Dispatches from M.Emory Layne – North Plainfield, ZRC

By Emory Layne

As in “North Plainfield, Zero Responsibility Corporation.”

A lot of people think running a town like a business is talking dirty. I’ve had this discussion with folks, and those opposed start tossing out a lot of the traditional soapbox-and-megaphone tripe about how you can’t see a municipality like a business because companies are cold, unfeeling and bottom-line driven. They say they’d fear that people’s concerns and services would get shunted aside as bean counters and balance sheets became all that mattered.

Of course, people who talk like that do so from that wonderful place called What If, South Dakota.

If you live there and want to oppose a position, you don’t have to have any facts or data – you just throw out a lot of hypothetical thoughts, the more ominous the better, and act as if they prove something. It’s funny how such people always know exactly what’s going to happen in the future, but can’t even get tomorrow’s Pick-3 right.

It’s a shame, though, that people hired by North Plainfield don’t seem to be able to count beans very well. Sometimes, it seems as if the jar with the beans spilled the beans all over the floor and they just swept them up and tossed them out.

At the end of 2007, North Plainfield’s municipal debt stood at $13,010,183.00

In 1999, North Plainfield filed a lawsuit against the Fidelity Land Development Corp. over the Watchung Square Mall project. The borough attorneys failed to meet the deadline for responding to an offer of a $2.2 million dollar settlement from the developer. By the time the Allen administration managed to mail a piece of paper to the developer accepting the offer, the suit had already been heard and the Borough lost.

No settlement!

If the borough attorney had done his job and put a letter in the mail on time, and then if that settlement had been deposited in a passbook account with 2% simple interest (as opposed to shoving it in a mattress), the borough would have had $2,575.000 by 2007.

That would have reduced the debt to $10,435,183.

Once the Villa Maria stopped being a not-for-profit entity, the owners owed taxes. That tax debt to the borough reached approximately $1,500,000. While everyone else in North Plainfield pays their taxes or suffers late fines and penalties, these went uncollected. We still have absolutely no idea why.

But we do know that applying them to the borough debt would have reduced it further to $8,935,183

Renovation of Borough Hall was originally budgeted for $3,828,000. While obtaining information on what’s actually being spent on this project is nearly impossible thanks to a combination of administrative secrecy and creative bookkeeping, it can be very safely assumed that the project is at least $1,000,000 over budget.

Add to this the $300,000 in late fees the contractor – Dauti Construction Co. – was legally obligated to pay (heck, Dauti put the late fees in his bid package, which seems to have helped him win the contract in the first place) until he managed to pull off the oldest trick in the book and not sign the contracts …

… and we reduce the municipal debt to $7,635,183.

There’s the question of why at least $316,000 has gone uncollected in back fees and citation fines. The ‘explanation’ provided is that there’s no credit card processing system available … so how, may we ask, were such fines collected back when there were no credit cards? The violators don’t have checkbooks? CASH?

And let’s not forget about the $500,000 (minimum) that the administration admitted went ‘missing’ while John Katilas was the Borough Administrator (admitted, that is, when it appeared there was going to be an investigation; then, David Hollod did the investigation and BLINK! No more issue!)

The debt is down to $6,819,183.

And that, my friends, is a smidgeon over HALF of what it currently is.

And I never even touched on years of uncollected fines for zoning violations, and years of a “warn but don’t violate” policy being practiced by the police department. Both of those areas bring in borough income. Individually, they’re small; collectively, they add up to large numbers that would have further reduced the debt.

This is not voodoo economics.

This is the simple, basic premise of collecting money that’s owed, obtaining money that’s offered, and managing money that exists.

Let me ask some equally simple questions.

Is Janice Allen’s preschool in bankruptcy?

Is Eric Bernstein’s law firm in debt?

Are Borough Administrator David Hollod, Council President Frank Stabile and Councilman/Mayoral candidate Mike Giordano fending off creditors?

I’d make an educated guess that the answers are no, no, no, no and no.

When it comes to their OWN businesses and personal finances, I strongly believe that the people who handle the borough’s money are a great deal more conscious of who owes them money and a great deal more committed to getting it. I believe they value the concept of being financially healthy.

But when it comes to the money you and I provide them, they apply an entirely different set of standards.

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with expecting those who claim to have the skill sets to make the important determinations about borough finances to either do it or explain why they aren’t. This isn’t Monopoly money we’re dealing with, though the way Borough Hall ‘plays’ at their tasks they’d likely trade Boardwalk even-up for Mediterranean.

And it’s not as if they can’t do it when it’s their own money.

The people who have been managing OUR money for a long time don’t have the commitment and willingness to do it wisely. Just like someone who pays off one credit card’s debt by using another one, there’s always next year’s tax income, there’s always a spreadsheet that looks great but means nothing, and there’s always someone or something a finger can be pointed at.

Pyramid schemes inevitably fall apart; Ponzi schemes inevitably crash.

At what point does all this come back to haunt the taxpayer in North Plainfield … at which time, the perpetrators will either be long gone or will just have found new excuses to replace the old ones?

Town Meeting Thursday Night

NPCCR will host a Town Meeting tomorrow (Thursday) night starting at 7 p.m., at Vermeule Community Center. The meeting will include a 1-Year-Birthday celebration for NPCCR.

Other agenda items include:

Reports from committees about:

• NPCCR participation in the June 21 North Plainfield Street Fair
• NPCCR Finances (Treasurer Gary Lewis)
• Economic Development – Business Survey
• Villa Maria Historic and Rezoning issues
• Shade Tree Commission – Initiative Campaign

New Business:

• Save Muhlenberg Hospital Campaign & Muhlenberg Pledge
• Illegal Housing – Data, data gathering, and data analysis
• Community Safety (GOP Club will host a meeting on How to Form a Neighborhood Crime Watch on June 24)
• Fundraising for the North Plainfield Rescue Squad
• NPCCR “4-1-1 Challenge”
• Formation of an Oversight Committee for NP School Board
• Discussion of Minority Commission or Human Rights Commission

On the topic of initiative campaigns, I’m working on putting together the petition materials to be ready for signatures at the NPCCR table at the Street Fair June 21.

However, each initiative campaign must have a five-member Committee of Petitioners who take responsibility for shepherding the paperwork through the signature-collection and submission process to the November ballot.

Since each petition only needs 243 valid signatures to get on the ballot, there probably won’t be a whole lot of door-knocking legwork involved – the Street Fair turnout is usually in the thousands, and it seems likely that reaching the 243 mark will be fairly straightforward.

Volunteers need to step up to be the Committee of Petitioners for each one.

You have to be a registered voter. But party doesn’t matter and political experience doesn’t matter.

Without those volunteers willing to put their names on the petition package, it’s all a no-go.

Deadline for YOU stepping up (yes, you!) is Tuesday, June 17 by 5 p.m.

I’ll be announcing this at the Town Meeting tomorrow night.

Here are the proposed initiative ordinances, so you can read through them, see if you approve of the measures proposed, and write in to communityrights at gmail.com to volunteer. There’s a little more background here.

• Shade Tree Ordinance would transform the current Shade Tree Advisory Board (which has no enforcement power) into a Shade Tree Commission, with the authority to intervene to protect healthy shade trees from destruction. Towns with similar Commissions include Green Brook, Watchung, Old Bridge, Paramus, Chatham, Millburn and Berkeley Heights.
• Nonpartisan Elections Charter Amendment would amend the Borough’s charter to change from partisan elections for local offices (held in June and November), to nonpartisan elections for local offices (held in May).
• Open Space Municipal Tax would establish a municipal open space tax of at least $0.01 per $100 of assessed value, [to comply with Green Acres requirements] to be used to finance purchase and preservation of the last remaining parcel of open space in the Borough – the Villa Maria – and other land and water conservation measures throughout the Borough. This ordinance language would be based on April 2008 guidance from the Trust for Public Land, posted at the NJ Department of Environmental Protection website. Here’s another guide, from the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions, including sample ballot language. 13 Somerset County municipalities already collect a municipal open space tax. I will draft this ordinance ONLY if five North Plainfield residents sign on as members of the Committee of Petitioners.
• Human Rights Commission would be empowered to receive complaints regarding discriminatory actions within the Borough, investigate those complaints, and work with community groups and parties involved in alleged discriminatory incidents to prevent discrimination and resolve conflicts. I plan to draft a proposed ordinance closely modelled on the Columbia, Missouri Human Rights Commission, but ONLY if five North Plainfield residents sign on as members of the Committee of Petitioners. 

 

Primary Election Results

Reposted from Courier-News website.

Mayor, one four-year seat:

• Michael Giordano Jr., D, 460
• Robert Gatto, R, 382

Three four-year Borough Council seats:

• Frank N. D’Amore Sr., R – 388
• Marie Kushnir, R – 378
• Frank “Skip” Stabile*, D – 377
• Robert E. Hitchcock*, D – 373
• Barbara Habeeb, R – 368
• Frank Righetti*, D –  352
• Luis Morales, D – 137
• Al Fodor, D – 116
• Nathan Headd, D – 116

Muhlenberg Public Hearing Tomorrow Night

Just in from Josh Lambert:

A second public hearing to gain input on the fate of Muhlenberg Hospital is scheduled for Thursday, June 5 from 6 – 8 pm at Plainfield High School, 950 Park Ave, Plainfield, NJ.

The hearing was scheduled in response to the overwhelming turnout at the first hearing and will give residents an additional opportunity to voice their opinions on the proposed closure of Muhlenberg.

The hospital serves the healthcare needs of Plainfield and the surrounding communities. In 2007, the emergency room treated 35,000 patients, and the loss of this hospital would be a blow to public health in the area. Please plan to attend the public hearing to show your support for the continued presence and service level of Muhlenberg Hospital.

Also plan to attend the rally organized by People’s Organization for Progress outside Plainfield High School that will begin at 4:30 pm and immediately preceed the hearing. Public health in the region needs your support.

[Editor’s Note: Barbara Habeeb will be speaking at the meeting in support of Muhlenberg Hospital.]

Dispatches from M.Emory Layne – With all this perfection, why isn’t this Utopia?

By Emory Layne

There is one consistency, more than any other, that personifies officials in North Plainfield: elected, appointed or hired.

It is the inability to ever do anything wrong.

When you take into account your own personal experiences, and combine them with the revelations of foul-ups, bleeps and blunders in town over an indefinite period, you can only conclude that no one who holds any authority in North Plainfield EVER does anything wrong.

At least, that’s what they seem to believe.

When was the last time you heard ANYONE in these positions say “I screwed up?”

The answer is the same as the one for the question of when you ever heard any of these folks apologize – how long is forever?

We’ve all known these types of people, in social situations, in clubs and organizations, but especially in the workplace. People for whom errors are impossible, poor judgment is unthinkable, and blame invariably falls elsewhere. We’ve all marveled at how people with little or no skills at problem solving, administration or actually DOING anything themselves have risen to positions of responsibility. It takes lots and lots of years, and lots and lots of frustrating experiences with them, before it becomes clear that to them, honesty is a liability, integrity a handicap.

To them, as Motorhead sings, “It’s all about control, and who’s gonna take it.”

Appropriately enough to North Plainfield, the very next line of that song is “It’s all about big debt, and if you can pay it.”

It certainly appears that it’s been ages since North Plainfield has made a ‘bad hire,’ because everyone gets raises and promotions, and no one gets fired or disciplined.

It certainly appears that only the cream of the crop are consistently appointed to boards, committees and commissions, because their positions are renewed year in and year out, and they’re only replaced when they choose to leave or move onward and upward.

And listening to the absolute, echoing SILENCE coming from our elected officials as news of all these financial and administrative … oddities … come to light, we must conclude that they either (a) think there’s absolutely nothing wrong with any of this, or (b) are simply searching for the proper ‘Jonah’ to blame it all on.

Someone who isn’t one of them.

Revisit the concept of your superiors and your brethren in the workplace. When you encounter someone unwilling to accept any responsibility for anything that goes wrong, how long do you shoulder the responsibility yourself before you get fed up?

How often have you found yourself covering for someone else’s ineptitude – and then watched that person claim the results as their own?

Don’t sit there and tell me you don’t mind it; it sucks and you know it sucks.

And a lot of people have unfortunately experienced firsthand how it can progress from simple frustration to financial crisis, as companies downsize or go under because legends in their own minds get used to believing they’re infallible.

Now, revisit Borough Hall.

Our Mayor has never felt it necessary to say “I made a mistake.”

Instead, she’s provided provably inaccurate excuses, and tried to lay off the blame on faceless, nameless “theys.”

Our Borough Administrator seems oblivious to literally millions of dollars scattering to the four winds, and if he ever manages to bring himself to discuss finances with us peons at all, he blathers about county and school budgets taking up the largest portion of our tax bite. Who cares?

We want to know about the money that’s getting flushed down the terlit.

Our multipurpose Zoning Officer and DPW Director does little unless you count getting bad press an accomplishment.

Our Borough Attorney apparently can’t handle the simplest basics of his assignments.

The mayor’s Administrative Assistant seems to feel it acceptable to spread lies and slander about residents to other towns.

And while all this is going on, Borough Council acts like those floating heads on the old Star Trek TV series, discussing inanities while appearing to remain oblivious to what’s going on a few rooms removed from where they meet.

Do we ever see someone at a Council meeting even APPEAR to be upset about the goings on in town, the goings on that have to do with the people who make the decisions?

Over the course of a LOT of years, I can only recall four times when the officials in this town ever got pissed enough to speak up, speak out, and take action. One involved loving concern for an old building – when tearing down the Vermuele Mansion was discussed, people in power got up in arms and acted. Another involved changing the name of the town; people in authority screamed ‘racism!’ and talked of their pride and mustered the effort to defeat it. A third involved a crowd of residents showing up at Borough Hall to protest potential cuts in school services – the Council rudely told them they had to leave or the meeting would be cancelled. And the fourth? When a police officer ran a license plate of one of the Borough Hall insiders; swift action followed.

There’ve been a few examples of action recently. Eric Bernstein felt it necessary to threaten recovery of a few thousand dollars from Katherine Watt, and Tina Totten felt it important to badmouth the NPCCR to Green Brook Flood Control Commission officials.

Meanwhile, a few hundred thousand dollars flitters away from the Villa Maria property, and a few million dollars are being tossed in the Borough Hall renovation money pit, and silence reigns.

As this goes on, Borough Council is discussing parking, new members of committees and massage parlors.

What is WRONG with you people? I KNOW you don’t act this way about your own checkbook:

“Honey, $10,000 is missing!”

“Oh, well. C’est la vie!”

I KNOW how you’ve reacted when you think someone ELSE is doing something that’s not kosher. What’s with all this turning your back to the approaching tornado and saying “Wow, it’s sunny over there!”

I hope I’m speaking for a number of other people when I call on Borough Council to sever the social and political ties and TALK about all this ridiculousness that’s literally being handed to you by this blog.

We can see pretty clearly that the Mayor has no interest anymore in dealing with anything related to the Borough except awards and her legacy. It’s time for you people to shoulder what goes with your fancy titles – dig in, speak up, or get out.

Quit passing the buck – accept your responsibility, or step aside.

Primary Elections Today

Polls open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Community Calendar has been updated – click on the link at right. It’s easiest to read if you then click on the “Agenda” view tab in the upper right corner. (When I figure out how to make that the default view, it’ll be one click, rather than two.)

The True or False page up top has been reorganized a little bit – reads like a community indictment of the Allen Administration, and I hope to get the rest of the material up there within a week or two.

As always, readers with information to rebut (or provide additional support for) those provisional conclusions are more than welcome to send it in for posting.

And there’s a new Volunteer page, for readers interested in helping NPCCR with the work of creating and then maintaining an open, accountable, competent, small-d democratic local government. A list of suggested OPRA requests is at the bottom of that page.

Finally, book you might be interested in: Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Uprising Scaring Wall Street and Washington, by David Sirota.

That’s us!

Joshua Lambert on Circuit City

[Editor’s Note: Disclosure – Josh is my husband.]

So I emailed the Circuit City customer service contact page last week and asked about the status (existence) of the proposed store in North Plainfield.  The one that is supposed to be in the K-Mart plaza on Rt. 22.

They responded by sending me to their website which has a listing of new and planned stores

North Plainfield isn’t on the list.  Maybe it’s an old list, although I tend to think they update it regularly since it’s related to employee recruitment.

It’s more likely the case that since the economy has slowed down, they’ve changed their minds about coming to North Plainfield.  Maybe something else happened.  It would be nice if the Economic Development Committee could give the Borough an update on the situation.  On the Borough website perhaps.

Contracting Oversight and 5/27 Borough Council Report

CONTRACTING OVERSIGHT

Late last week, Grassroots Groundswell obtained copies of the Performance Bond and Payment Bond related to the Borough Hall Renovation project, whose lead contractor is Dauti Construction Co. Inc.

Dauti Performance Bond

Dauti Payment Bond

If the Borough Hall source who provided these documents released the true, final copies on file for the project, then it appears probable that none of the contract provisions are being enforced because no one from Dauti Construction Co. Inc. ever signed the bonds.

Since posting this information last week, readers have written in with several pertinent questions.

• Given that the bonds are part of ongoing litigation, would Great American insurance company give the public information about whether they have Dauti’s signature on their copies of the bonds?
• Would the insurance company answer questions about whether the bond provisions are still in effect, or whether the bonds are invalid, either because Dauti never signed or because the Borough failed to seek remedies using the bonds until after the statute of limitations for claims had expired?
• If Dauti never signed the contract, and Borough Attorney Eric Bernstein was and is responsible for reviewing all Borough contracts, is he liable for the error: should he be fired and sued for damages by the Borough government and a class action group of Borough taxpayers?
• If Great American Insurance Co. denies liability because the bond was not signed by the contractor, is Great American liable to the Borough for having issued the bond without making sure it got signed?

Also, a contractor pointed out that someone from Dauti had to sign papers to obtain building and renovation permits.

• If those permits were properly signed, then do those signatures qualify as the contractor’s official participation in the project, covering the bond part also?

If Dauti didn’t sign construction permits, then the permits were illegally obtained.

REPORT – Borough Council Meeting, May 27, 2008

MAYOR JANICE ALLEN NOT IN ATTENDANCE

Mayor Janice Allen was not at the meeting, but Borough Administrator David Hollod and Borough Attorney Eric Bernstein were. Councilman Frank Righetti was also absent, and Councilwoman Jenny Flynn resigned a few weeks ago and had not yet been replaced.

CODE ENFORCEMENT – COMMERCIAL VEHICLES IN RESIDENTIAL ZONES

During public comments, resident and Zoning Board of Adjustment member Jack Fowler said he was glad to see that commercial vehicle parking was on the agenda for discussion, noting that since businesses are not permitted in residential neighborhoods, commercial vehicles should not be permitted either. Mr. Fowler also noted the proliferation of taxis since the Borough now has at least five taxi companies, and suggested the Council adopt a “simple” ordinance that would prohibit parking all vehicles with commercial license plates or lettering in residential areas. He also suggested that the Police Department should be in charge of enforcement, since most of the parking problems occur overnight, when the Zoning Code Enforcement Officer (Jim Rodino) is not on duty.

Council President Skip Stabile said the Council is considering revising the current commercial vehicle ordinances, adding that the issue has been “vexing” Council members for several years, through the formation of several subcommittees that have been unable to reach consensus on revisions.

Police Chief William Parenti explained that there are two relevant sections of the Borough Code: a portion of the Traffic Code, specifically Chapter 7-4.2

No person shall park any commercial vehicle with a gross registered weight over six thousand five hundred (6,500) pounds or any other vehicle with a gross registered weight over eight thousand (8,000) pounds on any street within the Borough at any time, with the exception of vehicles providing a service on a short term or temporary basis for a period not to exceed twenty-four (24) hours, such as but not limited to, moving vans, landscaping trucks, and delivery vehicles.

which falls under police jurisdiction,

and a portion of the Zoning Code, specifically Article VIII, Chapter 22-115.7:

Commercial Vehicles in Residential Zones. Commercial vehicles may not be kept, parked or stored in residential zones except that one such vehicle may be garaged on such premises provided it is kept in a fully enclosed garage; it does not exceed a rated capacity of three quarter (3/4) ton and it is used by a resident of the premises; and it is not parked on the street, the driveway or any exposed portion of the lot.

which falls under the Zoning Officer’s jurisdiction.

Formerly, Parenti said, the police/traffic code applied only between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., but it has been amended to be enforceable 24-hours per day. When police or fire officials find vehicles in violation of the zoning code, they send reports to the Zoning Officer to handle on day-shift, but they don’t issue police citations for those violations, because those rules don’t fall under police jurisdiction.

Parenti also noted that Green Brook (where he lives) has no ordinances related to commercial vehicles, and that, with regard to taxis (most of which weigh less than 6,500 pounds and are therefore outside police jurisdiction), the Zoning Officer is authorized to revoke taxi licenses from drivers who improperly park their taxis in residential areas. Parenti said he believes Mr. Rodino has been enforcing the code provisions related to taxis.

Parenti said that if the Borough Council wants the police to enforce commercial vehicle prohibitions, all the code provisions should be put into the police sections of the Borough Code, and that he would be happy to provide sample ordinances, drafts and other helpful documents for Council members interested in revising the relevant codes.

“You pass the laws and then we enforce the laws,” Parenti reminded the Council.

Chief Parenti also suggested one possibility would be to word the ordinance to prohibit vehicles with “exposed tools” like ladders, wheelbarrows, trailers, etc. In other words, he said, some municipalities don’t regulate the commercial nature of the vehicle, just the presence of equipment on the vehicle. Many municipalities also provide exceptions for emergency vehicles (like utility trucks) during weather emergencies, so utility workers can quickly mobilize to repair sites.

Parenti said taxis and other service vehicles could be covered with time limits. For example, taxis could be permitted to stand at one location no longer than a half-hour, and moving trucks or landscaping vehicles could be permitted to stand at one location no longer than 24 hours.

Councilman Stabile suggested that service vehicles be permitted to stand at one location “for the duration of work,” but Parenti pointed out that the police would have a hard time sitting at the location watching to make sure the vehicle operators were actually working.

Councilwoman Mary Forbes said “My feeling is, you’ve got to allow people to do their jobs. You can’t interfere with businesses.”

Councilman Bob Hitchcock said he would like to see exemptions for regular, unlettered pickup trucks and vans, and asked if the Police Department keeps a list of appropriate places for commercial vehicles to be parked in the Borough, suggesting the K-Mart parking lot. Parenti said the police department keeps no such list, and K-Mart’s parking lot is private property, not at all appropriate for commercial parking, and that the police are regularly called to remove illegally parked vehicles from the K-Mart parking lot.

[Editor’s Note: How would they classify residential parking for personal use of Borough vehicles?]

Councilman Mike Giordano said he’d like to see the taxi code enforcement moved from zoning to police jurisdiction, and concurred with Mr. Hitchcock that ordinary pickup trucks and vans should not be prohibited from residential districts.

Giordano also suggested that moving truck operators be required to contact the police department to provide notice if the trucks would be parked overnight for early morning unloading. Parenti noted that such situations have not traditionally been much of a problem in the Borough anyway.

At the close of the discussion, Councilman Stabile suggested the subcommittee on commercial vehicles re-convene and continue working on ordinance revisions.

REPLACING COUNCILWOMAN JENNY FLYNN

Republican nominees to replace Jenny Flynn, who resigned from the Council May 12, are Robert Gatto, Frank D’Amore and Barbara Habeeb. The replacement decision has been placed on the Council’s June 9 agenda; if the nominee chosen is present at the June 9 Council meeting, he or she will be sworn in and seated that night.

NEW MEMBER OF PROPERTY MAINTENANCE COMMITTEE…

Which is now known as the “Community Compliance and Resource Committee,” (name changed by unanimous vote at the 5/27 Council meeting.)

Tracy Peters was appointed to Property Maintenance Committee. Ms. Peters is an extremely dedicated local resident, who attends most Borough Council meetings and speaks up on a variety of issues. (Her husband, Larry LaRonde, was appointed to the Economic Development Committee last year.)

When I learned of her imminent appointment, I forwarded Ms. Peters copies of the draft Property Maintenance brochures I drafted and Norman E. Ortega translated into Spanish,

Draft Property Maintenance Brochure

Draft Property Maintenance Brochure – Espanol

with a request that Ms. Peters present those to the rest of the committee to see if the committee is interested in revising and printing them for use in a public information campaign, mentioning that I’d previously submitted the drafts to the Property Maintenance Committee at nppropmain@comcast.net (as listed in the Spring 2008 Borough newletter) with no response.

Ms. Peters very kindly and professionally responded to my e-mail, writing:

“As I am new to the committee, I am not in a position to know what happened to your previous email of the attachment you have provided but will pass it along again on your behalf.”

Thank you, Ms. Peters, for your courteous response and your written commitment.

MASSAGE PARLOR REGULATION

Dave Hollod kicked off the discussion by saying that Chief Parenti submitted the proposed ordinance at the request of Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest. Parenti said that the state legislature passed a law to regulate massage parlors, but Forrest believes it will take five to ten years to implement the program. Thus, municipalities are being urged to adopt regulatory ordinances in the meantime, to encourage “legitimate” businesses by

• requiring $250 license fees for each business, and $100 license fees for each massage therapist,
• outlining the minimum level of required training each therapist must have to offer services to the public,
• and outlining the services massage parlor staff can and can’t provide to customers.

Borough Attorney Eric Bernstein said enforcement of the ordinance would be shared by the Zoning Officer, Construction official, Fire Department, Police Department and Health Department.

Councilman Bob Hitchcock asked Parenti: “Are there any massage parlors in town?”

Parenti replied: “There are a few,” adding that there has never been any sign of problems in the way the establishments are operated.

The County Prosecutor’s office is also preparing draft ordinances for municipal police chiefs to introduce, covering interlocal services agreements so police departments can share staff occasionally.

SEWER TAX APPEAL PROCESS

Dave Hollod also brought up the topic of sewer tax appeals, suggesting a “minor change” in the process to improve service to the public and save money. Hollod explained that sewer tax bills go out once a year, in the spring, and then residents who object to the tax amount must pay the bill anyway, and then file appeals with the Tax Collector Catherine Park by June 1. Then the Sewer Usage Board of Appeals meets to review the tax bills and appeals.

The three-member board of appeals includes Hollod, Tom Fagan (Planning Board Chair, Economic Development Committee Co-Chair, Democratic Committee Chair) and, until she resigned, Councilwoman Jenny Flynn.

Hollod said that, “in virtually every case,” the board of appeals takes the recommendation of the Tax Collector, to refund a portion of the tax payment due to a calculation error, or let the full amount stand.

Hollod proposed that the rules be changed so that residents with appeals could just meet directly with Ms. Park, and then, if they’re not satisfied with the result, either appeal to the Sewer Usage Board or directly to the Borough Council, which would have to formally approve any resolution reached by residents and Ms. Park anyway.

Councilman Stabile said: “Sounds like a terrific setup.”

Councilwoman Mary Forbes said: “I think it’s a good idea.”

Councilman Bob Hitchcock said he was concerned about the lack of a “check and balance” if residents only met with one person – the Tax Collector – rather than a committee, not because of the risk to residents, but because “He might be too lenient” in authorizing refunds. By “he,” Mr. Hitchcock was referring to Tax Collector Catherine Park, who Mr. Hitchcock apparently didn’t know is a woman.

Councilwoman Forbes suggested that a sentence or two about the reason for the Tax Collector’s decision (i.e., clerical error, partial year residency, etc.) should be included in the Council resolutions authorizing the refunds.

And Councilman Stabile concurred, noting that then “there would be a paper trail” to facilitate Council oversight of the process. [There’s a shocker – Stabile is familiar with the concept of paper trails.]

Dave Hollod said he would be willing to be present at the meetings between residents and Ms. Park.

Councilman Mike Giordano said the plan sounds “fine.” If residents meet with Ms. Park and Mr. Hollod, “fine.” If residents meet with just the Tax Collector, “fine.”

SIGN ORDINANCE

Council unanimously adopted the new Sign Ordinance proposed by the Economic Development Committee (Chair Florence Mannion, Borough Planner Marta Lefsky) and introduced by EDC liaison, Councilman Doug Singleterry. I think the draft ordinance obtained by Grassroots Groundswell a few weeks ago may have been revised before the Council adopted the ordinance. A complete copy of the new ordinance will probably be published at the Borough Code site shortly.

PODS ORDINANCE

Not yet voted on – went back to Bernstein for additional revisions.

FEE SCHEDULE for LAND DEVELOPMENT

Council unanimously voted to revise the fee schedule for permits. I don’t know what the new fees will be – I can’t find the copy of the changes rates. But that too will probably show up in the Borough Code soon.

SOMERSET COUNTY GRANTS

Dave Hollod announced that he will be applying for $85,000 in grant money from Somerset County for Facade Improvements, even though last year’s $28,000 has yet to be spent, due to Borough inaction.

COMPTROLLER’S INVESTIGATION

Dave Hollod also mentioned that the State Comptroller’s office requested audit materials from Borough officials, and that all items were submitted on time.

Dispatches from M.Emory Layne – I Can Breathe in a Small Town…

By Emory Layne

A point I raised in a recent dispatch, and the counterpoint that followed, got me thinking about a concept that is so basic, so simple, that it amazes me that there is any debate at all that doesn’t first consider it and conclude that some of this arguing is so much idiocy.

I was thinking about those people who put together the Fourth of July parade and the fireworks program. But as I write about them, I guess I could also be saying the same things for the people who put together school fairs, or class activities at the schools, or scouting programs, or similar activities.

The parade is for everyone. One of my fondest memories of the parade in North Plainfield was the year those guys with all those tricked-out Hondas were in it, with the headlights winking up and down. That was so cool. There isn’t any “their” agenda and “our” agenda in it.

Same holds true for fireworks – hey, if you have a problem with the celebration and its intended symbolism, well, you can stay home and deal with the noise for 15 minutes, but people from 4 to 94 can be enthralled and enjoy it without having to figure out which ‘side’ they’re on.

I’ll bet it takes a lot of work to get that thing done, year in and year out. And I can believe with certainty, without having to review budgets and documents, that there’s not some open-ended budget to pull it off. No one’s got the option of just boosting a tax rate or a sewer fee, or putting through a bond issue, to get more money to do what they’d like to do – if they have an idea, it’s accomplished within the confines of a static budget and with sweat and effort.

People in this town … and towns like it all over America … do this all the time.

Sometimes, people need something, and instead of submitting an expense voucher, they just reach into their pocket and pay for it. Ten bucks, twenty bucks, shoot, you can burn through that and still have 15 minutes left in Happy Hour; why not for a good cause? No one keeps track of the hours they put in, because there’s no reason to. The end goal – a successful parade, or project, or event, or whatever, is the target, and reaching it provides great satisfaction.

This is a small town. A lot of the people you see involved in so many activities around town will never run for political office. They’ll never be appointed to a committee, and won’t even seek it. And the vast majority will never see one thin dime of their tax money come back to them in the form of a paycheck or expense check cut downtown.

They do it for the best reason of all — because it’s the right thing to do.

WHENEVER debate starts up about things that go on with our elected officials, our appointed officials, and our paid employees, does it occur to many of the people who angrily claim that ‘names are being called’ or ‘unfair criticism is being leveled’ that a whole lot of the people bringing the stuff up know from whence they speak?

That they’ve been there, and in many, many ways, done that and done it better.

Whatever happened to anonymous pride? Knowing that no one’s going to pay you for something … or pay you extra, that no one’s going to give you an award or a perk, and that no one’s probably going to even notice — but doing your best anyway?

People all over this town do that day in and day out, year in and year out, and not only do they “get” little or nothing for it (and here’s the big point coming) they don’t expect to, yet they do it anyway.

That little extra.

People want to see documents, budgets, contracts.

Of course, long ago in this peculiar society, the concept that someone who works FOR someone, i.e. the taxpayer, OWES them something remotely similar to respect has pretty much disappeared.

WHY can’t we just see them? I mean, every time there’s a Borough Council meeting, I’d think it was just a knee-jerk no-brainer to just put up what was talked about on the Borough website. Even if it’s not word-for-word, maybe just the highlights? “A fee to put a POD in your driveway was discussed.” How long does it take? Seconds.

I recall how upset a lot of people got when the salaries of public employees became available on line, seeing it as an ‘invasion of privacy.’

If you don’t want that happening, go work in the private sector. But when you do work for the taxpayer, and because the taxpayers have witnessed SO MUCH abuse of the system over decades, complaining about public access to public salary information is a cake-and-eat-it situation.

It wasn’t the taxpayers who wasted their own money on so many ridiculous things, yet you also want your cohorts to be allowed to continue doing it in privacy?

I’m really tired of the extended violin concertos played by elected officials and public employees when the very people who put them there and/or allow them to draw their beloved paychecks seek information. Someone wants to see a document? “The NERVE of them! How can someone possibly process public documents (and get paid for doing it) when the public keeps asking to see the documents? Why don’t they just TRUST us?”

Why, indeed?

No one seems to want anyone to know anything. “Trust us, we’re experts.”

Fine. I trust experts – especially when those experts are proud enough of their work that they share it with me.

When they demand I accept their expertise, but act offended if I ask to see their bona-fides, do they honestly expect me to feel bad, and apologize for questioning them? Why not just show me? If you’re as clean as you demand we believe, it’ll be as plain as day. AND WE’LL APPRECIATE IT.

“Of course I’m a surgeon. Of course I can cut out your gall bladder for $50,000. How DARE you ask to see my diploma!…”