The Township Council discussed possible projects at Wesley Bishop Park and Jeff Young Park at the council meeting on Aug. 18.
The council voted unanimously to approve a bond ordinance of $150,000 for preliminary work to be done at the parks. While the township will finance the projects, Thomas Merchel, director of finance, says the sports clubs that use them will eventually pay them for.
Residents in attendance, however, were hesitant to believe this agreement between the township and clubs.
“I feel that most of the private clubs are deadbeats,” Edwin Begg said.
Begg wasn’t the only resident that voiced their opinion on the matter. Paul Conlow was also leery about making a deal with the clubs.
“There have already been verbal agreements,” Conlow said. “If these agreements were not kept, that makes a difference and should be looked into.”
Conlow was referring to the deal that was made with the sports clubs before 2012 park improvements were made. In the deal, the clubs agreed to pay money each year to repay the debt from those improvements.
The current projects that were approved would see the construction of athletic fields at Wesley Bishop and a hockey rink at Jeff Young.
While both Conlow and Begg were not in opposition to these improvements, they were, however, hesitant about the decision, considering nothing has been paid back to the township since the 2012 improvements.
Mayor Christopher Chiacchio was not so hesitant, though, and felt strongly that the clubs would pay back the money for both projects.
“We’re still working out the payments for the clubs,” Chiacchio said. “We have heard from them that they will definitely honor their agreements.”
Begg, however, was in favor of adopting a new policy.
“There are roughly 6,000 children in these sports programs and if each of them were required to pay a $50 annual fee, we would be able to raise around $300,000 a year,” Begg said.
While Chiacchio did acknowledge Begg’s plan, he did not want to include any more fees for players.
In other news:
• The township appropriated $925,000 and authorized the issuance of $878,750 in bonds or notes to be used for the 2015 roads resurfacing program.
• The township appropriated $330,000 and authorized the issuance of $313,500 in bonds or notes to be used for the purchase of police vehicles and equipment.
• The next Township Council meeting will be held on Sept. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
