Millville commissioners approve UEZ grant applications, contract awards and municipal appointments; municipal-attorney pick passes with one dissent

Millville City’s Board of Commissioners held its July 7, 2026 meeting and approved a slate of routine and project-specific resolutions, including multiple Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) grant applications, contract awards for water improvements, and the appointment of the municipal attorney.

The board voted to appoint the municipal attorney despite one objection from Commissioner Ranallo, who said she had not seen a corrected version of the resolution that aligned with the certification of funds. "My vote's gonna be a reflection of only seeing the resolution that didn't align with the certification of funds," Ranallo said during the meeting. The appointment otherwise received majority support and was recorded as approved by roll call.

Key approved items - UEZ administrative budget (resolution item 7): authorization to apply for first-generation Urban Enterprise Zone assistance funds not to exceed $152,878 to fund the UEZ administration budget; passed by roll call. - UEZ business-district improvements (resolution item 8): application for up to $350,000 for High Street commercial-district improvements; passed by roll call. - UEZ clean-team funding (resolution item 9): application for up to $150,000 to support the UEZ clean-team (two-person crew focused on High Street/Buck Street corridor); passed by roll call. - UEZ special events support (resolution item 10): application for up to $100,000 to fund special events in the UEZ (parks and recreation events); passed by roll call. - Contract award (resolution item 18): authorization to award a professional-services contract for the Geisinger Avenue Water Improvements Project; passed by roll call.

The board also approved a series of other routine resolutions by roll call, including tax and utility adjustments, water and sewer terminations, grant insertions (New Jersey DEP recycled-tonnage and clean-communities grants), and the annual bulletproof-vest partnership grant from the Department of Justice. Several items were presented as funding or housekeeping measures intended to support operations without increasing the local tax burden.

Why it matters The UEZ grant approvals direct state grant resources toward economic development in Millville’s commercial corridor (High Street) and provide administrative funding that offsets municipal costs for UEZ programs. The water-project professional-services award advances a capital infrastructure project the city has placed out to bid. The municipal-attorney appointment resolves an administrative vacancy but drew a recorded dissent tied to an apparent paperwork/version discrepancy.

Board procedure and next steps Most measures were passed by roll call votes at the meeting; a single recorded "No" vote was noted on the municipal-attorney appointment. The administration indicated it will proceed with grant applications and contract execution according to the approvals given. The clerk was directed to include the Open Public Meetings Act statement in the minutes and to publish the adopted resolutions.

Provenance: The votes, motions and roll-call outcomes for these items were discussed and recorded during the commission’s resolutions portion of the agenda (see meeting discussion beginning with the resolutions at the agenda segment).