Trustees Amend Town’s Fees, Proclaims October as CCR Month

A recap of Monday’s Board of Trustees regular Meeting

Announcements

• Spooky in Downtown South Orange – and the South Orange Chamber of Commerce Halloween Festival will take place in Spiotta Park, Monday, October 31 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Music and Halloween games with our friendly witch will be followed by the annual Costume Contest.  Also featured will be ’s Creepy Corner. Refreshments and prizes for all. Afterwards, head out around downtown to trick-or-treat with merchants.

• The November General Election is Tuesday, November 8.  Deadline to file a Voter Registration Application with the County Commissioner of Registration has passed for the November election.  Polls open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. To review where your polling place is located visit the Village website at www.southorange.org/clerk or contact the Village Clerk’s Office at 973-378-7715 x7724 or by email at clerk@southorange.org.
• Three Non-binding Referendum Questions will appear on the November election ballot to gauge South Orange voters’ opinion.  

1. Should the Village Charter be amended to change the name of our municipality from the ‘Township of South Orange Village’ to simply ‘South Orange Village’?
   
   
2. Should the title of the ‘Village President’ be changed to ‘Mayor,’ ‘Board of Trustees’ to ‘Village Council’ and ‘Trustee’ to ‘Councilmember’?
   
   
3. Should the Village President and Village Trustees be given an annual stipend without other benefits?
   
   
4. In addition to the ballot questions, the Board of Trustees may consider other proposed charter revisions, including: (1) changing biennial municipal elections from May to November; (2) changing the way board resolutions are adopted, to require a majority affirmative vote of Trustees present, not just Trustees who voted; and (3) allowing the Village President the right to vote on adoption of the municipal budget. The additional questions will not appear on the November ballot, but the Board of Trustees welcomes resident input.  E-mail your thoughts tocharter@southorange.org.

• Leaf Removal Pickup begins in the Village on October 24 and will take place through December 5.  For information on when leaf removal pickups will take place on your street, visit the Village website at www.southorange.org/leafcolection or call the leaf removal hotline at (973) 378-7501.  Residents living on a county road should call the county at (973) 239-3366.

Proclamation

• Village President Alex Torpey proclaimed the month of October as “Community Coalition on Race Month” in the Township of South Orange Village.
• Torpey proclaimed the month of November as “Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month” in the Township of South Orange Village.

Presentations

• The South Orange Fire Department awarded the .
• The Special Improvement District Advisory Committee .

Ordinances

• Ordinance 2011-13 passed 6-0 on second reading and will adopted into the code on November 13.  This is an ordinance which amends all sections of the Code of the Township of South Orange Village establishing fees.  The ordinance increases those fees and supersedes all resolutions which
  set the fees and creates a single schedule for all fees.
• Ordinance 2011-17 was tabled until a future Board of Trustees meeting for further committee and counsel review.  This ordinance amends Ordinance #09-13 providing for the compensation of all non-contractual and all supervisory personnel.
• Ordinance 2011-18 passed 6-0 on first reading and will be read for second reading at the next meeting.  This is a refunding bond ordinance providing for the funding of certain property tax repayment obligations of the Township of South Orange Village, County of Essex, State of New Jersey, in satisfaction of certain successful property tax appeals, appropriating not to exceed $575,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of not exceeding $575,000 in aggregate principal amount of refunding bonds for funding such obligations.

Public Comments

• .
• Tracy Carroll and Kathryn Timpson, co-chairpersons of the Community Coalition on Race (CCR) marketing committee, thanked the BOT for issuing a proclamation.  This month is the beginning of CCR’s 15^th year and the members wanted to provide an update of the month’s events.  Among the events was a and the annual .

Anthony Green, a vice-chairman and treasurer of CCR, thanked the BOT as well.  He said that the dinner was a success and that CCR has seen more involvement from areas of town that they don’t usually see.

Consent Agenda

• 17 resolutions were passed on the consent agenda. 

All Board of Trustees meetings can be viewed on the South Orange Village website here.