July 7th Meeting Summary

Last Monday we had a meeting. Here are the highlights.

After months and months of planning and discussion, we finally approved the funding for Everett Field! The project was part of a $10 million dollar bond, which will fund lots of capital improvements and buy necessary equipment for a host of departments. I am so excited that Everett Field will finally be renovated. Thank you to the Verona Baseball and Softball League for not only their generous donation towards some of the costs of the renovation, but also their continuous advocacy of the project. Verona children deserve safe spaces to play sports - and this renovation will finally fix long standing issues at the field.

As part of this meeting, we had an update from Boswell Engineering on several projects. This included the long awaited bank stabilization project that will happen at the Peckman River right were it exits Verona Park at Bloomfield Avenue. Verona will be stabilizing the banks and floor to repair damage caused by Hurricane Ida. The permitting project with the NJ DEP on this project took a very long time, so it's great that we will finally get started on this.

Boswell also gave an update on the smoke testing project that we conducted last summer. The smoke testing project was meant to find issues with the sewer system, to locate areas where rain water was infiltrating the system. When rain water gets into the sewer system, it overloads the sewer plant and then a lot of bad things start happening. We need to fix this issue.

As you can see from the map here, the engineering firms found dozens of sites where infiltration is happening. Some of these locations are private homes. They will be getting letters shortly from the Township to explain how they need to fix these issues. You may want to look at the map to see if you are on the list. Other locations are town-owned pipe, including a substantial stretch by Derwent Avenue. These will be fixed by Verona in phases, which is indicated in the presentation. The Derwent sewer line is the most urgent issue, and the project will start shortly with analysis of the full extent of the problem. Funding for these repairs will be paid out of our existing sewer fees and have already been allocated to the project.

Finally, Boswell gave an update on the design of our new Lakeside Township parking lot. That project will go out to bid for construction shortly. The Council provided some feedback on the design of the parking lot. This lot will help us alleviate parking issues and create parking capacity for Verona Park. It was funded by a $1 million dollar grant from the NJ EDA.

Other highlights from the meeting including picking the contractor for the Everett Field project, applying to the DEP for Green Acres Open Space funds, accepting a $250,000 Healthy Communities Grant for building out disability services, and awarding a contract to Solutions Architecture for a facilities audit and to design building improvements at the Community Center. We are also getting started on a redesign of Dodd Terrace, Afterglow Way, and Summit Road.

In new business, we discussed an upcoming meeting where we will discuss the design of the new police and fire station, which currently is projected to cost $40 million. That special meeting will happen on Zoom on August 13th at 5:30 pm. We highly encourage all residents to attend and provide feedback to the Council on the building.

We ended the meeting by going into closed session.

I encourage residents that have any feedback on this meeting to email the entire Council by using the form here. Our next meeting is on Monday, July 21st.