Council Briefs: Town Requesting Grant for Public Service

What follows is an account of actions taken on March 18 by the Bridgewater Township Council, which, while not breaking news, are still of note.

Council requesting Community Development Block Grant

The township council approved a resolution to request funding through the 2013 Somerset County Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program.

If approved, the grant would help fund projects through the Somerset Home for Temporarily Displaced Children; Court Appointed Special Advocates of Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren Counties; HomeSharing, Inc.; Adult Day Center of Somerset County; The People Care Center; and RideWise.

According to the resolution, the township has prepared one public service application already for “Youth Development Program” and two public improvement applications for “Leghorn Avenue Road Improvement” and “Southside Avenue Road and Drainage Improvement, Section II.”

All of these are eligible for funding from the program.

“It is a requirement for applicants to the county grant program that they provide a list of what they are applying for,” said township administrator James Naples. “It’s a courtesy, and it doesn’t require anything but to say they provided the information.”

Contract for Eastbrook Road Drainage Improvement Project increases

The council approved a resolution to authorize the increase of a contract with Van Cleef Engineering Associates for the Eastbrook Road Drainage Improvement project.

The costs have increased from $32,958 to $39,358.

According to the resolution, the amount of work required to satisfy requests from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection was more than normally expected. The additional work was not planned for in the original contract.

“This is an ongoing drainage problem that we have been working on since 2005,” said township administrator James Naples.

Township engineer Robert Bogart said this was the last phase of the project, which is now pretty much done.

“The extra work was beyond any control Van Cleef could have had,” he said.