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Bedminster committee adopts 11 budgeted ordinances and awards $424,735 contract for community garden
Summary
The Bedminster Township Committee on June 2 approved 11 ordinances that put previously adopted budget dollars to work — including a $665,000 bond for a fire tanker — and awarded a $424,735.50 contract to build a community garden, all by unanimous votes.
Bedminster Township’s governing committee on June 2 moved to implement this year’s budget by adopting 11 ordinances and awarding a contract to build a long‑planned community garden.
Mayor Jacobs and the five-member committee voted unanimously to adopt ordinances 2025003 through 2025013, which appropriate budgeted funds for facility and equipment improvements across township departments. The package includes a $665,000 bond ordinance to acquire a tanker for the Far Hills Bedminster Fire Department and appropriations for police equipment, HVAC upgrades, telephone and repeater equipment, and lead‑based paint inspection implementation for pre‑1978 rental units.
The ordinances were read by title at the public hearing and opened for comment. Carson Benza, identified in the meeting as chief of the Pottersville Volunteer Fire Company, told the committee that replacing a 30‑year‑old tanker is “very important to the continued safety of the community.” The committee closed the public hearing and approved the ordinances by roll call: Stevenson, Hickey, Moreski, Fernandez and Mayor Jacobs voting yes.
In related action the committee awarded the construction contract for the Bedminster Community Garden to ADS Site Contractors, Inc. of Pittstown, N.J., with a not‑to‑exceed contract amount of $424,735.50. Township staff said the low bidder was recommended by the township’s engineering firm and that a pre‑construction meeting will be scheduled; the contractor may begin work in summer 2025 with a target opening in spring 2026. The project is financed in part by a county grant (referred to in the meeting as a STELLER grant); the committee did not specify the grant amount during the discussion.
The meeting also produced several routine consent resolutions and an administrative contract to LEW Environmental Services LLC to administer lead‑based paint testing and maintain the township’s database related to the newly adopted rental inspection ordinance. Officials said the rental inspection ordinance applies to pre‑1978 units; staff noted 72 units in town meet that threshold.
What happens next: township staff will hold contractual pre‑construction meetings and schedule start dates for the community garden; the ordinances’ appropriations permit departments to begin procurement and work tied to the adopted budget.
