Mayor’s 2006 Year End Report

The governing body was successful, once again, in meeting most of the goals it set forth for the year 2006. Among those goals was the effort to continue our capital street improvement plan. The year began with the completion of the Carlton Avenue and Sunrise Terrace/Pickle Avenue reclamation projects, which included sidewalks and curbing. Several other road projects were completed during 2006; they included East Church Street, Youmans Avenue West, School Street, and Cornish Street. Some of these included drainage, curbing and sidewalks. In a cooperative effort with the Washington Borough Board of Education, the municipal parking lot at Borough Hall was extended to include a section across the street from the Taylor Street School. And finally, the Borough Department of Public Works recently completed the Harding Avenue drainage project.

Council is committed to completing more street improvements during 2007, including Grand Avenue and Belvidere Avenue. Inclusion of additional streets will be announced early in the year, and will be based on available funding.. The Belvidere Avenue project has already been designed and a bid has been awarded. As soon as the weather breaks, that work will begin. We appreciate your patience while we undergo this arduous task of identifying and attending to the many streets and sidewalks that remain in disrepair. Additionally, we apologize for the inconveniences that residents have to deal with during the construction phases.

We remain committed to downtown revitalization and the Redevelopment Committee continues to move that process along. The Committee made recommendations to the Planning Board that identified the boundary areas to be included in the redevelopment plan. In October and December, the Planning Board held public hearings and welcomed comments from the public on the boundaries identified. The Planning Board has accepted the recommendations of the Redevelopment Committee and the process is well underway. We will follow the state statutes that rule the redevelopment process and anticipate much progress towards the implementation of that plan during 2007. It is critical that the Planning Board and governing body establish clearly defined design standards for redevelopment that represents our vision.

Two major projects were granted final approvals for redevelopment in 2006, and are currently in the planning and/or construction phase. The Regency at Washington is a 98 unit age-restricted townhouse development on the easterly portion of Route 57. The Midtown Limited at Washington includes two buildings, with 48 residential condominium units and several retail and commercial units. This ten million dollar project, which had its ceremonial groundbreaking this past week, is located in the heart of our downtown business district and will become the focal point of redevelopment.

Washington suffered a great loss in the downtown business district, when the Antique Center (formerly the Washington Hardware Store Building) was destroyed by a devastating fire. Our firefighters performed a remarkable feat in protecting the rest of the adjacent buildings from being destroyed and we were fortunate that no fireman were seriously injured. Much appreciation goes out to the surrounding communities that sent their firefighters and EMTs to assist us.

After several attempts, bids were finally awarded for our streetscape project downtown and that work will begin in early spring. The downtown parking lot expansion is the last leg of the streetscape project and will coincide with the completion of Midtown Limited.

Our Business Improvement Director, Jim Sheldon, continues to work with the BID board in sponsoring and promoting quality activities downtown. The Farmer’s Market, Car Show, First Fridays, Festival in the Borough, and Christmas events continue to remind people that Washington is a destination. Ribbon cuttings were held for several new or relocated downtown businesses and we anticipate much growth once the Midtown project is finished this summer. 

Although the site work and preparation have been completed for the new Municipal Garage, the bids came in too high and the project was subsequently re-designed and is going out to bid again.  We hope to award a contract early this year and work will begin soon thereafter.

Members of the Borough and Township governing bodies met to consider options on shared services and it is our hope to continue positive relations with our neighbors. The boro also opted into participating in the Warren-Morris Council of Governments. This is the first Council of Governments established in the State of New Jersey and is composed of eight municipalities from Warren and Morris Counties. We have joined together to explore the sharing of services and cooperation in other areas.  This initiative is being supported by a $10,000 grant from the Department of Community Affairs.

Garbage collection and bulky waste collection dates were changed during 2006. Regular garbage collection was changed so that all residents have pick up on Fridays. The frequency of bulky waste pick up was limited to quarterly, rather than monthly, and on Tuesdays, rather than Saturdays.

Some of the offices at Borough Hall were re-organized, in an attempt to provide a more efficient means of meeting the needs of the community. The fire officials and code enforcement office has been relocated to the second floor and the administrative clerk has been re-located to another office on the first floor. The information office remains in the same location and gives the staff more room to manage the needs of those requesting services.

As a result of ongoing problems with volunteer EMTs being available to answer squad calls during the daytime hours, the Washington Emergency Squad went to a paid service during the week. The squad formed a separate corporation and hired a number of part-time EMTs to be on duty from 6am-6pm, Monday through Friday. The squad began billing patients’ insurance companies along with this service to cover the costs. The squad maintains its volunteer organization and continues to provide services in the evenings, during the night, and on weekends. Residents have a renewed sense of security, knowing there is a crew standing by for emergencies during the day.

In the area of recreation, new ball field lights were installed at Boro Park and a handicapped driveway and pad leading up to the new park pavilion were created. Improvements were made to the Vara Soccer Field at Washington Meadows, which included re-grading. Sod will be installed in early spring, with the hopes that the field will be playable by late summer. The Recreation Commission remains committed to the development of the Railroad Avenue Park and continues to seek funding for that project. The pool renovations are still pending and it is our hope that this project will take place during 2007.

Council adopted a Sex Offender Residency Prohibition Ordinance, which created pedophile free zones in the borough. This ordinance was adopted to protect the health, safety and welfare of the children of our municipality. Upon recommendations from the judge and police department, council introduced a curfew ordinance. During the public hearing, there was much public comment on this ordinance and council opted to divide the ordinances into two, for revision and reconsideration; a daytime curfew and a nighttime curfew. Most residents supported the nighttime curfew, but had concerns about the daytime curfew. Input from local residents will be included in the re-drafting of the ordinances prior to re-introduction early in 2007.

After 38 years of service, Linda Hendershot retired from her position of Borough Clerk. Linda was a well respected professional, whose service to the community has not gone unnoticed. She was honored at a retirement party during the summer, amongst her colleagues, past mayors, past/present council persons, family and friends. She will be missed but never forgotten.

The Borough Council hired Kristine Blanchard as the new Borough Clerk and she has assimilated well into her role. We wish her all the best as she continues to grow in her position. Councilman Alex Buoye decided not to run for re-election and council member Susan Wagner-Glaser lost her seat in the November election. This resulted in two new councilpersons being elected to serve on the governing body and we welcome Victor Cioni and David Higgins aboard in the year 2007.

Council has a set of goals that will take us into the year 2007 and will endeavor to work hard on behalf of the entire community. We appreciate the support that you continue to give us and believe we will realize tremendous economic growth through our redevelopment efforts.

As always, the Mayor and Council wish to recognize the tireless efforts of our volunteer firefighters, emergency squad members, recreation commissioners, shade tree commissioners, planning board & board of adjustment members, library board members, and members of various other municipal committees. It is also important to recognize our dedicated police department, road department and the staff at Borough Hall for all they have done in serving the needs of the community during the past year.

The community of Washington maintains a focus on Family, Friendship, Faith and Service. All the members of council have been called to serve. It is my hope that we continue to do that with a healthy balance of humility, pride, grace, truth, determination and fairness to all.