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Assemblyman offers help on flooding as Brooklawn council hears water‑plant update and plans regional grant application
Summary
Assemblyman Bill Spearman urged action on chronic flooding and offered state-office support; council members described progress at the borough water plant and discussed using preliminary funds to pursue a $15 million Army Corps planning grant covering Brooklawn and neighboring municipalities.
Assemblyman Bill Spearman used the public‑comment period to congratulate newly sworn-in council members and to offer his office’s assistance on the borough’s longstanding flooding problems, urging the council to take next steps this year.
“We’re here for you…we hope to deal with the flooding problem or at least take the next step to deal with the flooding problem this year,” Spearman told the council, offering contact information and the state office’s support.
Council members and department staff then updated the public on the borough’s water‑plant work. Staff reported that much of the new piping and pumps are in place, that electrical conduit and servo motors remain to be completed, and that “the actual carbon should be here by the end of next week,” after which filtration work will proceed. The council expects big storage tanks to arrive soon and is awaiting contractor pricing for the building that will enclose the plant; that pricing will be discussed at a Jan. 15 work session.
Council members also described a two‑track approach to flooding: immediate, local fixes such as installing backflow preventers to reduce near‑term flooding, and pursuing larger, regional planning dollars. A council speaker said the borough has approximately $1.5 million already allocated to develop preliminary plans and that the borough aims to compete for a $15 million U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planning grant to design broader waterfront and drainage projects that could include Brooklawn and nearby municipalities.
A resident asked whether appointing a new borough engineer would interrupt existing projects; council members clarified that key engineering work on active planning and zoning projects (handled by the planner/Key Engineering) will continue through project completion while the newly appointed borough engineer will handle borough engineering duties going forward.
Next steps: council to discuss the plant building bid and ordinance work at a Jan. 15 work session, to continue procurement for solicitor and cybersecurity services, and to follow up on grant planning for regional flood mitigation.
