New Providence will be taking on a packed agenda tonight that boasts 34 items on the consent agenda; meaning all of them can be approved in just one vote unless a Council member asks for something to get pulled out and discussed and if you’ve been following us you know we aren’t fans of this way of doing business.
Raffle and bingo applications are being thrown in with an HVAC contract that’s hitting $1M, changes to the affordable housing plan, a new police chief and four new ordinances.
The agenda itself labels the consent items “routine.”
All four ordinances which involve data centers, employee salaries, traffic changes and the creation of a deputy police chief position are being introduced – not presented for final adoption.
Management Review
During the last meeting, the council put in a $75,000 state Management Efficiency Review Program Grant into the budget whose stated purpose was to help NP evaluate its operations, establish goals and benchmarks and figure out if tech could improve efficiency.
The contract will be going to Government Strategy Group – one of the two proposals submitted for the project. The work will run from July 15 through December 31.
The online packet as of 07/13 doesn’t include the proposal, rates, total contract ceiling or a detailed description of the work the vendor promised to perform.
Affordable Housing
Affordable housing takes up a major slice of the agenda pie with five separate resolutions.
There’s an amended mediation agreement connected to challenges against the Borough’s Fourth Round Housing Element and Fair Share Plan indicating ‘changed circumstances’ required revisions however those revisions are not clear as the amended agreement is not included in the online packet as of 07/13. This means the public isn’t able to look at what’s changed, concessions, development sites etc before the vote.
A second resolution sends more Housing Element and Fair Share Plan changes to the Planning Board as VW Murray Hill and Toll NJ I withdrew their challenges, while New Providence Mountain Developers and 2100 New Providence LLC continue their challenges.
It references a planner’s report describing the latest changes but that report isn’t anywhere in the online packet as of 07/13.
There’s also some wording that needs clarity as the amended mediation resolution describes the agreement as resolving challenges involving FSHC and VW Murray Hill, while the Planning Board referral says VW Murray Hill withdrew its challenge. The online packet as of 07/13 does not explain whether the withdrawal occurred as part of the settlement or separately.
Onto the manuals connected to NP’s Rental Rehabilitation and Affordability Assistance programs which are also not included in the online packet as of 07/13 despite the fact that they’re intended to establish operations, policies and procedures for both programs.
CGP&H would be hired to serve as the Borough’s affordable housing administrative agent and submitted a proposal with an NTE of $13,400, but the next paragraph says the maximum contract amount is $30,000 – the reason for the different amounts isn’t explained.
The contract for Borough Planner Susan Gruel of Heyer, Gruel & Associates is also set to be extended through December 31 for work on the Borough’s Fourth Round obligations; an hourly rate capped at $190 but no total NTE amount.
Data Centers
Ordinance 2026-06 removes data centers as permitted uses in the Borough’s TBI-1 and TBI-2 Technology and Business Innovation zones, replaces the existing data center definition and adds a new definition for small “micro/mini” data centers. Ordinary server and equipment rooms that are incidental and subordinate to another permitted use would remain excluded from the main data center definition.
The ordinance doesn’t expressly add data centers to an all-zone prohibited-use section; it removes data centers from the TBI-1 and TBI-2 zones where they are currently listed as permitted uses.
It also creates a separate definition for micro/mini data centers without getting into how that category is treated elsewhere in the zoning code.
That is one area the Council needs to clear up before the ordinance returns for final adoption.
Municipal Building HVAC Upgrade
The biggest single contract on the agenda is a ~$1M agreement with Trane North Jersey for heating and cooling upgrades at the Municipal Building.
Trane estimates that the project may qualify for approximately $135,000 in PSE&G incentives, which is not a guaranteed reduction.
The project would be financed through the Borough’s PSE&G utility bill at zero percent interest over five years.
The resolution doesn’t include a payment schedule or show the final net cost if incentives are approved.
Other spending includes:
~$477K for 2026 road paving
~$53K for coating/repairs roof -EMS
~$36K repairs/coating roof- Library
~$25K for Colliers services -DPW building replacement
~$2K for boiler work – Municipal Annex
~$45K for park benches – Centennial Park
~$15K in grant-funded patio and driveway- Oakwood Park playground project
There appears to be an error in the paving resolution as the agenda and resolution title identify requisition R2601560, while the body of the resolution lists R2601182.
The Foley Problem Is Back
The agenda calls for approval of Resolution 2026-267, requisition R2601575, for a weekly bulldozer rental from Foley Machinery not to exceed $3,100 but the document linked from the agenda is an older resolution for requisition R2601433.
That older document also lists a June 23, 2026 Council meeting date on its first page, while the signed certification page says the resolution was adopted June 9.
We flagged the same conflicting Foley document on the last agenda.
So the current agenda item, the requisition number and the document linked as support don’t match.
Safe Routes, Central Avenue and the DPW Building
There’s an agreement for ~$275K in NJDOT funding connected to the 2018 Safe Routes to School sidewalk project for final design, not construction, and the resolution doesn’t provide a construction schedule.
There’s also a FY2027 NJDOT Municipal Aid application for Central Avenue improvements, grant application LA-2027-MA-Central Avenue Improvements-00053, but it doesn’t state the amount being requested, the project limits or the specific improvements included in the application.
Colliers Engineering would receive up to $25,000 for professional services related to the proposed DPW building replacement.
The resolution describes the work as “additional administrative work.” The underlying proposal and specific deliverables aren’t included in the online packet as of 07/13.
The Council is also set to approve over $50K for roof coating and repairs at the EMS Building.
Another ~$36K would permanently repair and coat two flat-roof sections at the Library after temporary repairs were made last year.
Police Chief Retirement and Leadership Change
Police Chief Daniel Henn’s retirement would be accepted effective August 1 and Donald Sretenovic would replace him as police chief on the same date at an annual salary of $199,115.53.
The department structure would include one chief, one deputy chief, one captain, two lieutenants, up to six sergeants and the existing officer classifications.
The ordinance also contains what appears to be a copy-and-paste error. One section says the Borough’s “Zoning and Land Use Regulations Ordinance” will remain unchanged, language that doesn’t have anything to do with the Police Department.
A separate salary ordinance sets maximum compensation of $230K for police chief and $201K for deputy chief.
Those are max salary authorizations; they may not be paid those full amounts but only max amounts are listed despite the claim that min amounts are established.
Academy Street Traffic Changes
Ordinance 2026-08 would make Academy Street one-way south the whole way and sets the west side of Academy Street for police vehicles from Springfield Avenue north for 225 feet. It also creates two accessible parking spaces on the east side near the Municipal Building entrance.
Budget Insertions and Bills List
Two small budget insertions are included:
The first adds $22,605.07 from the State Recycling Tonnage Grant.
The second adds $499.62 from the National Opioid Settlement.
The bills payable resolution comes in at $5,362,559.09.
Despite referring to an attached bills list, the document posted through the agenda contains only the one-page payment authorization.
Vendors, individual payments and account allocations making up the $5.36 million total are not included in the online packet as of 07/13.
Other Appointments/Correspondence
Timothy O’Connor is moving from deputy tax assessor to part-time tax assessor through June 30, 2030 at an annual salary of $51,690.
Correspondence:
Michael Leblond’s extensive submission documenting power outages reported in New Providence and Berkeley Heights.
A complaint about standing water on the new community pool pedestrian bridge.
Board of Public Utilities on New Jersey American Water’s pending rate case. NJAW initially sought ~ $146M in additional annual revenue and later reduced its request to ~ $139M; there’s no rate increase approval and the order suspends the proposed changes through October 16 while the case continues.
Other correspondence includes the proposed Buffalo Wild Wings GO restaurant on Springfield Ave, Terrace II development at Berkeley Heights and data center ordinances from Berkeley Heights and Summit.
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