Colts Neck shortcomings continue!

Colts Neck Administrator Kathleen Capristo previously wrote, “I have every right to defend my staff members and to vehemently disagree with your false perceptions and characterization of their performance.”

Observed code violations, extended with pictures, per the Township Administrator, will be “investigated and addressed as warranted”. This is like saying the difference between a duck is a bicycle because a vest has no sleeves.

In April, a Tulip Lane resident wrote the Township over a home on Clover Hill Road with overloaded garbage containers sitting in the street for weeks. Garbage bags were torn open in the road. Trash lined the curb into the storm water catch basin. The Code Official never noticed it!

Opposed to knocking on the door for a neighborly face to face chat, the Code Official sent a Notice of Violation via the mail. The postal service returned the letter as undeliverable, all the while the garbage remained in the street.

Public Records note the Code Official then spoke with the occupant, who did not speak English! June thru September similar garbage concerns continue at the same property.

In July the same property occupants had a Jeep parked in the middle of the front lawn. This week it was a red pickup truck in the middle of the front lawn. This is not the image one expects at a property valued at $1.7 million, rented at $7,000 per month in Colts Neck.

A commercial food concession trailer, with an out of state license plate, and three exhaust hoods has been parked in the same residential driveway for months. The trailer is not to code and the town has taken no action. The ordinances were created to benefit and protect all residents!

In seeking access to government records over this situation, the Deputy Clerk wrote “no records supported your request”. The Township Attorney was then contacted. The provided public record had the typed comment between the Town Administrator and the Code Official blacked out. So much for transparency in charming Colts Neck.

Similar concerns have been repeatedly shared over a few business locations that refuse to follow the Colts Neck Sign Ordinance. One business had a 5-foot tall cross installed in the grass in front of the store.

One business previously had 2 hand painted signs made of 4’ x 8’ plywood sheets, staked in the ground, to promote the business, while a trailer unregistered for 7 years, with two flat tires, sat in the shopping mall parking lot. Our Code Officials never noticed the violations.

The golf putting surface built in the Clover Hill Road scenic set back was finally removed. The removed artificial turf was rolled up and dumped in the scenic set back, behind the owners pool, opposed to being placed in the garage or removed from the property.

JCP&L was called before the Town Committee over the July 3 loss of power from storm and tree damage. While many residents ran generators, enjoyed their pool or headed to the beach…the utility crews worked around the clock, thru the sweltering and at time oppressive heat until power was restored. In my view…JCP&L and the cable service team response was impressive!

Note the vast number of standing dead trees along Route 34, a public roadway. The Town refuses to support the dead tree ordinance yet they find fault with JCP&L. A proactive dead tree removal program is supported by other towns, just not in Colts Neck.

Town Committee Member John Tobia directed the Town Administrator, who is retiring later this year and was not at the September public meeting, to explain the confusing financial statement relating to The Clean Community Grant 1 and $12,000 spend for body cameras. When our governing body can’t simply explain the details… something is wrong.

Lastly…as for a Colts Neck Police Officer being in the news, please don’t pass judgement. The officer is innocent until proven guilty. With all the good CNPD does…as stated prior, our police deserve frequent public press releases similar to what is done in other local communities.

Kevin M. O’Brien - Colts Neck NJ