Eatontown Council Votes to Spend $17K for Analysis of Fort Building

Eatontown officials voted on Wednesday to authorize an architect to perform an analysis of a at a cost of $17,000 and, like same sex marriage and the debt ceiling, the issue divided politicans along party lines.

Council members held fast to partisan notions with the three Republican councilmen voting against the proposal, saying it was a waste of taxpayers' money, and the three Democrat council members supporting the measure as an investment in the borough's future. Mayor Gerald Tarantolo, a Democrat and advocate of the measure, cast the deciding vote in its favor.

"The has already cost us $17,000," said after voting against the proposal at the Aug. 10 council meeting.

Following the outcome of the vote, which was preceded by including raised voices among the mayor and council and shouting from the audience, Tarantolo said to the architect, "Kevin, I'm turning you loose to do this analysis."

Kevin Settembrino, an architect with Buck Simpers Architect & Associates, had presented to officials his firm's proposal to apply a space analysis performed in 2005 on the to the Fort Monmouth building as well as determine how to utilize alternative energy sources at the site.

The concept plan would include the cost-per-squre-feet to renovate Mallette Hall, the approximately 50,000-square-foot building that formerly housed the U.S. Army's CECOM operation, and a "high-level energy analysis," said Settembrino. The site includes existing geothermal wells that are not hooked up to the building and a large expanse of flat roofing that could be equipped with solar paneling.

Settembrino modified his original proposal for analysis that he submitted to the mayor and council last month, which was for $37,500, with a paring down of services for a total of $17,000.

One of the main arguments against the proposal is that the concept of moving borough operations into Mallette Hall is based on the unsubstantiated premise that the building would be transferred to Eatontown at no cost in the .

Tarantolo argued that the borough is entitled to compensation from the federal government as taxpayers have "subsidized fort children" in the since 1996. The mayor was referring to an inadequate amount of aid given to Eatontown to educate the children of Army personnel stationed at Fort Monmouth.

, who voted against the proposal, said he wanted an official from the other than the mayor to confirm that the borough could receive Mallette Hall at no cost.

Those in favor of hiring the architect, including council members Anthony Talerico and Jennifer Piazza, said that they felt the data was necessary to make the bigger decision of whether the borough should persue the acquisition of Mallette Hall or if it would cost too much money to modify for municipal needs.

Talerico, who is the council's president, said he also felt that the mayor would need the support of council in his negotiations to acquire the building, but first council needed the analysis to determine whether it's a worthwhile investment.

The architect's findings will be discussed at a workshop meeting in the fall.