2/19/20 Council Meeting

By: Joseph L. Kuchie

SOUTH AMBOY – The recent proposal to add open and close hours to South Amboy’s beaches, as well as the potential consolidation of fire departments in South Amboy, were both heavily discussed at last week’s city council meeting.

Despite the large crowd in attendance, Council President Mickey Gross began the meeting by saying that the council would be tabling the resolution regarding beach hours, explaining that the council needed more time to make a decision. However, multiple councilmembers including Councilman Tom Reilly addressed the situation in their opening comments before the public had a chance to speak.

“We should allow people to have access to that beach after 10, 11 o’clock at night,” Councilman Reilly said. “There’s not driftwood down there that’s going to cause any fire, people from South Amboy are using that beach to fish.”

“It’s been fished on for as long as I can remember,” he continued. “I did my homework on this and spoke to the proper people, there’s no more issues down there then there is for the rest of the town. I’m going to have it on the record right now that I am in full agreement that the beach should be open to fisherman whenever they want to use it.”

“It’s one of the few free resources in this town that somebody that comes off second shift that wants to go down and fish, and we’re going to put a stop to that? That’s wrong. That’s my stance,” he added.”

Residents from Lighthouse Bay were not happy that other residents were implying on Facebook that the Lighthouse Bay Association formally issued a complaint to the city about the fisherman using the beaches after hours. Councilwoman Zusette Dato confirmed that that rumor was not true.

“I agree that is the purpose for the beach or one of the main purposes, that was always the vision when the community was built, but if anyone read or heard that this was at the bequest of the Lighthouse Bay Association, understand that is totally not true,” Councilwoman Zusette Dato said. “In talking to people in that vicinity I can tell you that they say the fisherman are not a problem, so I agree with Councilman Reilly in that respect.”

Business Administrator Glenn Skarzynski went on the record saying that the Lighthouse Bay Association did not file an official complaint, and rather he had received one-off complaints from residents individually.

Councilman Reilly also asked the Mayor and Business Administrator about the recent rumors that some of the fire departments would be consolidating in South Amboy. Skarzynski and Mayor Henry explained that there have been discussions to move certain fire departments into one building, which involved moving Progressive in with Snorkel. 

“For at least 18 months but closer to two years, there’s been ongoing discussions with the Fire Chiefs about what the best movement forward is to better equip and better house the fire department,” Skarzynski said. “After a lot of discussions there was consensus that starting to consolidate into less firehouses would be good on a number of levels . It would allow us to use our budget dollars more wisely to provide better facilities for the firemen, better housing for the apparatus, and to in the view of at least some of the chiefs to position apparatus more efficiently in and around the city.” 

“We went a week ago and had a discussion with the first two involved companies,” he continued. “There was concern expressed by some members, particularly those of them with a great deal of seniority, but the dilemma was explained to the membership and we left the meeting with a very good feeling that while it wasn’t a welcome change, it was an inevitable change.”

“I want to be very clear that the Mayor gave explicit instructions…We are not reducing the amount of fire companies, we are not reducing the amount of fire personnel, we are not reducing the amount of fire apparatus,” he said. “In fact, you’ll see in the budget document that there’s revisions in the capital to buy two fire engines for the department this year.”

“The discussions are still on going, nothing has been formalized yet but at this point based on the discussions with the two companies and fire department leadership that looks like the direction we’ll be going,” he concluded.

“We are not dissolving any of the companies, we’re just putting them in the same house,” Mayor Henry said. “These are things we’ve been talking about for a number of years… I would never do anything without the support of the fire department. We’re doing what we consider to be in the best interest of the city and the residents of the city.”

All council members were in attendance for the city council meeting. The next city business meeting will be held on March 4, and the next city council meeting will be held on March 18.