By Richard D. Smith | Posted Jan. 23, 2025
Mayor Bob Uhrik reported at Rocky’s Hill Borough Council meeting on Jan. 13 that Montgomery Township is pursuing a state grant to study the feasibility of offering shared service policing to Rocky Hill.
Borough Council will submit a letter to the state in support of this study, which will not incur cost to Rocky Hill — nor is the borough bound to approve its conclusions or recommendations.
The small borough of approximately 260 households currently relies on the NJ State Police Kingwood barracks (about a 40-minute drive) to service the town for police matters. Rocky Hill pays the neighboring town, Franklin Township, to help provide traffic enforcement during certain hours of each week.
A Franklin Township police car on Washington Street in Rocky Hill.
The policing issue undoubtedly will continue to be discussed at future Rocky Hill Borough Council meetings.
Montgomery Township Administrator/Planning Director Lori Savron told The Montgomery News: “At this time, we are working with Rocky Hill, exploring a potential police shared-service feasibility study for the municipalities.
“We do not have many details to provide yet, as we are still in the extremely early stages and consulting with the appropriate parties at this juncture. Additionally, we are working with the state on potential grants to help support this potential study.
“As soon as more information is available, we will be happy to share further details.”
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Other issues discussed at the first council meeting of 2025 involved, among others, infrastructure, public safety, and public signage.
Mayor Uhrik opened the meeting by leading a moment of silence for David Dorey, a veteran of the fire department since 1974 who died unexpectedly.
The mayor also explained, for the benefit of all residents, that borough council meetings have state-mandated public comment sessions, however, the sessions are not structured to be official question-and-answer periods.
For that purpose, he encouraged Rocky Hill residents to attend one of the town hall meetings to ask questions of borough officials, to give their opinions, and to get responses.
“The town hall meeting is your open two-way discussion,” Mayor Uhrik stated for the record and the benefit of all borough citizens. “Call it your ‘coffee klatch’ with the council.”
For those who don’t know, a coffee klatch is a casual gathering of people for coffee and conversation. The term comes from the German words kaffee (coffee) and klatsch (gossip).
The next town hall meeting will be Saturday, Feb. 1, at 10 am at borough hall. There will be a presentation by the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association about storm water drainage.
Borough Clerk Rebecca P. Newman reminded council members of basic protocols and procedures, including requisitions and expenditures for their committees.
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Borough engineer Robert Martucci reported he had examined retaining walls on Crescent and Princeton avenues. The Crescent wall was installed by Somerset County during creation of a handicapped-access ramp. He will ask the county to fill in a gap between the retaining wall and the ramp.
The Princeton Avenue retaining wall was damaged during installation of a water line: It will be repaired by the contractor on that job when the weather permits. Martucci also reported that he is working with the NJ Department of Transportation on fulfillment of Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant construction on Montgomery Avenue.
A recent major water main break on Toth Lane was quickly repaired. The borough has been reimbursed by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection for $1.2 million in expenses on a $2.3 million loan to install a new borough water tank.
Martucci said he is working on getting the final reimbursements. And he reported that the PFAS pollutant chemicals remediation system is working well.
He is following up with Green Acres on the status of an environmental filing package impact for a proposal to create a boardwalk access from Crescent Ave. to Van Horne Park.
Mayor Uhrik requested that a patching be added to the intersection of Crescent and Park avenues and also to a seam in the pavement further up Crescent, both spots being where potholes often open up. Luis Silvestri asked that the council look for further county funding for the design and building of further traffic calming road installations.
A new HVAC unit, separate from the rest of the building will replace the current outdated AC in the meeting room. And because municipal court sessions are held in the meeting room, it is now required that an emergency police-summoning alert (commonly known as a “panic button”) be installed. There will also be buttons on the same system installed in the borough clerk’s office and the day school downstairs.
Clerk Newman reported that the building’s rear door, which is rotting out, will be replaced. A contractor bid has been submitted for the cost of this work, which will involve setting the door frame into stone and concrete. Also included will be a window internally reinforced with metal strands to help prevent shattering by an intruder. The borough is also investigating a password-using, log-in recording smart card system to replace the old physical keys (some of which have never been returned at the end of their use period).
The Montgomery-Rocky Hill Rotary has offered to donate and install a “peace pole” featuring the inscription “May Peace Prevail on Earth.” A discussion followed as to where such a pole would be the most appropriate and not detract from existing borough memorials or other signage. One suggested location, which received general interest, was behind borough hall at the entrance of the Green Acres park. The discussion process will continue before any final decision is made.
It is also hoped that the historic flag, now framed on the back wall of the council chamber, will be donated and moved to another facility where it can be better cared for and on wider public view.
There were no public comments made, either in person or via Zoom meeting. ■
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