FREEHOLD – No recommendations for corrective action were made in the 2017 municipal audit of Freehold Borough.
At a Borough Council meeting on July 16, council members passed a resolution accepting the 2017 audit. Under state law, the governing body of every municipality must have an annual audit of its books, accounts and financial transactions.
The audit was conducted by the firm Suplee, Clooney & Company.
According to borough officials, the audit contains no recommendations and because no recommendations were made, officials were not required to prepare a corrective action plan.
By passing the resolution, the council certified to the New Jersey Local Finance Board that all members of the governing body reviewed, as a minimum, the sections of the annual audit entitled “General Comments and Recommendations.”
Before council members voted to accept the audit, Councilman Kevin Kane thanked the borough’s professionals for their work.
“Our financial status is in tremendous shape thanks to our professionals,” Kane said.
In other business, the council passed a resolution appointing Kerry Higgins acting municipal prosecutor.
Higgins, who is the borough’s attorney, was appointed acting municipal prosecutor to fill the position after Brian Wilton, the municipal prosecutor for this year, resigned to take a job with the state, according to the resolution.
Higgins will represent the state, county or Freehold Borough in any matter within the jurisdiction of the Freehold Borough Municipal Court on a temporary basis as acting municipal prosecutor. She will remain acting municipal prosecutor for the remainder of Wilton’s term, which will expire at the end of the year, or until the council appoints a permanent replacement.
And, the council confirmed the appointment of Niall Centofanti as a Class II special law enforcement officer in the Freehold Borough Police Department, effective July 16, pending successful completion of pre-employment testing.
Finally, the council entered into a temporary easement with New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) which will permit the company to use property in the borough for storage purposes.
NJNG, according to the resolution, will be conducting tests in the borough and the temporary easement was made because the company needs a temporary location to store and stage its testing equipment and materials. NJNG requested permission to use space in the borough’s public works service center on Center Street.
According to the resolution, NJNG’s temporary use of the land will pose no inconvenience to public works operations and the company has offered to pay Freehold Borough $1,500 per month for the use of the parcel.
Council President Sharon Shutzer and council members Kane, George Schnurr and Ron Griffiths voted in favor of the above action taken at the meeting. Councilmen Michael DiBenedetto and Jaye Sims were absent.
