New Verona Council Gets Busy

For the first time, the full Verona Township Council was seated in chambers for official business. New member Michael Nochimson joined the new Mayor, Frank Sapienza and new Deputy Mayor, Bob Manley along with Council Members Jay Sniatkowski and Kevin Ryan as well as Township Manager, Joseph Martin.  The meeting began with the obligatory “welcomes and thank yous” before getting on to the business at hand.

During the summer, when issues are expected to slow down, and the Council meetings are on a once-a-month, summer schedule, August 15^th will be a busy evening at the next Verona Township Council meeting. That’s when the many ordinances, introduced during the July 11 Council meeting, will be open for public hearing and adoption. The 4 bond ordinances introduced, totaling almost $1.5 million dollars, are for various capital improvements and purchases.

In Council reports, two items of note were brought to the attention of attendees. Council Member Jay Sniatkowski reported on the good response to the mail solicitation campaign for donations to the September 11th Memorial Fund. He also mentioned a slight change to the September 11 ceremony. In the past it was usually held about 8:30 AM. However, this year, because it falls on a Sunday, the ceremony is tentatively scheduled for 6 PM so as not to conflict with Sunday morning religious worship services.

During the Mayors report, a special congratulations was offered to Gerry Ballinger a resident of Hillwood Terrace, who will be celebrating her 102^nd birthday this week.

Of the four bond ordinances introduced, No. 7-11 for ten items of various capital improvements, will total $434,000.  According to Township Manager Martin,  “This will be paid for as a general obligation of the town, through taxes. The other three ordinances are revenue financings from the different utilities through user fees.”

Bond ordinance No. 8-11, amounting to $209,000, will be for improvement of the water system. Approximately $723,000, appropriated through ordinance No.9-11, will be to fund various sewer system improvements. Ordinance No. 10-11 is for pool capital improvements costing approximately $88,000.

Ordinance No.6-11 was also reintroduced after initially being introduced in June. It is a zoning ordinance, where the zoning requirements were updated to be more consistent with the Township’s master plan. It reduces the Township’s exposure to lawsuits by making zoning requirements more standardized and therefore, more defensible in court.

Authorizing the execution of a financial agreement between the Township and CenRose Hilltop Properties, the developer of Highlands at Hilltop, Phase 2, ordinance, No. 11-11, will offer tax exemptions to the developer, but will provide payment in lieu of taxes (P.I.L.O.T.) to the Township. As stated in the ordinance, “Approval of this ordinance will serve the best financial interest of the Township of Verona.”

Moving into public session, many of the comments were strong requests to cut taxes in 2012, introduce the budget earlier and renegotiate contributions from public employees. The new Council assured the public that they plan to be sensitive to their requests.

In addition to the six ordinances, eight resolutions regarding attorneys, board appointments and other “housekeeping issues” were discussed before adjournment.