May 7 Town Council meeting

Town council approved two ordinances on first reading to borrow $1.2 million for severance costs and another $475,000 to create a public park on Ridgeway Avenue, as well as to pay an additional $190,571 for sewer and street construction at its May 7, 2013, meeting.

The meeting also included a presentation on the “Shop Local” program to encourage local resident shopping by letting merchants direct discounts to customer property-tax bills, as well as a resolution in support of the program.

The meeting agendas and related materials are here.

The administration received council approval on first reading for an ordinance to borrow $1.2 million for an emergency appropriation to cover severance costs for retirements of town employees. State law and labor contracts have allowed public employees to accumulate unused sick days, vacation and holidays, days off and compensatory time during their careers that can be paid out at their final pay rates when they leave. West Orange faces an estimated “accumulated absence” liability of approximately $16 million, according to the town chief financial officer. The appropriation would be repaid in equal amounts over five years. The town last addressed this issue in 2011, borrowing nearly $450,000 to meet this expense.

Council also approved on first reading a proposed ordinance to spend $500,000 to create a passive park on town land fronting Ridgeway Avenue, including borrowing $475,000. The debt would be repaid by the town Open Space Trust Fund, which is funded by town property owners at about $150,000 annually and has a balance of $461,000, according to the town chief financial officer.

The council majority approved a related resolution expressing intent to allocate any revenue from the portion of the Ridgeway property not being developed as a park to replenish the Open Space Trust Fund. Although I was able to strengthen the language, I voted against this resolution because it is not legally binding on future councils and may result in any revenue allocated to a purpose unrelated to Open Space.

The council also approved another related resolution to pay an additional $3,000 to the project architect, Dowd/Baretto, over its $35,000 contract. The resolution indicates printing costs exceeded the $2,208 allowed expenses in the original contract, so that another $2,941 is required.

The council also approved administration requests for additional funding for two construction projects:

- $94,000 to the engineering firm of Paulus Sokolowski & Sartor – a 67% increase in the contract amount – for additional work on the Mayfair District Sewer Improvement project. The resolution said the firm helped overcome unforeseen obstacles during the project, saving at least $200,000 in construction costs. The town engineer provided additional explanation of the need, including providing a missing page in his recommendation letter to the council. He also stated the additional roadwork construction referenced in the resolution, if approved by the state, would be funded by the cost-savings and presented to the council in a future resolution.

- $96,571 to Reivax Contracting, a 20% increase in its original $482,856 contract to improve Belle Terre Road, for further street improvements on Garfield Avenue. The town engineer provided additional information showing the pricing of the work is comparable to another recent competitively bid contract. 

The council also approved a $15,250 competitively bid contract for engineering and survey services for planned work on Yale, Harvard and Oxford terraces that will be funded with a state transportation grant. 

The “Shop Local” program is designed to benefit local merchants by providing an incentive to property owners to shop at participating businesses in exchange for a discount that is applied to the customer’s property taxes. The program is based on one now underway in Marlboro, N.J. The merchant pays for the discount, which can vary, and for transaction fees. The vendor, Fincredit, has a website on the program, www.propertytaxcard.com. The program has substantial start-up costs – including approximately a dollar for each swipe card needed to direct the transaction. The mayor said the costs would be donated and not require township funding, including covering start-up costs for the first 25 merchants to join. 

Two other agenda item related to the town’s efforts to retain emergency radio frequencies, which the Federal Communications Commission recently ruled should be surrendered as part of a legal fight with New Jersey Transit and New York City. The administration requests a contract not to exceed $5,000 to hire a law firm and an executive session to discuss the situation. The FCC order is here. 

In other action:

- I asked about rumors that a former employee had been living in town hall and downloading inappropriate material on a town computer. The mayor said he was investigating and would report back at the next council meeting.

- The council and administration had a lengthy debate on posting materials that the council receives as part of its deliberations to the council meeting page on the town website. I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to get all materials the council is given – excluding confidential documents – posted.

- A resident noted that Prism Capital Partners, the designated redeveloper of the Edison Battery Factory site on Main Street, has not yet began construction work, despite a January news release indicating a Spring 2013 start date. 

I’m a West Orange Township councilman since 2010, reachable at jkrakoviak@westorange.org. I am a business communications consultant in my spare time.