Field Remediation Money Snafu Corrected

A $100,000 credit Madison received when it closed on the Bayley Ellard fields to deal with pollution on the site was in a different account than officials originally thought.

Madison still plans to pave over a contaminated portion of the 10-acre Bayley Ellard recreation fields property as a way to deal with some of the pollution at the site and improve pedestrian safety at the same time. The governing body introduced a new ordinance saying all $350,000 anticipated for the project is coming from the Open Space fund, where the credit was, instead of having $250,000 come from Open Space and $100,000 from Madison's capital improvement fund, where the credit mistakenly was believed to be.

An introduced ordinance that called for using $100,000 from general capital funds was withdrawn at the last Borough Council meeting after officials realized the credit wasn't there, and a new ordinance that pulls all of the money from Open Space was introduced.

The new proposal is scheduled for a public hearing and vote on Monday. The governing body previously approved spending $250,000 from Open Space. The new proposal increases that amount to $350,000.

Officials said there was confusion as to where the $100,000 credit from the Diocese of Paterson wound up. Madison bought the fields, part of the former Bayley Ellard High School, from the diocese in 2010.

Madison paid $2.65 million for the fields, funding the purchase with a $1.75 million grant from the Morris County Open Space Preservation Fund and $910,000 from Madison's Open Space Trust Fund.

Madison's CFO told the governing body the credit was in the general capital fund, but further investigation and confirmation showed it was in open space, Madison Mayor Bob Conley said.

Pat Rowe, a Borough Council candidate, said during the meeting the mix up was "kind of concerning."

"We have addressed that," Conley said.