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!

Wrecking Ball

Three years ago, in September 2009, I wrote a blog post with an update on the proposed Village Hall renovation project and on December 19, 2011, I shared a presentation at the BOT meeting with the baseline time and cost estimates for the project at that time.  At the September 24, 2012 BOT Meeting, the Architect and Construction Manager for the project provided a public update.  Now that things are moving ahead with the project,  I just wanted to re-cap recent updates on the single largest project the Village has undertaken in many years.

Since the presentation in 2011, a number of activities have occurred over 2012:

• A bid was advertised and a contract was awarded to Jay Shapiro and Associates for $207,816 as the Construction Manager for the project
• The architect has largely completed the design for the building and completion of Construction Documents is underway
• A decision was reached to temporarily relocate Village Hall staff during the project to mobile offices (i.e., trailers) that will be located on property owned by the Village on 2nd Street
• A decision was reached to implement a geothermal HVAC system and a change order for $53,870 was issued to HMR architects for the design of the HVAC system and the design of the temporary office space in the trailers
• We were informed that an updated asbestos assessment was required in order to perform a proper asbestos abatement.  A contract was issued for $17,750 for the assessment and a separate contract for the abatement will be awarded, once the assessment is completed.

Over the next few months, plans for vacating Village Hall will get underway with the goal to have all staff and equipment out of the building in Q1 2013, so the asbestos abatement can occur.  In parallel, the construction documents will be finalized by the architect, the actual construction project will be put out to bid and a contract will be awarded for construction. 

Currently, it is anticipated that the construction project will begin around June 2013 and last for at least two years with the cost estimate for the entire project currently at approximately $5.7M.  However, until we receive actual proposals to do the work and until the work gets underway the duration and cost is just an estimate, based on the information that we know right now.

Once Village Hall is vacated, it is expected that "formal" Village Meetings (i.e., BOT Meetings, Planning Board Meetings and Board of Adjustment Meetings) will be held at SOPAC and routine committee meetings will be held in the Baird Center.  Further details of this still need to be finalized  and will be communicated publicly at that time.

I share everyone's concerns about the inherent risks for such a costly project, but want to be straightforward about where we are currently and what we expect going forward.  As with ANY project, the budget and duration is likely to change as things progress, but with the guidance of the construction manager and the support of Village staff, the goal is to minimize and mitigate the risks.

I will continue to provide periodic updates as the project evolves.  In the meantime, please feel free to post any questions or comments on this blog or send them to me directly at mgoldberg@southorange.org

Code of Silence

Since the publishing of a story in Sunday's Star Ledger about recent discord on the South Orange Board of Trustees, I have received many comments and questions about what is going on.  Most people have been incredibly supportive and sympathetic about the dysfunction, but some people have asked where this came from and what can be done about it.

By way of background, over the past few months a number of critically important requests for items to be added to the Board of Trustees meeting agenda have been denied by Village President Torpey.  The process is (and has always been) that Department Heads and Trustees submit requests for items to be placed on the agenda a week or so in advance of the meeting.  Generally, all items were simply included unless they needed further vetting in a committee or were redundant with another request.  However, over the past few months the list of rejected items has included the following important issues that impact all residents:

• Marylawn Development
• Hiring of a Business Recruiter
• Moving Elections to November
• BOT Meeting Agenda Process
• Assembly Bill S-1534
• New Water Supply Source
• PBA Collective Bargaining
• OPIEU Collective Bargaining
• South Orange Commons (Beifus Site Redevelopers Agreement update)
• Personnel Investigation
• Code Enforcement Staffing
• East Orange Water Commission

These are all items that do not fall within our normal committee structure and which required discussion by the full Board of Trustees in either open or executive (closed) session.   We were all elected to represent the community and that includes having difficult conversations about complex topics.....and we all volunteered to do this job which requires us to sit in meetings that often run very late.  Everyone on the Board has the right to express an opinion on these topics, but to  eliminate the opportunity to even have a discussion is simply wrong. 

This all came to a head in early July, when I learned at a Public Safety Committee Meeting that the Police Chief was also instructed to stop sending reports about criminal activities to the Board of Trustees.  Since I have been on the Board of Trustees in 2007, the Police Chief would share periodic updates about specific crimes or arrests that occurred in town, on the premise that the Board should be informed if anyone inquired about the situation.  However,  I noticed that starting in May 2012, the BoT was no longer receiving these reports.  After being told that the Chief was told by the Village President not to send the reports to the Board, I raised the issue at the July 9 BOT Meeting.  The Board of Trustees agreed the reports should be received by the full BOT and a formal policy was adopted at the subsequent meeting to codify this. 

As these topics were discussed at public meetings (and by the public on Maplewood Online), a reporter at the Star Ledger picked up the story by watching excepts of videos that were posted online:



and contacted members of the Board of Trustees for comment. 

Ironically, all of this occurred back in the earlier part of the Summer and for the most recent BoT Meeting on September 10th, all requested agenda items were listed and the Police Chief has resumed sharing reports of police activity with the Board of Trustees.  So, hopefully these problems have now been put behind us and, in reality, the Star Ledger article was "old news".  Hopefully these discussions and the attention generated by the article has accomplished  everyone's goal  - to return to real transparency and open government in South Orange.

Chimes of Freedom

Lately, there has been alot of misinformation about the Village's plans for moving municipal elections to November and I thought it would be worth clarifying the situation.

A majority of the Board of Trustees has agreed, in principle, to move our municipal election to November, starting in 2013.  In fact, an ordinance to implement the change was drafted by Village Counsel and was requested to be put on the May 14 meeting agenda.  (However, the Village President chose to omit the request, along with 3 other agenda requests, for an undisclosed reason which I can only assume was because he did not support the idea, despite the verbalized desire of a majority of the Board for the election move.  The suppression of agenda items by one person is simply contrary to what a democracy is all about.  Each member of the Board has the right to express themselves on any topic, but stifling that expression is simply unacceptable.)

Similarly, moving the election to November will improve the democratic process by increasing voter participation as has been shown in towns like Mahwah which already moved their non-partisan municipal election from May and held their election in November 2011, resulting in a 41.6% turnout, compared to a 16.2% turnout in the prior May election.  In addition, another 19 municipalities (out of 86 nonpartisan municipalities) have also agreed to move their May non-partisan Municipal election to November starting in either 2012 or 2013. (and over 85 percent of School Boards in NJ have also decided to move their non-partisan elections from April to November:  http://www.njsba.org/sb_notes/20120222/november.html). 

Likewise, voter tunout in South Orange is also far less in May (dropping to a record-low 11% in 2011) than in November as shown by the following chart that was compiled by the Charter Review Committee:
Year      May       November
2005       26%            48%
2007       36%            24%
2009       18%            45%
2011       11%            29%

Aditionally, moving the municipal election to November will save taxpayer money.   According to the Charter Review Committee, municipal elections in South Orange that are held in May cost approximately $22,000 every time they are held.  Clearly, moving the municipal election to November and consolidating all elections at one time will eliminate this extraneous expense.   Quite simply, moving the municipal election to November will save money and increase voter participation, which is a win-win for all taxpayers and residents.

I initially had my own concerns about moving the election to November due to the perceived fear of partisan influence in our non-partisan elections.  However, I ultimately weighed the potential for greater voter participation in our democracy as far more important.  It is a simple fact, based on historical data, that in everyone's busy lives, people are more likely to be aware of and participate in an election when it occurs in November.

Since the next South Orange municipal election is not scheduled until 2013, we do not need to act immediately and ultimately the Board of Trustees agreed to observe the results of the 2012 November non-partisan elections in other municipalities in order to have more data before formalizing the move for South Orange in 2013 later this Fall.  There has also been some consideration to include this as a referendum on the ballot in November since moving the election will also extend the terms of all seven members of the current Board of Trustees.

However, just like placing all requested items on a public agenda, moving elections to November seems to be the most obvious choice for an open, transparent and participatory democracy.

Mary's Place

There has been a lot going on in South Orange, so it has been a while since I updated this blog. However, one of the biggest issues currently looming is the threatened demolition of the Graves mansion owned by Marylawn of the Oranges on Scotland Rd. In addition to the demolition of a significant historic building, a potential development of a residential apartment building on the site is also rumored, despite the violation of the present zoning that would require.

I have heard from many residents who are upset about this situation and many of them came out to Monday's Board of Trustees meeting to express their opposition for this demolition/development and to express their support for the creation of a Historic Preservation Commission.

The idea of a Historic Preservation Commission has been considered by the Village for MANY years and some background can be found on the Village website at http://www.southorange.org/historicpreservation.  Ultimately, having such a commission in place would be a good thing for the Village to help preserve our architectural history, and on May 14, the BOT unanimously passed  the ordinance on First Reading which creates a Historic Preservation Commission.  The Ordinance must now be reviewed by the Planning Board and be brought back to the Board of Trustees for a public hearing and Second Reading, which is currently scheduled for June 11.

I completely sympathize with the residents who are concerned about a development that threatens their neighborhood, having gone through the same experience when 198 apartments were proposed to be built in the quarry, in MY neighborhood over 10 years ago.  At the time, we were told by the Village that "This fight has been fought...this property will be developed".  It was incredibly frustrating to be told there was nothing we could do, but in the days before Facebook & Twitter, we banded together, created a website, raised money, hired an attorney and fought the proposal for 5 years, until a compromise for 62 million-dollar townhouses was eventually approved.

I would like to urge Marylawn to work with their neighbors and with the Village to identify a better solution than the wholesale destruction of a significant building that could never be replaced. (and to not pursue a development project that is not supported by the current zoning)

People move to our community for many reasons including our proximity to NYC, our vibrant and diverse population and - yes - our unique and charming architecture and history. As a community, we strongly value our past and take great pride in it. In fact, the Board of Trustees recently approved the renovation of our own historic Village Hall, which will come at considerable expense. Yet, we felt that preserving our heritage was a key value in the community and something that was worth doing.

I am well aware of the economic challenges that everyone is facing these days. However, there are always alternatives that can and should be explored, and with enough creativity, I am sure a viable solution to what is currently being proposed can be found.

Easy Money

Last year, South Orange residents were quite surprised to receive their tax bills, which showed an increase of 4% in the School portion of the bill. With the average homeowner already paying over $15,000 per year in property taxes and the school taxes making up the large majority of our bill, that resulted in a material increase during a year when people were still seeing flat or declining incomes.

Last November, I along with other members of the Board of School Estimate made it crystal, crystal clear that the Board of Education should not raise taxes any higher than 2% going forward. While I am well aware that the 2% “CAP” imposed by the State ALLOWS for increase greater than 2% (due to exemptions, cap banking etc), that does not mean that it SHOULD be done, except under extremely dire circumstances. This year, that was clearly not the case.

This year, the Board of School Estimate was asked to approve a tax levy increase of 2.16% overall, which equates to a tax rate increase of 2.73% in South Orange (due to the equalization between Maplewood/South Orange and the hybrid rate that is calculated due to differing fiscal years for the Municipal and School budgets). While 2.16% is not radically larger than 2% in the grand scheme of things, when we are starting with such an enormous base to begin with, every dollar adds up and in the end, 2% means 2%. It’s that simple.

Ultimately, when it became apparent that the Board of School Estimate would not support the proposed increase greater than 2%, the Administration brought forth an alternative, which reduced $165,000 from the capital budget and the overall increase was brought to exactly 2%. I commend the Administration for working with the Board of School Estimate to meet our request, as well as for implementing a much improved process for reviewing the budget this year. (In years past, the Board of School Estimate was presented the budget during a workshop 2 weeks in advance of the vote, whereas this year, budget discussions occurred over multiple meetings during the year beginning last summer)

For next year, I have asked them to improve things even further. The Administration speaks of a variety of important “gaps” – the achievement gap, the District Factor Group gap and the gender gap. However, they never discuss or even consider what I like to call the Tax Gap; that is, the additional expense it costs to live in South Orange and Maplewood versus surrounding communities. South Orange and Maplewood are already among the highest taxed communities in the state of NJ with a material tax gap between us and many of our neighbors. Last week, I took a look at the local press of some surrounding communities to see what THEIR school budget increases were this year and found the following:

• Livingston 1%
• Millburn .65%
• Montclair 0%
• West Orange <1%
• Springfield 1.84%
• Summit 0%
• Caldwell - .64% DECREASE
• Berkeley Heights – 1.7% DECREASE

With these other communities rising well under 2% (or some even decreasing) and South Orange/Maplewood proposing increases of 2% or higher, the tax gap will only widen, making our communities less attractive for new residents and less desirable for existing residents to remain. This is just untenable.

As the parent of a 4th grader in the District, I want nothing more than a high quality education for my daughter and for ALL kids. However, this MUST be done in a more fiscally prudent manner for the sake of all residents. I urge the Administration and Board of Education to think creatively and to actively explore what surrounding communities are doing which enables them to provide high quality education, with much lower tax increases than we are being asked to approve.

Move along man move along

Recently, the Governor signed Bill S3148 which "Establishes procedures for districts, municipalities, or voters to opt to move the annual school election to November and eliminates vote on school budgets for such districts, except for separate proposals to spend above cap." For the first time, School Board elections that are held in April each year can be held at the same time as the November General Election.

Some statistics from the Clerk's office shows the staggering differences in voter turnout between April (Board of Ed Elections) and November (General Elections) over the past few years:

2011--April: 9.68%....November: 29.39%
2010--April: 8.01%.... November: 39.69%
2009--April: 1.21%..... November: 47%

On the surface, that is a very compelling reason alone to move the election to November and ultimately where I wound up. However, it is worth noting that there are multiple dimensions to this issue that need to be carefully considered:

• Agreeing to move the election to November, allows the Board of Education to create and pass a budget WITHOUT approval of the Board of School Estimate (or the public), as long as it is within CAP. There are currently enough exemptions, such as healthcare, debt service and loopholes, such as CAP banking that conceivably could result in tax increases far greater than the 2% CAP. (Currently, the Board of School Estimate is responsible for approving ALL budgets and bonding of the BOE, and acts as a natural "check and balance".)




• On the flip side, holding elections in November will likely engage more voters, particularly ones who are concerned about fiscal issues (not JUST education issues), so the election could act as the same "check and balance".




• Moving the election to November will inevitably result in more costly campaigns. Currently, candidates can easily target voters who have previously voted in BOE elections with limited mailings etc. The pool of voters in November is much larger and will require larger mailings and more money.




• A campaign for the April 2012 election is already underway and to shift the date at this late date would be unfair.




• While Maplewood already passed a resolution supporting the move to November, the Board of Education declined to do so. Ultimately, the timing of the Board of Education election SHOULD be the responsibility of the Board of Education.

In the end, myself and the majority of the BOT agreed that Board of Education elections should be moved to November, but not until 2013. South Orange will be communicating our desire to have the election moved to November starting next year and would like the Board of Ed to take the initiative to do so.

Next up for discussion is the consideration of a similar move of MUNICIPAL elections from May to November. While I think there are different "risks" to be considered, such as the potential influence of partisan politics in a non-partisan election, ultimately, I think the increased engagement and turnout of voters has to trump that. (and may be less of a risk if ALL elections, including Board of Ed, are held on the same day)

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

We Take Care of Our Own

With 2012 well underway, there are quite a number of recent personnel changes in the Village that are worth sharing:

At the end of last year, Mario Luciani formally retired as the Director of Public Works after many years with the Village. We thank Mario for all his years of service and wish him the best as he begins the next chapter in his life. To fill the shoes left by Mario, we recently promoted Tommy Machetti as the new Director of Public Works. Tommy was previously the Assistant Director and is well versed in all aspects of the department. We know he will do an outstanding job and wish him lots of success in his new role.

Earlier in 2011, our previous IT Manager, Mauricio Garcia, left the Village to work for a private company. Our Media Technician, Stan Wilkinson, immediately stepped up to the challenge to take over Mauricio's responsibilities. He did such a great job, that recently, we formally promoted Mauricio to the title of IT Manager and we will now be looking for a part-time media technician to fulfill Stan's prior responsibilities. Likewise, we know Stan will do an outstanding job and wish him lots of success in his new role.

In mid-December 2011, Deputy Clerk, Sherri Golden went out on a temporary medical leave. Her husband, Derek, was to be receiving a kidney transplant and Sherri, in turn, graciously and unselfishly volunteered to become a kidney donor for another individual. I am happy to share that both surgeries and recoveries were successful and Sherri will be returning to the Village on January 30.

Lastly, as everyone already knows, Village Administrator John Gross resigned in August and Reagan Burkholder has been acting as Interim Administrator while a search was underway for a new Administrator. After a thorough search, including numerous interviews, the BOT appointed Barry Lewis as our new Village Administrator on January 23 and he will be officially starting work on January 30. Barry comes to us from Mountain Lakes, where he served as their Administrator, and Spring Lake and Mine Hill before that. Mr. Lewis has a BA in Political Science from the University of South Florida and a Law degree from Florida State. In Mountain Lakes he created a budget in 2010 which had a 2% increase (but would have been 0% without the loss of state aid) and in 2011 had a 0% increase. He also successfully obtained more than $20M in grants and funding partnerships and negotiated many interlocal agreements during his tenure in Mountain Lakes, Spring Lake and Mine Hill. I welcome Barry to South Orange and look forward to working with him!

I hope everyone will joining me in congratulating all of these employees on their recent achievements!