Trustees Promote Police Sergeant, John Gross Bids Farewell

A recap of Monday’s Board of Trustees Special Meeting

Announcements

• – 14^th annual concert will be held Saturday, October 1st at 9:00 p.m. at the South Orange Performing Arts Center. The 2011 honoree is Albert “Tootie” Heath, a renowned drummer who will perform with a host of other unparalleled jazz musicians. For more details regarding the event and ticket sales, visit SOPACnow.org.
• are Wednesdays until October, from 2:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m., in the Sloan Street parking lot, near First Street .
• Fall Arts Classes at the Baird – The Baird Community Center is gearing up for fall arts classes. Visit the Baird’s website at thebaird.org for frequent updates on scheduling and registration for
  new classes as well as old favorites.
• ”Artists Who Teach” Exhibit at the Pierro Gallery - The Pierro Gallary at the Baird Community Center presents an exhibition of works by the Baird’s own teaching artists, including photography, paintings, printmaking, decorative objects and artist books through October 15. Visit pierrogallery.org for more information.

Police Promotion

• Village President Alex Torpey gave the Oath of Office to Police Sergeant Brian McGuire.  McGuire was promoted to the position of Police Sergeant in the Township of South Orange Village Public Safety/Police Force at the September 12 meeting.  McGuire is a lifelong resident of South Orange and has been on the police force for 14 years and he joined the detective bureau in 2000.  Prior to the oath, Police Chief James Chelel talked a bit about the type of man McGuire was.

“Brian is an outstanding law enforcement professional, but more importantly, on top of that, he’s an outstanding human being,” said Chelel.  “He’s a good husband, a good father, and he’s going to be a great addition as a Detective Sergeant.”

Family members filled Village Hall as McGuire read the oath with his wife Jane and his three young sons, Michael, Luke and Jack by his side.

Presentations

• was presented as the Villager of the Month by Nancy Heins-Glaser, who was representing the Community Relations Committee.  Thomas has been a resident of South Orange for almost eight decades.  He is known as a local historian and has authored many books on the town’s history.

“It’s not unusual that a man like Donald Thomas is not known, because he’s not always out in front of everyone’s experience,” said Heins-Glaser. 

Heins-Glaser went over some of the historical facts she has learned from Thomas, including names missing from the WWII memorial, the teachings of Rev. Cameron, the namesake of Cameron Field and the history of St. Andrew’s Church. 

Thomas thanked all the people who have helped him write his history books and spoke of how South Orange has changed in his lifetime.

• Members of the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) leadership gave an update report.  Michael Bollinger, Executive Director of SOPAC, talked of some of the events that have happened in the last season and also spoke of some upcoming events being put on including SOPAC’s first wedding.  Bollinger also talked of the increased sponsorship at SOPAC and updates to the membership program.  He also mentioned the increased community presence of SOPAC in the last year.

John Zoubek, SOPAC’s treasurer, spoke of SOPAC’s financial state.  SOPAC spent $249,036 less than expected while earning $413,299 more than their projected earnings.  SOPAC has spent $1 83,044 less than they did at this point in 2010.  SOPAC has used $304,499 from June 2010 to June 2011 to pay old trade receivables and prepay artists’ fees. Zoubek mentioned that SOPAC have cut expenses where possible and reorganized staff to improve cash flow.

Proclamation

• Village President Alex Torpey proclaimed the month of October as Community Planning Month.

Ordinances

• Ordinance 2011-13 was read for a first reading and passed 4-0.  Trustees Michael Goldberg and Janine Bauer were absent.  This ordinance amends all sections of the Code of the Township of South Orange Village establishing fees. The ordinance increases those fees, supersedes all previous resolutions that set the fees and creates a single schedule for all fees.
• Ordinance 2011-17 was tabled until a future Board of Trustees meeting.  This ordinance amends Ordinance #09-13 providing for the compensation of all non-contractual and all supervisory personnel.

Public Forum

• South Orange resident Claudia Mattheiss spoke of her disappointment with the Board of Trustees (BOT) regarding the process of and how the Board handled themselves at the . 

“To say that watching the proceedings that night was painful would be an understatement,” said Mattheiss.  “As a member of the community, I was appalled by the unprofessional attitude displayed.  It is quite obvious how fractured the professional relationships are between individual trustees. This is of grave concern to me as a resident as this is most certainly not fertile ground for effective, productive and cooperative management.”

Mattheiss specified certain incidents that troubled her, including an “absolutely unacceptable” remark made about Essex County and for keeping John Gross’ contract a “mystery.”  She also spoke of “horrific” statements made by citizens on a “popular public medium" and her disappointment in the BOT for not intervening.  She explained her disappointment towards the BOT for allowing the mood of the September 15 meeting to become a “pitchfork-and-lynch-mob mentality.”

“To idly stand by and allow such sentiments to grow based on rumors and misinformation is shocking both on a professional, but even more troubling on a personal level,” said Mattheiss.   

• South Orange resident Robert Chandross also spoke about the meeting on September 15.  He was unhappy with how the process was handled, including what he feels were violations of the Sunshine Law.  He asked the BOT to rescind the agreements approved by the BOT towards John Gross.  He also expressed displeasure with the BOT for passing a budget that included a contribution from SOPAC, which he feels will not be coming.  He suggested the money listed in the budget come out of the salaries of Village Hall staff.

John Gross, South Orange Chief Financial Officer, explained that SOPAC has told him to expect $60,000 from their contract with Clearview Cinema.

Consent Agenda

• 19 resolutions were passed on the consent agenda. 

Approval of Bills

• Trustee Howard Levison, Chairman of the Finance and IT Infrastructure Committee, announced the list of bills audited by the Village Treasurer, dated September 26, 2011.  He moved the Bills List be approved and paid.  The trustees unanimously agreed.

Remarks by the Village Administrator

• John Gross gave an address at the end of the meeting, his final one of his term as Village Administrator.  Gross will be leaving the job on September 30, to be temporarily replaced by Reagan Burkholder.

Tonight marks my 300th scheduled Board of Trustee meeting as Village Administrator since coming to South Orange over 12 and ½ years ago. In that time, South Orange has seen many changes and improvements. When I arrived in 1999, there was no SOPAC, no Gaslight Commons, No Eden Gourmet, no Above, no Vose Avenue Apartment complex.

In 1999, there was a 40% vacancy rate in retail storefronts. Those that were occupied, such landmark businesses as Town Hall Deli and the Sumas brothers’ flagship Shoprite store, were on respirators, gasping for breath.

There was no Transit lot, the storefronts on West South Orange Avenue’s Sickley and Beifus sites were desolate. West South Orange Avenue was still a 4 lane highway. The South Orange Train station was dilapidated and awaiting a long promised renovation to the viaduct, boarding only around 1,000 commuters a day.

Church Street neighborhood seemed destined to deteriorate and the East Branch of the Rahway River was well known only for its concrete culverts built by the Army Corp 25 years prior.

In 1999, there existed a court order to build 196 affordable housing units in the quarry and the Old Stone House was literally collapsing into itself.  Certain parks enjoyed today were non-existent or run down, such as Spiotta Park in the downtown and Memorial Park on Valley. Many Village buildings were in deplorable condition, particularly the Firehouse which was under consideration to be sold.

The street lighting on South Orange Avenue between Seton Hall and Newark were city style cobra heads and neighborhoods on our borders were raceway cut throughs with morning traffic counts as high as 1 car every 2 seconds passing people’s homes while they were trying to get their children to school.

Fast forward to 2011, Today, Gaslight Commons, a 200 unit luxury apartment complex replaced a defunct auto dealership on 3rd Street. Eden Gourmet food market replaced the closed Shop Rite and expanded to bring the high end restaurant, Above to South Orange. This downtown has become a major financial center, with many major banks deciding to locate in South Orange including Investors Savings and what is now Chase bank in the site where Town Hall Deli existed. Then by purchasing the old Midas site the Village had the foresight to buy itself, the owner of Town Hall deli moved there from its old location and today is as successful as it was in its heyday.

On Vose Avenue, there is a very high end, 79 unit apartment complex commanding rents as high as $5,000 monthly. Church Street, between South Orange Avenue and 3rd street has been transformed into over 60 townhomes/apartments housing residents interested in a downtown lifestyle. None of these new residential properties have attracted many children to our public school system nor have they placed any additional demand for parking in the downtown to accommodate them.

Today, even in this great recession, essentially any storefront that is realistically available for rent is being rented. Also the quality of those rentals has continually improved over these years. Not only did New Jersey Transit build a 280 space surface commuter parking facility, but the Village also acquired additional property and expanded spaces for downtown shoppers and employees. The storefronts on West South Orange Avenue’s Sickley property have been sold to private owners and are actively rented, for the most part. One business, Bunny’s restaurant expanded its operations into this space and has performed a fantastic renovation of a keystone property in the business district. Traffic calming on West South Orange Avenue was accomplished by narrowing 4 lanes to two. The South Orange Train station has been restored and waterproofed, and has now grown to 3,500 passengers boarding every morning and evening, nearly becoming the busiest station on the midtown direct line.

The East Branch of the Rahway River today is a vibrant walkway enjoyed by literally hundreds of residents daily with plans to expand it to our borders. Today, the quarry has no affordable housing, where instead, 7 single family homes and 62 manor homes were built, many with a panoramic view of the Manhattan sky line, bringing needed in tax dollars.

And today, the Old Stone House has been stabilized and plans are afoot to find a new owner who might be able to provide it with the TLC it needs. New pocket parks have been built on Irvington Avenue in Newstead and other have been renovated and upgraded.

And albeit controversial, a major piece of public art was obtained, Tau, and is now on display near the duck pond.

While plagued with many different complex issues over its tortured history, the South Orange Firehouse today is a state of the art fire facility, protecting Village residents 24 hours daily.

The lighting between Seton Hall and Newark has been replaced by our trademarked electrified gaslights and neighborhoods on our borders have been made in to cul de sacs removing the dangerous cut throughs threatening the quality of life in these neighborhoods.

During this same period, many other changes in the Village’s financial condition and operations occurred as well.  From 1999 to date, taxes, as a percentage of equalized property value has remained essentially flat, whereas from 1991 through 1998 there was a 35% jump in this indicator. Compare this to property values which, even taking into account the current downturn in the market, homes have increased in value from 1999 to date by +172% as compared to minus 5% between 1991 and 1999.

Also, during this period, non tax revenue increased from 2.6 million in 2000 to 6.0 million annually in 2010 reducing the amount necessary from Village taxpayers by 3.4 million annually. Also, aggressive grant writing initiatives have saved taxpayers an average of $1.35 million annually as opposed to less than 100 thousand annually during the early 90’s.

Over the last five years, the Village has been busy restructuring government, long before it became fashionable. We privatized certain departments to save tax dollars, in some cases leading the way statewide with never before attempted privatizations, such as the Finance Department. We successfully negotiated benefit give backs from non-uniformed employees long before state statutes required it.

We developed what was for a very long time considered to be the gold standard for municipal websites which still today has more transparency than most others in the public arena.

During this period, the Village was twice awarded an Annual Innovations in Governance Award from the NJ State League of Municipalities and the Department of Community Affairs, in 2005 for Public Private Partnerships and in 2003 for Fiscally Sustainable Economic Development. In 2002 the Village also received New Jersey Future’s First Annual Smart Growth Award for Gaslight Commons and two of its projects, Eden Gourmet and the Avenue also recently won subsequent years Smart Growth Awards.

The Village also received for the first time in its history annual extraordinary aid in amounts up to $750 thousand in the last year we qualified, for which the application process was once considered a wasted effort. Another financial advancement of note is the successful negotiation of a PILOT agreement with Seton Hall University, for the first time guaranteeing payment for off campus properties with sufficient funding to cover the Village and Board of Education portion of the taxes on those tax exempt properties.

Also, outside of Village government, several Departments heads and I sponsored a golf tournament annually from 1999 through 2006 which raised sufficient funds for the South Orange Rescue Squad to purchase a new ambulance, essentially saving the taxpayers and residents this weighty expense.

Not everything during this time period was as successful as I would have like to have seen.

Disappointments for me are the Beifus site, Irvington Avenue development, public facilities development, Village Hall and SOPAC.

Especially SOPAC, since despite the public rancor of this project, the reality is it is performing exactly as it was anticipated and planned for. Today it draws thousands into the downtown weekly, supplying the economic engine supporting businesses in the downtown every night.

Unfortunately, this reality and the imagery separated over time as has the public’s expectations and understanding.

In addition to these disappointments, there were many unexpected tragedies and hurdles that developed over this time as well.

On my very first day, planning to be very early, I set out from my house in Ocean Grove, 55 minutes away, I thought, only to get a flat tire and end up hours late. By noon that day, I was safely in my office when the then Chief Financial Officer entered and handed me his resignation.

During my second week, there was a water main break and gas line break that occurred simultaneously, allowing water to run into the gas lines downhill from Newstead to the valley, forcing water up and through all of the connected equipment forming indoor and outdoor sprinklers though the gaslights and ovens in people’s homes and rendering their furnaces inoperable while a cold snap loomed.

Later that month, Police Director Tony Cappolla suddenly and quite unexpectantly passed away from a massive heart attack.

These unfortunate turn of events during my first days here in South Orange helped me to form a bond with the incredibly competent and dedicate staff I had inherited, and we developed what became a very effective emergency management team which exists still today. Little did we know at that time just how much we would be tasked with this in the future?

And that future came quickly in the form of the history making Hurricane Floyd, the tragic and senseless Seton Hall fire at Boland Hall, where three young people lost their lives and the previously incomprehensible attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.

Eerily, my career here has been bookended with 9-11 and Hurricane Floyd on one end and Hurricane Irene and the 10 year anniversary of 9-11 on the other. To me this is a reminder of just how fragile life is and incentive to celebrate the accomplishments and relationships we have made along the way.

While I played an important role in all of these changes, sometimes small, sometimes large, I mention these accomplishments not to take credit, but rather to celebrate them with the policy makers who prioritized these projects and the staff who truly were responsible, individually and collectively for the many successes that occurred during my time here in South Orange.

I recognize that most of my fellow colleagues would be ecstatic to have been involved in just of few of these accomplishments over the last 12 ½ years and I know that my career here has provided me with experiences I never would have had anywhere else. I have been so blessed to be able to associate myself with them and most importantly, the people who made them possible. Tonight I wish to express specific gratitude to the following people.

First I would like to thank the members of the Governing Body, who first gave me the opportunity to work here 1999, Village President Bill Calabrese, Trustees Alan Rosen, Steve Steglitz, Chris Hartwyk, JoAnne Robinson, JonathonRosenbluth and Mark Rosner for having the confidence in me to allow me to serve as the Village Administrator.

During my time in South Orange, I have worked with three Village Presidents: Bill Calabrese, a true visionary; Doug Newman, a pragmatic taskmaster and now Alex Torpey an expert at social media whom I believe will build on both Bill and Doug’s foundation to move South Orange into the new age of e-government ahead of us. I thank them each for their dedication, their direction and for each providing their goals for the Village to move toward.

To the current Board of Trustees and all that have come before you; I appreciate the opportunity you have given me to help shape the direction of your policies during my time here. You should be proud of the leadership and responsibility that is shown in the accomplishments that occurred during your tenure on the Board of Trustees. And, I know that each of you, in your own way considered my advice, challenged my rationales, supported my decisions when you agreed and over ruled me when you didn’t when you didn’t for the betterment of the Village, and for that I thank you.

The implementation of your policies takes an army of dedicated staff and I would like to specifically mention those with whom I worked most closely with in no particular order: Village Assessor and Purchasing Agent, Ellen Malgieri, Police Chief James Chelel, Fire Chief Jeff Markey, Village Engineer Sal Renda, Health Officer John Festa, Recreation Director Kate Schmidt, Tax Collector Ronke Zaccheus, Director of Code and Construction, Tony Grenci, Director of Public Works, Mario Luciani, Library Director Melissa Kopecky, Village Clerk Robin Klein, Laura Harris, Assistant to the Village Administrator, Village Counsel Steven Rother and those that came before them.

I would be remiss if I also didn’t mention former Village Clerk, Marge Smith, former Village Clerk Lynn Cucciniello, former Village Counsel Ed Matthews, and former IT Manager Mauricio Garcia.

All of the accomplishments that have occurred under my watch as Village Administrator are a direct by product of all of their hard work, professionalism and dedication to South Orange. I personally thank them for making my job as rewarding as it has been.

Behind these fine managers and professionals are the front line employees of South Orange, too many to mention here, who are the backbone of this organization. Through them, the objectives of the Trustees are transformed into reality.

Lastly, I would like to thank the residents of South Orange for providing one of the most interesting environments to practice the art of Public Administration. South Orange is unique in that its highly educated and engaged public not only demand the best, they also participate in making it happen. Whether its through volunteering to lighten the workload, participation in public meetings providing reality checks to government officials, or simply anonymously criticizing public officials online, your involvement has provided me with valued expertise, perspective and increased conflict management skills.

Before I conclude, I would like to acknowledge the sacrifices made by my family that has allowed me to dedicate often over 70 hours a week to South Orange. Without their support, none of this would have been possible. They have always supported my passions and I would be nothing without them.

This decision to step down as Village Administrator for South Orange remains one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever made in a lifetime of difficult decisions. It’s not the first time I had the opportunity to make this decision here in South Orange, it’s just the first time that I believed it made sense.

What we have done here is create a family, where members sometime bicker, sometimes disagree, sometimes fight, but are always on each other’s side when the chips are down.

My departure as Village Administrator does not change any of that. You can rest assured, as you have been for me, I will always be there for all of you, when and if you need me.

Thank you and good night.

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