there was no road paving in 2019 when Hinds was Mayor. In other words, we deferred the road improvement projects previously, so we could do this again, even though this has been a major need of the town and has been neglected for several years.

Luccarelli indicated that he didn’t want to run for the Township Committee to be a “politician” but this was the only way he sees for a turf field since the issue has been neglected for years.

Public reaction was immediate. During the public comment after the vote, residents spoke up to indicate that they were “disgusted” by the decision of Critelli and Luccarelli and despite their attempts to frame it differently, their decision is seen as holding the Township Committee and, more importantly, the residents of Holmdel, as hostage for a turf field.

Based on the best information known, after his term expired at the end of 2019, it appeared that former Mayor Eric Hinds has not attended any TC meetings in over 1 ½ years. However, it is interesting to note Hinds’ presence in the audience on Tuesday night, the night that Critelli and Luccarelli voted to not fund road improvement and public safety to leverage funding for an artificial turf field, since it was in 2016 and 2019 when Hinds was Mayor in both years that an artificial turf field was a major issue.

In 2016, the Township Committee passed a bond ordinance for $3.3 million for artificial turf fields at Cross Farm Park only to be rescinded after strong opposition by residents including a lawsuit that was filed and a petition requesting the project to be a referendum question to be decided by Holmdel residents. In 2017, a recreation survey was conducted town-wide at a cost of $51,000 to ascertain various recreation needs. The result of the survey was published in 2018 and the results indicated a greater desire for more “passive’ recreation needs. Artificial turf field ranked below the top ten recreation needs in that survey.

After the survey, the Holmdel Youth Activities Association (“HYAA”) came up with a very detailed list of recommended recreation improvements (that did not include an artificial turf field) and this became the basis for a $2.5 million bond ordinance in February of 2019. Within about a week after the bond ordinance was passed, then-Mayor Hinds directed then Township Administrator Donna Vieiro to pursue an artificial turf field project at the Holmdel Swim Club as a top priority and attempted to get approval for it by including the project in the “Consent Agenda” (intended for matters considered to be ordinary and routine and are normally voted on as a group without discussions) for an April 2019 meeting.

That TC meeting did not take place due to a lack of a quorum and the project was later removed from the agenda. Other members of the Township Committee indicated that they were not aware of the artificial turf project and did not authorize it, and the $58,000 work already done by the Township Engineer T&M was an unauthorized expense. Hinds was later censured by the Township Committee for his action after an investigation by a special counsel.

With this well-known and well-publicized history, it is interesting that Luccarelli indicated that the turf field has been neglected for years and voted “No” alongside Critelli. Until this year, Critelli has been the Township Committee liaison with the Recreation Committee. In 2020, no meeting was convened for the Rec Committee at all. It seems ironic that if there was neglect, it was because of Critelli, who is now holding up funding for road improvements and other public safety needs for a turf field.

Due to public comments and discussions at earlier TC meetings, Deputy Mayor Cathy Weber, the current liaison, has sought to have this issue addressed and reviewed by the Rec Committee. At the Tuesday night meeting, Weber reported that the Rec Committee had a 3-hour long meeting on Monday and issued a statement acknowledging the additional need for access to fields given time and weather constraints. The Rec Committee stated that “it is not necessarily the number of fields, but rather when and how the fields can be used responsibly.” The Rec Committee recommended the TC to work with the Board of Education, which has several sports fields or sites that could be used for this purpose, as well as, possibly, pursuing a more equitable land swap with the County for the parcel of land across from Holmdel High school with the goal of installing a turf field there.

Quick Notes

Holmdel High School student Megha Ganne was recognized on Tuesday night for her showing at the US Women’s Golf Open in San Francisco. Not only was Ganne the Silver Medalist winner as the low amateur scorer, but she placed 14th in the field that included most of the top women professional golfers.

An ordinance banning the retail sale and cultivation of cannabis was unanimously passed.

Three public question ordinances were introduced: a. increasing the tax rate for open space, b. increasing benefits for volunteer first responders pursuant to the Length of Service Award Program, and c. the establishment of a Charter Study Commission to look at, among other things, the current form of local government and whether the mayor should be directly elected by voters. There will be a hearing at the next meeting on August 10th for these three ordinances.

If the TC passes these three ordinances, then the questions will appear on the November general election ballot for Holmdel voters to decide. A fourth public question to withdraw from the Monmouth County Library System was tabled to allow further discussion with the County that may be more responsive to Holmdel’s needs including better/more hours for the Holmdel Library.

A resolution to increase the sharing of the cost for security officers in the school district that will increase over time to 50% sharing between the BOE and the Township was approved. However, the BOE has indicated that it will reject the cost-sharing agreement. Instead, the BOE wants the Township to share in 100% of the costs of the security officers due to PILOT receipts by the Township. The BOE has its own tax levy and a budget that is more than twice the municipal budget. Currently, 68% of Holmdel property taxes go to the school district. If no agreement is reached, Mayor Buontempo has indicated that the presence of security officers at Holmdel schools for the coming school year could be jeopardized since there is a lead time needed to secure and train the security officers.

Stay tuned! It looks like things are just heating up.