I attended the regularly scheduled meeting of the Commissioners on Monday, July 11th. I also attended the pre-meeting, which is also open to the public 30 minutes prior to the scheduled meeting. At the start of the public meeting, a proclamation recognizing the birthday of a Township resident, Mary Leonardi, was read. On July 27th, she will celebrate her 105th birthday. Amazing! She can remember WW I.

In the portion of the agenda addressing special events approval, the Bowker Deli Beachside Social, scheduled for July 21st from 7pm to 10 pm in the south parking lot, was approved. We are also in the process of submitting the application for approval for our annual fall BBQ to be held in the Bond’s Park tennis court on Saturday, September 10th at 5 pm.

There was also a reminder from the Police Department (PD) that we were now in hurricane season and that each resident should make sure they know the location of their re-entry placards. Obviously it should be with you and not left in your Holgate home. New residents should have received their re-entry placard by mail shortly after the purchase of their home. If not, I suggest contacting the PD soon.

The PD also invited the public to attend two separate police sponsored events in Bayview Park at 68th Street on the Blvd.: Bike Safety and K-9 Demonstration on July 20th from 9AM to 10 AM and National Night Out from 5 PM to 9 PM on August 2nd. With all the anti police rhetoric and actions in recent years and apparently continuing to deteriorate, it might be an opportunity to show your support. A member had raised the subject of police presence in Holgate with the Mayor during our June 4th annual spring membership meeting and we have seen the PD patrolling our neighborhoods more since then. I thanked the Mayor for the PD’s increased presence during Monday’s pre-meeting.

The Mayor invited the public to attend the dedication of the new park at the Township complex tonight, Wednesday, July 13th, immediately following the Land Use Board meeting at 7:00 pm.

Commissioner Lattanzi reported that the audit of the Township’s financial books came back clean and thanked Chief Financial Officer, Lisa Jones, for an excellent job. He reported that bus ridership was over 20,000 users as of July 4th. He did point out that the Governor has suspended all grant monies from the Transportation Fund due to current inability for the State government to resolve the gas tax increase issue. The Township was expecting a $300,000 grant for the bus service this year. He was hopeful that the state leaders could resolve their difference so the Township taxpayers would not be responsible for the shortfall. They will be working on a future referendum on how to fund the bus operation.

Commissioner Bayard reported that due to a change in State regulations, the Township garage (at 79th Street and the Blvd.) will not longer be accepting e-waste. Residents will need to bring these materials to the Stafford Recycling Center. However, residents will still be able to call the Township for pickup of computers, monitors, laptops and televisions.

Mayor Mancini stated that beach replenishment in Holgate was completed and by contract, the contractor has 14 days to complete the walkovers after the pumping had stopped.

Angela Andersen gave a brief presentation on the recently completed Hideaway Bay Nature Area at 105th Street (Louisiana Avenue – new traffic signal just south of the ACME) and invited all to visit. She also stated that the nature area slated for the bay side of Osborn Avenue in Holgate will be completed in 2017. I requested that the HTA and interested Holgate residents be kept in the loop as plans were being developed. Angela was also looking for feedback from residents regarding the new recycling app.

Lastly, thanks to member Marc Slovak, the HTA web site (holgatetaxpayers.org) has been updated to include a new main menu item entitled “Dune Vegetation Project”. Since we are very concerned that we show how our members’ generous donations into the dune vegetation fund over the past several years are being used wisely, all the minutes and notes from the dune vegetation committee and other meetings will be posted for all to see. There are a couple of items posted there already. Please let us know if you have any comments. I have a meeting with Angela Andersen this afternoon as we continue to work up a plan for the fall planting.

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Dan Macone