Councilman: Full Inventory of Toms River Stormwater Basins' Effects Needed

Column as submitted by Toms River Councilman George Wittmann:

Happy New Year to All! The council held its meeting on January 3, 2012. The meeting was the last for Councilman Greg McGuckin who served on the council for the past 8 years and is moving on to the NJ as one of the two assemblyman in our 10th District. Greg will be missed by all as he represented the township very well and served as our council president for 7 ½ years. The township council wishes him well in his new endeavor.

On another note, the water quality of Barnegat Bay is an issue due to the nutrients that are draining into the bay from the various storm drains in the watershed. I have asked the township council to consider authorizing a study of the storm water to determine their effectiveness in removing the nitrogen and other pollutants from the runoff before it gets into the bay. The township has mapped the locations of these storm drains and has the location on the geographic information system. The work to locate these basins was performed by a summer intern a few years ago. My request to the council is to authorize funds in the 2012 budget to study the conditions of the basins, rate them from best to worst or non performing, and then develop a plan to improve the operation of the worst performing basins.

One component of this proposal is to get interested and the community at large to adopt a basin and help keep it free from debris and perform the required maintenance. Stafford Township has a similar program in place we can leverage the use of their program in Toms River. While this by itself will not change the water quality in Barnegat Bay, it is my belief that it is a good start and perhaps other towns will follow our lead.

If you drive over to town hall you will see a lot of construction activity around the . The garage needs a number of repairs to the joints and the deck as it is over 35 years old. One innovative feature of the renovation is the installation of a roof over the exposed concrete deck to help reduce the effort required to maintain the deck and extend its useful life. A bonus of the roof project is that it allows the township to install solar panels on top of the roof to generate enough power to offset the power demands at Town Hall. The township received an $800,000 grant from the federal government for the purchase and installation of this system which means that the power generated by them is essentially at no cost to the taxpayers of Toms River.

I would encourage our residents to check out our town council meetings which are now online on our . Residents can view meetings from any location with an internet connection at any hour of the day. This video system was paid for by a grant from Comcast at no cost to our taxpayers.  You can even view the meetings on an Ipad, or smart phone if you like.

Finally, I would like to extend my gratitude to the residents for electing me to office for another term as one of your councilman at large. I promise to continue to do my best for our community over the next four years.

George Wittmann

Toms River Council At-Large