PLUMSTED – Township officials listened to issues of pipe problems on Lakeview Drive, rabbits running rampant in corners of the community and concerns of a revolving door of personnel at the police department during a recent meeting.
Repair work on Lakeview Drive is incomplete and Elayne Szydlo, who lives on that street, has been coming to Township Committee meetings sharing her frustration with the pace of that project for months.
She told The Jackson Times, “This project was ready to go and now he (township engineer) decides to change something? If this new engineering group (Morgan Engineering) had not been brought in this project it would have been completed already.”
The principal owner of Morgan Engineering is Frank Sadeghi, who became a County Commissioner this year.
“I am sorry I do not believe this is something that had to be done. I am sure he will bill the township for these changes,” Szydlo said. “I am furious with this. Three years I have been dealing with this. Minimal impact? What about my impact?”
Szydlo came to September’s Committee meeting asking “what is going on with it?”
Photo courtesy Elayne Szydlo
Township Business Administrator Greg Myhre replied, “I spoke to the engineer and there is an issue with the pipes. They are working with a pipe contractor to get them properly inspected over there before the job gets done. That is where we are right now before the job goes out to bid.”
“Didn’t we just get an extension to October that we didn’t need and it was supposed to be done during the summer? Now we are running into that aren’t we?” the resident asked.
Myrhe said he expected all the work to be completed by October.
Szydlo replied, “I’ll believe it when I see it. We just extended it. That is what just started this whole thing in May. We only got the extension through October. We’re not going to get it done in a month he said this would be a three-month project. We better not run out of time.”
“We have to get this done. I’m tired of talking about it. I just want this done. I’m now mowing the street. Because all the grass is in the street now so I’m not cleaning it anymore I’m just mowing it.”
Myhre said, “he is aware of the issue.”
“Can someone please let me know so I’m not sitting here wondering? Could you e-mail me?” Szydlo asked in request of being notified on project status. “I’d appreciate it. All I get is the runaround constantly.”
“Otherwise, I know I can contact you until September 30,” she told Myhre who tendered his resignation as the township’s business administrator earlier that night, effective at the end of September. Myhre is also a state assemblyman, representing the 9th District.
Szydlo said a few weeks after that meeting that she believes township’s current engineer received the project in February from the previous engineer. She noted that in looking at the plan sent to the entire neighborhood from the Department of Environmental Protection that there were some inconsistencies in what she was told previously about the timeline of review work.
“The pipe (Myhre) referred to is next to the dock and the plan shows the dock not being affected. The DEP extension had been renewed for the second time in May,” she said.
Jody Caizza, who heads Kind Heart Rescue in Cream Ridge holds Pixel, one of many rabbits rescued near the Red Barn. (Photo courtesy Kind Heart Rescue)
Police Revolving Door
Resident Bernard Bahnam described what he said was “a revolving door in this town with the police department (noting the recent resignation of Officer Ryan Zacco who left for a position with the Lacey Police Department). We have to figure out a way of stopping this. These guys and gals come in and they get to know the community and the people get to know them and then they leave.”
“We have to stop this door from spinning. We pay for their training and everything else and then they move on which I don’t blame them but it’s not working out for us and something has to be done but I’m sure you guys already know that,” Bahnam added.
Kind Hearts Rescuing Rabbits
Jody Caizza who heads Kind Heart Rescue on Hyacinth Court in Cream Ridge spoke next. She reminded the Committee that she had come before them during their June meeting about the problem of rabbits living and breeding behind The Red Barn. “As recommended, I developed a proposal for funding (for the rabbit removal effort) and dropped it off last week.”
“My living room is full of New Egypt rabbits. We corralled 23 rabbits in two areas of New Egypt. If not for us that 23 would have turned to 50 and that 50 would have turned into 100. That is what happens in other places,” Caizza said.
Caizza said, “the rabbits dumped in New Egypt were a human made problem. They weren’t brought there by Amazon or dropped in by parachute. They were dumped by New Egypt residents. This was a New Egypt made problem. Kind Heart Rescue cleaned it up.”
She added, “many of those bunnies needed immediate lifesaving veterinary care. This was in addition to routine veterinary care of spays, neuters and vaccine. Please consider our funding. We took in 23, 15 have been fixed already and the rest are scheduled. Ten have been put into forever homes.”
Another representative of the group said “the community has really been getting involved and that is a beautiful thing.” Kind Heart Rescue can be found on Facebook. Donations to support this non-profit organization can be made in the following ways, Zelle ID: k911rescue@aol.com, Venmo: Jody-Caizza (last four digits of phone if asked: 7425) PayPal: kindheartrescue@aol.com.
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