She's The One

During my time of the Board of Trustees, one of my proudest accomplishments was helping to hire our new Village Clerk, Robin Kline.  Coming to South Orange, Robin had big shoes to fill from her predecessors, Lynn Cuccinello and Marj Smith, both of whom served the Village well for many years.  However, after just a short period of time, it was quickly apparent that Robin was "the real deal".  She not only spoke about organization, transparency, efficiency, customer service, ethics, hard work and professionalism - she lived it - every single day.  The amount of information she processed, including meeting minutes, ordinances, resolutions, legal notices, OPRA requests, correspondence, liquor licenses, elections, licenses and permits, just to name a few, was staggering.  However, she kept on top of all of it, followed through on everything and never let a ball drop.  She did all this while simultaneously maintaining a positive attitude towards customer service to everyone who entered Village Hall, and handling all requests with grace and professionalism.

So, it was all the more stunning when the Board of Trustees (which includes the Village President) posted a job opening for the Village Clerk's job on the Village website on August 19 and issued a statement on August 20 stating that "the Village Clerk’s appointment and service to the Village will end on September 30, 2013."

The statement went on to say that "The Board has expressed a fundamental opposition to tenure and is exploring its options at this time". However, there are a few keys facts that make this statement baffling, at best, and possibly illegal, at worst:

• A Municipal Clerk is granted tenure after FIVE years of continuous employment.  Robin Kline was hired in 2010 and her initial three year term ended on August 1, 2013.  A reappointment NOW would not provide tenure until 2015.  Robin could EASILY be reappointed now, while the Board of Trustees simultaneously works with the State Legislature to reform tenure over the next two years.
• The State statute provides that the "clock resets" after a 60 vacancy in the position.  So, Robin COULD take a 60-day leave of absence and then be reappointed, which would start the five year clock back to the beginning, giving the Board of Trustees five years to work with the State Legislature to reform tenure.
• The Board of Trustees statement that they have a "a fundamental opposition to tenure" was never discussed publicly.  Similarly, there was no resolution voted on which stated this opinion. (Certainly not during the six years I served on the Board nor over the past 3 months after my term ended.)  Yet, the statement says that "the Village Clerk’s appointment and service to the Village will end on September 30, 2013".   In essence, the Board of Trustees took action in Executive Session, which is in violation of the Open Public Meeting Act.
• The declaration of a "fundamental opposition to tenure" will likely decrease the pool of qualified applicants who apply for the position to replace Robin.  After all, who would apply for a job with the knowledge that they too will be let go in 3 years, regardless of their performance?

As word has gotten out about this, residents, former colleagues, former Board members and respected members of the community have rallied around Robin on Maplewood Online and via an online petition that is being circulated:

Petition by iPetitions

Through this dialog, many constructive suggestions were made which would allow the Village to retain an indispensable employee, while simultaneously addressing the stated "fundamental opposition to tenure".

For the sake of fairness, please sign the petition and contact the Board of Trustees directly to express your disappointment in this decision and request that they reconsider and immediately reappoint Robin Kline as Village Clerk.

Your Own Worst Enemy

Should South Orange spend money to build and maintain our own zoo or indoor skating rink?  Of course not!  With a solid facility that is run by Essex County just a couple miles down the road, that would be ludicrous.

Why then is South Orange considering building and maintaining a 40-bed emergency shelter, when Essex County already provides that exact service just a couple miles down the road?

First, some background:   As many people know by now, the site known as 3rd and Valley is about to be redeveloped by Jonathan Rose which includes a 5 story building with 3000 sq ft of retail on the ground floor and 215 apartments above. In addition, a multi-story parking deck with 521 spaces (255 of which will be dedicated to the public and will replace the 183 spaces currently used by commuters and village staff) will also be built on the site.   As a result of this project, the current Rescue Squad on that site will be eliminated and needs to be relocated to a new site.

During my tenure on the Board of Trustees (BOT), the Board supported the idea of replacing the Squad building, but a location was never discussed.  In the Vision Plan (page 47), it states:

Incorporate the South Orange Rescue Squad within the new parking structure of locate the facility on Sloan Street beside the renovated Fire House.

Since the Village spent $250,000 for the Cecil Group, experts in Planning and Design, to produce the plan in 2009, I certainly always assumed that plan would be followed.  However, in February of 2013, I learned serendipitously that a wooded lot on Walton Ave, adjacent to the Animal Shelter was chosen by Alex Torpey (without consultation with the BOT, nor the Rescue Squad themselves) for the site of the new Rescue Squad and, that plans had already been drafted.

Trustee Gould requested that a public discussion of the Rescue Squad location be placed on the BOT Agenda for discussion, but at the March 28, BOT Meeting, that topic was relegated to Executive Session.  Upon emerging from Executive Session, resident Richard Bell spoke at the podium during Public Comments and the meeting minutes reflect:

Richard Bell, 321 Walton Road, questioned how many sites are under consideration for the relocation of the South Orange Rescue Squad and further inquired, of those sites, how many are
Village properties. Mr. Bell further inquired about the Trustees' ranking of the prospective sites.
Village Counsel cautioned the Board to use discretion in their response.
President Torpey responded to Mr. Bell's inquiry stating new site options have become available and
would be further explored in lieu of the location that Mr. Bell's concerns arose from. Trustees
Goldberg and Gould voiced their adamant opposition to relocating the South Orange Rescue Squad
to the proposed Walton Avenue site. Trustee Davis Ford concurred stating that the Walton Avenue
site doesn't make sense. Trustees Levison and Rosner both expressed a preference in relocating the
rescue squad to another proposed location.

The minutes of the following BOT Meeting on April 8 reflects only:

There is ongoing discussion with the developer for the relocation and building of the South Orange Rescue Squad.

At the April 22 BOT Meeting, Redevelopment Counsel, Joe Baumann, presented a proposed plan for the 3rd & Valley Development and included the proposal to relocate the Rescue Squad to a Village-owned lot on 2nd St that currently contains approximately 16 parking spaces, as well as an adjacent empty lot that was anticipated to house another 16 parking spaces.  (Plus, we were told that more "off-site parking" would also need to be dedicated to the project.)  However, according to the Vision Plan, this site is part of a contiguous block of properties that should be utilized for parking.  Similarly, the Development Committee recommended that this contiguous block of property was a prime future development opportunity, as well.  Placing the Rescue Squad at this location interfered with both of those plans.

At this meeting, it was also shared that this new Rescue Squad would contain almost 5800 square feet of space - more than DOUBLE the size of the current rescue squad (which is approximately 2600 square feet).  Since this proposal was shared for the purpose of discussing the financial terms of the proposed development and 3rd/Valley, no discussion was held by the BOT about the Rescue Squad project.

It was not until a new Board was elected and they met on July8, that a "discussion" of the site occurred.  Highlights of that discussion can be viewed in the clip below:


At that meeting, we learned that the Development Committee, a committee of volunteers with expertise in Planning, Architecture and Development had discussed the proposed location on 2nd St and sent a memo to the Board of Trustees recommending against that site and proposing many alternatives, including next to the Firehouse or next to Village Hall. 

That meeting prompted a lively discussion with many great suggestions on Maplewood Online:  http://forum.maplewoodonline.com/discussion/97667/rescue-squad-new-building/p1

So, the questions remain:

• Will the Village build a Rescue Squad that is more than DOUBLE the size of the current Rescue Squad, with the majority of that space being heated, cooled and unused over 99% of the year?
• Will the Village build a dedicated 40-bed Emergency Shelter in the building, despite Essex County already providing that service?
• Will the Village eliminate over 30 parking spaces that are so desparately needed downtown?
• Will the Village ignore the recommendations of the experts who wrote the Vision Plan and the professionals who volunteer on the Development Committee?

Everyone supports the Rescue Squad, but Rule #1 of any organization is to focus on your core competency.  With limited funds to construct and maintain a new building, the scope must be carefully controlled and not be allowed to morph into a vanity project.  Building a building that is more than DOUBLE the current space is simply wasteful and an inefficient use of OUR money.

People in South Orange always wonder why our taxes are so high.  It's exactly situations like this - building expensive oversized vanity projects that duplicates existing services, which are avoidable, yet costly to build and maintain  - that only amplifies our already untenable tax problem.

As always, I'd love to hear what you think.

The Long Goodbye

Note:  I had intended to share the following remarks at my final Board of Trustees meeting tonight.  However, two Trustees, Howard Levison and Mark Rosner, declared that "something came up", which was more important to them, leaving us without a quorum and forcing the cancellation of the budget introduction and the entire meeting.  As a result, I'd like to share my final remarks as Trustee with you here, instead of from the dais:

An open letter to South Orange residents, employees and business owners:

When I think back on the past 6 years, I realize how much has changed.  Nationally, we now have a different President and have gone through and slowly recovered from the worst economic recession in history.  In South Orange, Eden Gourmet came (and is now Ashley Market), Blockbuster (and the whole idea of renting videos) went. The firehouse construction completed and the Beifus site finally has a groundbreaking scheduled for next week, officially putting an end to the "Coming Soon" era that was so prominent when I first ran for Trustee back in 2007.  There have been a multitude of changes to businesses, village staff, residents and the Board of Trustees (BOT).  While it's easy for anyone to list out everything that occurred "on their watch", I think it is also pretty disingenuous to take credit for things that simply happened, whether you were involved or not.  So, I as I reflected back on things that I consider some of the highlights of the past 6 years, I wanted to focus on items that I was personally involved with.

• I'll start with Public Safety, since I chaired the Public Safety Committee for 6 years.  While I would love to take credit for the slight decrease in crime, that honor belongs solely to the men and women of the South Orange Police Department, who do their job every day whether ANY member of the BOT is here or not.   However,  I did strongly advocate for the installation of surveillance cameras downtown which were put in place in 2011 and hopefully more will be forthcoming soon.  I helped to create the "Downtown After Sundown" series (in conjunction with Main Street) in direct response to the "flashmobs" that were occurring and to help re-attract families back into the downtown.  I advocated for the creation of an online Police Blotter at the suggestion of a resident, Craig Goldstein, to help bring awareness to crime, and I helped in the selection of the firm to complete a Best Practices Study of the Police Department. We ultimately awarded the contract to ICMA who provided a comprehensive long term roadmap for increasing efficiency in the Police Department.  I urge the next Board to not let that report go to waste and to ensure it is reviewed frequently and that portions are actually implemented.

• A huge focus of my time has been focused on open/honest Communication and real Transparency for taxpayers.  Some highlights of that include responding to EVERY single email, phone call or letter received from residents (which numbered literally in the tens of thousands), Sending out periodic email blasts to residents and business owners (including daily updates during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy) to share information that I thought everyone needed and wanted to know, Addressing residents concerns on Maplewood Online, Asking questions at meetings that I thought the public needed and wanted to hear, Creating and posting an online "meeting recap" after each BOT meeting for the past two years and creating and maintaining an online Volunteering Directory to help facilitate residents getting involved with the community.  These are just some examples and I hope it made the long and sometimes tedious meetings more accessible to people.

• Probably the most impactful thing I was able to do was to advocate for strong Fiscal Responsibility and opposing wasteful or inefficient spending, such as being willing to vote "no" on Municipal or School Board budgets that were not fiscally responsible, opposing wasteful and inappropriate spending such as no-bid contracts and no-show contracts and questioning virtually every expenditure of YOUR money.  The absolutely obscene tax burden that all residents face in this town continues to be an enormous problem that will threaten our long term viability and needs to be a factor in EVERY decision the Board considers.

• Lastly, I placed a great focus on Quality of Life issues - whether by trying to help all residents who came before the Public Safety Committee with concerns about speeding, parking, crime or other issues,  helping to initiate the Village's Community Garden with former Village President Newman, helping initiate the South Orange Village Center Alliance to improve downtown by participating in the SID Advisory Committee and helping to create additional commuter parking by literally walking with Village President Newman along all streets within a reasonable distance to the train station to identify where on-street commuter parking could be and, ultimately was, created.

While I could probably go-on, I'd rather use the reminder of this letter to say Thank You to a number of people.

First, none of what was accomplished would have been possible without the remarkable staff of the Village and I want to recognize some of them now:

Robin Kline - our amazing Village Clerk and so much more.  Robin is truly the glue that holds everything together in Village Hall and ensures that all agendas are published, all meetings are advertised, all resolutions are written, all legal notices are filed, all protocols are followed and so much more, all while also dealing with the daily barrage of inquiries from residents who come into Village Hall.   None of what happens during a meeting and elsewhere in Village Hall would happen without Robin (together with assistance from her Deputy).  Her work ethic and professionalism is unparalleled and should be a model for all to follow. Thank you, Robin!

Chief Chelel and Chief Markey - in addition to leading the Police and Fire Departments, you had the "lucky fortune" to join me for Public Safety Committee each month so I got to know you both a little better than many others.  Despite the long meetings and all the challenging issues that residents brought to us, you both always managed to keep your cool and do whatever you could to help find a solution for them.  I appreciated your professionalism and dedication to our town and thank you both for everything, along with all the men and women of your departments that keep us all safe every day.  Thank you!

Tommy Michetti - You and the DPW crew you lead are the backbone of our Village.  You have always been incredibly responsive anytime I have noticed something in town, or when a resident brought something to my attention that I passed along, such as a pothole, downed tree or anything else.  No job was ever too big, too small or ever a burden.   It just got done. Thank you!

Tony Grenci and Ellen Malgieri and John Festa and Kate Schmidt and Stan Wilkinson and Sal Renda and Melissa Kopecky and Mark Hartwyck - likewise, you have always been incredibly prompt to  look into and follow-up on any issue that I shared with you and you made sure a proper resolution was found.  Your dedication and counsel was immensely valuable.  Thank you!

I also want to recognize some former employees of the Village and related entities that were of enormous help to me over the past six years, notably Mario Luciani, Carole Anzalone-Newman, Michael Bollinger, Laura Harris, Marj Smith, Lynn Cuccinello and Sherri Golden - thank you for all you did for the Village.  Of course, I cannot forget John Gross, with whom I have had one of the more unique relationships - initially as adversaries when I stood at the podium asking questions about the Quarry or Tau, then as colleagues when he was our Administrator, then in an awkward middle ground when I could not approve his contract to remain as CFO, after he resigned.  Despite the issues, nobody can question the commitment and enormous amount of time John gave to the Village.  Thank you!

I also want to mention some former Board members without whom I never would have been here myself - Specifically, Trustee Patrick Joyce who laid the groundwork for a non-politician to run and serve as Trustee.  Patrick was always willing to ask the hard questions and ensure the right thing was done, something I always strove to do.  Likewise, Trustee Eric Devaris followed a similar model and it was through his early resignation from the Board that initially allowed me to run and ultimately serve out his unexpired term.  Having your independent voices on the Board was so critically important.  Thank you!

Last but not least, former Village President Doug Newman - without a doubt the most intelligent man I have ever known.  His grasp of complex issues and his retention of facts and figures is simply astounding.  Combined with the highest level of integrity, ethics and consensus building, he brought solid judgement and true leadership to the Board and to the Village for four years.   Thank you!

To my Colleagues who are also leaving the Board with me:

Janine Bauer - You and I have had an incredibly complicated relationship over the years.  Initially, as allies as we fought to stop the overdevelopment of the Quarry, than as adversaries in the campaign over the "Open Space Tax" and the 2007 election and then finally, as running-mates as we put all that behind us and ran for election together in 2009.  We have agreed and disagreed on the Board, but always managed to maintain a healthy respect for each other.  The deep analysis you brought to every issue raised the conversation to a much higher level and I know your presence and intellect will be greatly missed on the Board.  However, I know that South Orange certainly has not seen the last of you.

Nancy Gould - While we were often outnumbered and lost our share of votes, we fought the good fight.  However, I am so proud that we never lost sight of who we are and what we stood for.  You leave office with as much grace and integrity as when you arrived and you made a tremendous impact on Recreation, SOPAC and the South Orange Village Center Alliance, to name just a few areas you improved.   You have become one of my closest friends and Amy and I look forward to many more dinners together with you and Paul.

To my colleagues remaining on the Board (and to the new Trustees being elected on Tuesday), be sure to always:

• Remember what motivated you to get involved in the first place and/or the behaviors of your predecessors you were looking to replace.  
• Utilize the Vision Plan and ICMA Recommendations which both cost the taxpayers a lot of money and which provide a clear and tangible roadmap for the future. 
• Spend less time and money on petty issues like talking about creating expensive line charts and archiving "tweets" and spend more time figuring out how to pack up Village Hall.  Better yet, now that the project is estimated to cost $7M+, closely reconsider undertaking the multi-million renovation before it is too late.  If you do actually decide to proceed, provide frequent factual public updates and do not repeat the mistakes of the fiasco that occurred with the firehouse or the misinformation that happened with Tau.  
• Don't talk about transparency - simply BE transparent.  Provide frequent and factual public updates on where things stand without resorting to "spin" to cover-up less positive news.  We are all adults.  We deserve the truth and I assure you, we can handle it.  
• Treat all residents and employees with respect.  Never forget that you are no better than any of them.  The best ideas almost always come from residents and employees. You simply volunteered for this job to implement them.   As an example, you should embrace the passion and dedication of people like Scott Greenstone and thank him for all he did to fight NJ Transit to restore adequate train service to South Orange, and do not be threatened by that.
• Lastly, be sure to spend much more time publicly discussing the CONTENT of the budget and ways to control it and stop talking about the file format of it.  
• On a special note to the new Trustees that will be elected on Tuesday, I remain available and accessible to you for any advice or background information on issues as they arise.  Do not be afraid to ask questions and do not accept everything that is presented to you at face value.

The Village faces formidable issues.  As a resident, I want nothing more than for you to succeed in addressing these difficult issues heads-on.  I wish you luck.


To all the Boards and Committees I had the honor to work closely with as an official liaison - from the SID Advisory Committee, to the Old Stone House Advisory Committee, to the Citizens Public Safety Committee, to the Parking Authority, to the Community Garden, to First Night, to the Board of Health, to Main Street - thank you.  I got the chance to work with so many amazing volunteers who stepped up to simply help the community on activities and projects they were passionate about.  I continue to urge others to find a way to get involved and see what a difference you can make for the community and how personally rewarding it can be for yourself.  Learn about all the opportunities at http://southorange.org/volunteerApply/. 

To all of the Residents and Business Owners, it has been a genuine honor and privilege to serve you.  For all of your support, input, feedback and ideas over the years - Thank you!  To all Village Staff, it has been a pleasure working with you.   Through this amazing experience, I have learned an enormous amount about the town, and an even larger amount about myself and my values.   As I said when I announced I would not be seeking another term,  despite the multitude of meetings, challenging personalities, late nights and difficult issues, it has been a true pleasure volunteering to help our Village.  Far too many people run for office for the wrong reasons - whether to advance a personal agenda, obtain a better job or for their own self-promotion.   For me, it was always simply about representing our residents and I tried to do that as best as I know how.  While I am well aware there have been plenty of people who disagreed with me on various issues and that I made my share of mistakes, I can only hope the legacy of my tenure can be that as a watchdog for fiscal responsibility, ethics, transparency, process and open communication, which were many of the tenets that I initially ran on back in 2007.  

Probably the greatest thing about serving the community is all the amazing people that I met along the way and the number of truly great friends I made as a result.  My wife quickly learned that if she sent me to pick up milk at Eden by myself, it would usually take about an hour, because I would inevitably run into someone that would either say hello or stop to share an issue with me.  While I didn't always have all the answers, I don't think there is a single person who could say I didn't listen or try to help in any way I could, and for me, that was always the most rewarding part of this experience. 

I plan to continue to make myself available on Maplewood Online, as I always have, and will likely continue to send out periodic email updates or post periodic blog posts on Patch, Alternative Press and at trusteegoldberg.blogspot.com, which is a blog I started very shortly after I started on the Board back in 2007. I love to periodically look back at older posts to see what the hot topics were at a particular point or to see if my opinion on an issue has evolved.    Fortunately, I can stand proud of what I wrote about the opinions I held and it stands as a virtual scrapbook of my 6 years on the Board.  Again, I know that there were many people who disagreed with me, but I don't think there is anyone who didn't clearly know where I stood on any issue.

Lastly, none of this would have been possible without the support, love and encouragement of my incredible wife, Amy, and daughter, Stephanie.  They selflessly gave up so many many nights with me to allow me to devote time at countless meetings, on long phone calls or answering emails (not to mention the periodic interruptions during Dinner in a restaurant when we would run into someone we knew, or who knew me).  


In closing,  "Goodbye" certainly doesn't seem right since I will still be living here and as a taxpayer, I expect to continue paying close attention to what is going on in town, sharing information and calling out any perceived improprieties, just as I did before my time on the Board and as I always did while serving on the Board.  

So perhaps, as always, a quote from Bruce Springsteen says it best -  "let's take the good times as they go.  And I'll meet you further on up the road".


Thank you, South Orange!


Sincerely,


Michael Goldberg
South Orange Village Trustee 2007-2013

Born to Run

As everyone knows by now, I have decided to not seek election to a third term on the Board of Trustees.  After six years of serving the community, it was time to allow someone else to fill my seat and bring a new perspective.  When I think back on my time on the Board the things I am most proud of are my advocacy for fiscal responsibility, transparency and open communication with all residents.  However, accomplishing that required studying the issues, a willingness to speak up, making tough choices, taking strong positions and asking hard questions rather than simply accepting at face value everything that was handed to us.

As I have been listening to all the candidates running for the Board of Trustees, I have been impressed with them all, but there is one candidate that I have seen so far with the willingness and ability to carry on these critical traits.  That candidate is Rob Sandow.  I have known Rob Sandow for quite a while and always found him to be thoughtful, engaged and very knowledgeable on the issues around town.  As I have gotten to know him better, I have also found him to be incredibly passionate for South Orange, while also being approachable and open to suggestions and feedback.    Most importantly, he is well versed in the issues and is willing to challenge the status quo and ask the hard questions that need to be asked, both to ensure proper decisions are made and proper processes are followed, but also to ensure the public is properly informed about those decisions - before they are made and with full transparency.   Speaking from experience, I can tell you that these are all the right qualities needed most for a member of the Board of Trustees and something that is critically needed right now.

I have gotten to meet all seven candidates for Trustee and found them all to be honorable and decent people who want to do their part for the Village.  I commend all of the candidates for their willingness to run for office and wish them all luck.  We are very fortunate that there are seven committed and qualified individuals who are willing to volunteer for our community.  While we can only choose three out of the seven candidates in the election on May 14, my vote for one of those seats will be for Rob Sandow and I hope you will join me in supporting him.

Code of Silence - Part 2

Transparency 
- adjective \tran(t)s-ˈper-ənt\
- characterized by visibility or accessibility of information especially concerning business practices.

Within Government, other than ethics, there is nothing more important than transparency.  All money being spent is not the Government's, but belongs solely to the people you represent.  As a result, the public has a clear right to know how money is being spent  - and why.   Additionally  there are very strict rules around procurement requiring competitive bidding and an open process to ensure fairness.  Lastly, South Orange has a very strict anti-"pay to play" ordinance to ensure that vendors comply with regulations and disclosures around campaign contributions.  To facilitate this, the Village Budget has been posted to the Village website at least since I have been in office, the list of all Bills paid is posted to the Village website and all meetings to discuss the Budget are open to the public and the minutes are posted to the Village website.  However, lately the word "transparency" is being thrown around a lot, yet words are cheap and action is what really matters.  I'd like to highlight three recent examples pertaining to:

• claims of "budget transparency"
• lack of transparency regarding the relocation of the Rescue Squad
• criticism on transparency around the Village Hall renovation project

"Budget Transparency"

Recently, an article appeared on the Village website stating that there will be "a budget tool launching this week, putting all of the Village's budget data in an easy to read, visual format".  While that sounds nice on the surface and Mr. Torpey has raised this suggestion as an idea in prior meetings, there was never any discussion among the Board of Trustees about whether there was even a need for this software and if so, what the requirements for it would be.  Going even further, a bid or RFP was never issued for the software and the award of a contract for this vendor was never even brought forth for review or voted on by the BOT.  As a result, I found it shocking to learn that this expenditure (estimated to be nearly $3000 ANNUALLY) was made without public or Board of Trustees discussion or approval.  Quite ironic for software that is alleged to "improve transparency".

While it is easy to dismiss an expenditure as small, with our obscene taxes, every expenditure matters and should be scrutinized to ensure it is something we really truly need or will be used by a large portion of the community.  The reality is that there is nobody clamoring for this and with the same money, we could simply spend less (shocking, I know!) or spend the money on something that would be utilized or appreciated by hundreds (or even thousands) of people, such as additional downtown concerts or beautification across the Village with new plantings or flowers, as just two of countless possible examples.  


Nobody would argue with a goal of "transparency", but in this case it is nothing more than a nice talking point without any value to the taxpayer.  There are so many anomalies with the Municipal Budget that simply looking at a line chart is meaningless without proper context. For example, there was a time in the past when line items were moved from the Capital Budget to the annual Operating Budget, so in that example, a line item in each budget could take a huge swing that year. Without that context, a chart will raise more questions than it answers. In addition, trying to answer certain questions, such as "how much money goes to SOPAC" is difficult to answer with a line chart since that operating subsidy is under "Recreation" (and additional funds are covered separately within the annual debt service and additional funds are also part of the rent that Clearview is supposed to pass through to the Village), which most people simply wouldn't know, nor does this tool even get to that level of detail. Asking "can we pave more roads" is not feasible because that is addressed within the Capital Budget and is not represented in this tool. Asking about the impact of hiring "x" more people in a given department is not feasible because most departments are covered by collective bargaining and a certain position may have a starting salary of say $30k that rapidly rises to over $90k in just 5 years. Without the context of these "steps", again it is infeasible and meaningless to draw any conclusions from a simplistic graphing tool.  There are countless other examples, but the bottom-line is that this is simply a costly solution in search of a problem that simply doesn't exist and calling something transparent, simply does not make it so. 



Relocation of the Rescue Squad

As an additional concern about Transparency, the Village is currently in the process of trying to identify a location for the Rescue Squad, which needs to be moved due to the upcoming redevelopment of that site next year by Jonathan Rose.  Over the past few months, a number of sites were explored, but recently the Board of Trustees was told that two Village-owned properties were the likely candidates.  Since the properties are both already owned by the Village, one would think a public discussion of developing Village-owned property would occur so that the whole community, and especially any potentially impacted neighbors, could be informed.  Despite a request by Trustee Gould at the March 28, 2013 Meeting to have this topic discussed in public, Mr. Torpey reassigned it to "Executive Session", which is not open to the public.   The exemptions to the Open Public Meeting Act that are allowed to be discussed in Executive Session are quite limited by State Law and this situation certainly doesn't seem to fall under any of them.  Once again, this lack of transparency is simply unfair to the public who have the right to see the deliberative process, and certainly unfair to the neighbors who have a right to know if the Village is planning to develop property near their home.





Village Hall renovation project

Lastly, the pending Village Hall renovation project will be one of the most expensive projects ever undertaken by the Village.  It is imperative that the public be kept abreast of the mounting expenses and the anticipated budget and timeline as we go.  I initially shared a public presentation in December 2011 with baseline estimates of over $5M for the project and for the past several months have been requesting that the Construction Manager provide an updated public presentation of where we are today.  When that never happened, I updated the presentation and shared it at the April 8 Board of Trustees Meeting with all information that we know as of today to let the public know that this project has now morphed to a $7.1M project - and it hasn't even started, yet.  I was criticized by Mr. Torpey and told that this was my "opinion".  However, I'll let the facts and numbers speak for themselves.  I will also defend the need, actually the right, of taxpaying residents to be provided this information frequently and without the "spin" that is far too common these days in South Orange.

The video of the presentation can be viewed below:



While my term in office is winding down, I will continue to call out clear offenses of transparency (during my term and beyond) and I urge the competing candidates for the Board of Trustees to pledge to adhere to the absolute strictest standards of transparency (and ethics) should they have the honor to serve the community.  We all deserve nothing less.  

Independence Day

While I love serving the public, I despise politics. And, the only thing worse than a politician is a career politician.  Because I never wanted to be considered either, after careful consideration, I have decided not to seek a third term as Trustee in the South Orange Municipal election on May 14.  Instead, I have determined it is time to focus my time and energy on both my family and on my professional career, as well as pursuing other interests.

It has been an incredible honor and privilege to serve the community for almost 6 years. Despite the multitude of meetings, challenging personalities, late nights and difficult issues, it has been a true pleasure volunteering to help our Village.  Far too many people run for office for the wrong reasons - whether to advance a personal agenda, obtain a better job or for their own self-promotion.   For me, it was always simply about representing our residents and I tried to do that as best as I know how.  While I am well aware there have been plenty of people who disagreed with me on various issues, I can only hope the legacy of my tenure can be that as a watchdog for fiscal responsibility, ethics, transparency, process and open communication, which were many of the tenets that I initially ran on back in 2007.

Without question, I made my share of mistakes and learned many lessons along the way.  I sincerely thank everyone for the wisdom and guidance you provided to me over the years.  Through neighborhood meetings, committee meetings, asking questions at Trustee meetings, Maplewood Online,  interactions with staff and literally thousands of emails to/from residents, I learned so much about the Village and about myself.  I always tried to make myself as accessible as possible, shared everything I could, voted for things that I felt were in the best interest of the Village, opposed things that were not and asked the questions that I thought the public wanted and needed to know.

I remain committed to completing my term with the same zeal over the next couple months and perhaps, someday, might consider getting back involved.  But for now, the time has come to pass the torch to someone who can hopefully carry forward the principles I tried to uphold while bringing a set of fresh perspectives and new ideas to our Village.   For anyone interested in throwing their hat into the ring, please feel free to reach out to me at MichaelCGoldberg@gmail.com to help you understand the issues and the challenges we face and to get my perspective of the time commitment required.  (The deadline for filing petitions is March 11.)

I'll have much more to say and many people to acknowledge over the coming months, but for now, Thank You South Orange!

Sandy

Now that the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy has finally passed and everyone in South Orange is generally back to their normal routines (except NJ Transit), I wanted to take a moment to recognize and thank some of the amazing efforts that occurred in the days immediately following the storm.  First and foremost, the South Orange Village staff who always do a great job, went above and beyond in their efforts.  Specifically:

• Public Works for working around the clock clearing the roads for days on end (from trees, leaves and snow...often all at the same time)
• Police and Fire for keeping everyone safe during and after the storm dealing with countless calls and issues
• Village Clerk for organizing all the logistics for the presidential election and the relocation of polling places that did not have power
• South Orange Library and staff - for providing a safe place for people to charge their devices and stay warm, while also acting as a Shelter at night
• All other departments for continuing to do their jobs, while dealing with the countless challenges and disruptions that the storm provided

Additionally, I want to thank all of the places in town that opened their doors for people who did not have power - from SOPAC, to numerous Houses of Worship, to many businesses to ordinary residents who opened up their homes.  These countless heroes allowed people to get online, do work, have a warm place to sleep, a home-cooked meal or just be together in a time of need.

The last point regarding residents is one that I found so inspiring that I want to expand upon it.  Not only did people open their homes to each other, but the efforts that residents undertook to help each other was astounding.  For example, there were many streets in town with power on only one side of the street.  Those residents helped each other out by stringing extension cords across the street to help their neighbors who did not have power.  There were also countless stories of people helping each other with reconfiguring their gas boilers to bypass the electrical ignition, allowing them to have heat.  While these probably were not the safest ideas in the world, and not something I would generally recommend, people did what they needed to do to help each other out in a time of crisis.

In addition, residents who volunteer for the South Orange CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) stepped forward to volunteer their time to help spend the night with those who needed a place to stay at the South Orange shelter.

When it became abundantly clear that PSE&G did not know the extent of the power outages, residents banded together and crowdsourced a Google map of all streets in Maplewood and South Orange to visibly map the power outages  (http://goo.gl/maps/16AFW) across the two towns.  This map was posted online and updated as new information was provided.

With the disastrous communications from NJ Transit, residents created a SOMA Commuters Facebook Group (http://www.facebook.com/SOMACommuters) and a SOMA Commuters Twitter account (@SOMACommuters) to provide up to the minute updates on commuter-related information in order to help their neighbors navigate the confusing and inconsistent information needed to get them to work.  Now that the worst has passed, this free "service" is still continuing and has become one positive outgrowth of the storm.

Lastly, in the aftermath of the storm, residents recently came together to organize and attend a group clean-up of our parks in order to help both the Village and the Public Works department who simply have too much to do.

While there is no question there is plenty to learn from this storm in order to improve for the next time, the hard work of all Village staff, together with the spirit of cooperation and neighborliness that residents demonstrated all across town to help each other, was so amazing and exemplified the true essence of our community.  As we head into the Holiday Season, let's all be mindful of this spirit and continue to work together and help each other in any way we can - all year round.   Happy Holidays!