BOT Meeting recap 2-15-12

The following is a brief unofficial recap of many items that occurred or were discussed at the February 15, 2012 BOT Meeting.  Official minutes will be posted online at southorange.org when they are available or the video can be viewed on-demand at southorange.org/videoViewer.asp

Presentations

David Klugel and Antonio Popola were sworn in as new Probationary Firefighters

Main Street South Orange presented a Design Excellence Award to Stuart Wainberg& Jared Hutter for all of the work they have done on 75 South Orange Ave

Ordinances for First Reading

2012-01 - Ordinance Establishing a Special Improvement District - passed 4-0  (Trustees Levison and Davis Ford were absent)

2012-02 - Ordinance Amending the Central Business District Redevelopment Plan to allow medical offices on Vose Avenue   - This Ordinance was tabled by a vote of 3-1 to allow for more time to discuss and vet the issue

Public Comments

• Jerry Ryan - Shared his recommendation to abolish the Board of School Estimate
• Bill Calabrese - Expressed concerns about the SID
• Leslie Pogany - Expressed concerns about the SID
• Alyssa Aronson - Expressed concerns about taxes
• Stony Johnson - Expressed his opposition to the SID

Discussion

Staff Assignments to Committees - A discussion was held about having appropriate staff attendance at Committee meetings. This was referred to the Legal Committee to draft a process for creation and distribution of minutes for all committee meetings.

Permeable Surfaces Ordinance - This will be sent to the Planning and Zoning Committee for review and discussion.

Moving School Board Election to November - The BOT agreed in concept to move Board of Ed elections to November, but not until next year .  In the meantime, a letter will be sent to the Board of Education encouraging them to take this action themselves.

Update on EOWC - All parties have executed a consent order to appoint a special master to resolve issues that have arisen and to make a decision by August 1.  Appointment of the special master will occur over the next 10 days. A meeting was held last week to explore alternate sources of water for the Village.  If a decision were made to go that route, it would have to go to a public referendum. Results of ongoing monthly testing are just below the MCL threshold of 1.  Village Counsel will look at posting updates to the Village website.

Policy for Off-Cycle Salary Increases - It was agreed that all salary adjustments need to go through the BOT for review with a resolution affirming the decision in public.

Fire Department Staffing - A request was made for an analysis to determine the cost/benefit between between incurring overtime and hiring new staff.

Consent Agenda

11 resolutions, including the award of a contract to ICMA to complete a Police Department Best Practices Study, were passed on Consent Agenda 4-0

Resolutions for Separate Action

Resolution 2012-047, Supporting Marriage Equality for Same Sex Couples in NJ - passed 4-0

Resolution 2012-048, Moving the BOE election to November - was stricken (based on the conversation noted above)