The costs are adding up quickly for the redevelopment project of the old municipal building located at 17-19 N. Main Street, which is the property that is set to be the location of Medford’s fourth brewery, Magnify Brewing. Magnify was the only bidder on a Request For Proposals that was put out last July that was seeking a redeveloper for the property. Township officials received two appraisals on the property, one for $146,000, and one for $290,000, which they decided to split the difference of, and only charge Magnify Brewing $218,000 on a property that was assessed for nearly one million dollars.

information gathered from an OPRA response that we just received shows that the Township of Medford has spent over $80,000 in engineering, surveying and legal costs, just on the Magnify Brewing redevelopment. Jeffrey Brummer Architects received $10,875, the Township Engineer, Taylor Design has received $15,172, Environmental Resolutions has received $32,500, and the Township Solicitor, The Law Office of Tim Prime, has received $24,253. In total, the taxpayers of Medford have paid at least $82,627, and these costs do not include the large amount of hours put in on this project by many township employees and elected officials.

Township employees are also still hard at work spending tax payers dollars in trying to hoodwink the Carns family, who just last week found themselves in court again over the civil citations that they received months ago for allegedly storing more than one commercial truck on their tree farm after the Township warned them against doing so. The case was again postponed, which is bound to cost tax payer even more in legal expenses for the malicious prosecution of the Carns Family for alleged violations that haven’t been in existence for months.

The issue of the trucks being kept on the property had been abated months ago, yet the Township will not back down in trying to use the citations in what can only be seen as a form of retaliation against the Carns for having a reporter call the Mayor when he stiffed David Carns on $450 of firewood, and for speaking out on other issues in town.

In just the month of April, Medford’s Solicitor Tim Prime, billed the Township nearly $4,500 to represent the people of Medford against the Carns Family for parking their own tree trucks on their own 30 acre farm, that BTW, they have been parking at for over 60 years.

Since the battle between the Township and the Carns family has been going on for nearly 6 months now, and if the the costs for the other months are anywhere close to the $4,500 spent in April, then nearly $30,000 has possibly been spent to prosecute the Carns Family.

Generally, a municipal Judge gives a person a certain amount of time to abate the issue prior to ever fining a person for that type of citation, and usually it is only if it its not fixed when they get a fine or any type punishment, but that’s not the case here. The issue of having more than one commercial truck on the farm at one time, was abated months ago, yet the township of Medford is still spending large amounts of tax payers dollars trying to punish the Carns for the alleged violations that no longer exist, why?

People will have a chance to ask the Mayor and Council that question, and any other question they’d like, at this Tuesday’s council meeting at 7pm, as the council meets for their first session of September.