Point Beach Emergency Meeting Friday

Point Beach Council will hold an emergency meeting at 3 p.m. Friday to discuss ongoing power outages and problems with water-damaged utility meters.

The meeting will be at Borough Hall on New Jersey Avenue.

Mayor Vincent Barrella scheduled the meeting "to address a plan for the power issues in Point Pleasant Beach. We have invited representatives from JCP&L, but have no confirmation from them as of yet," said Point Beach Business Administrator Chris Riehl in an email on Thursday.

Barrella said the state Department of Community Affairs is working on scheduling electrical inspectors during the next few days to inspect JCP&L meters that were damaged "during substantial flooding" on various homes and businesses during Sandy.

"Residential will be done first, businesses will be done at some point after that," Barrella said.

Barrella said the town is working on how the scheduling will work so out-of-town owners can hopefully be at their homes when the inspectors are there. He said more details would be discussed at the meeting. 

In another move dealing with the aftermath of Sandy, at a special council meeting at 9 a.m. Tuesday, the council voted to spend $915,000 for various extra expenses necessitated by the storm, according to an email from Riehl. The town may be reimbursed for a large percentage of the cost from FEMA.

The $915,00 breakdowns as follows:

• $275,000.00 for police operating expenses and overtime

• $570,000.00 for the Department of Public Works, including landfill tipping fees, tree removal, sand removal and restoration to beaches, Waste management debris removal, trash removal and overtime.  

• $10,000.00 for Code Enforcement Inspections

• $ 60,000.00 for Fire Department operating expenses