Council Decides on Attorneys & Budget
PUBLISHED BY TEANECK VOICES
5/29/2023
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Contents:
Council Decides on Attorneys and Budget
Memorial Day 2023 in Teaneck, NJ
This Week in Teaneck - Land Use Boards and YAB
Revaluation - Where to Go to Understand the Process
Still Waiting For.....
Announcements:
Teaneck PRIDE Parade & Celebration - 6/4
JUNETEENTH - 6/17 to 6/19
PRIDE Film Festival - 6/23 & 6/30
Contacting Teaneck Voices
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Council Decides on Attorneys & Budget | |
In procedures that were both unconventional and atypical, Teaneck’s Council began its May 23, 2023 short public meeting at an irregularly early 6:00 pm that paused for a closed session then leading to a regular public meeting at 8:00 pm.
When the night was over, Council had not only enthusiastically supported 3 new attorney firms in 5 separate legal services functions but had voted in near-unanimous support of the 2023 Municipal Budget.
The early first session began with a short Good & Welfare session in which former Senator Loretta Weinberg made her first post-pandemic Council appearance to praise the process by which Council had approached Township legal services selection and urged the new attorneys to respect the Town’s residents.
After just 12 minutes of public input, Council used the G&W follow-up period to make statements about the four resolutions which they were about to consider.
· The first of these proposed to use the state’s “at will” provisions to terminate the Township’s contract for legal services with TRENK ISABELL SIDDIQUI & SHAHDANIAN, P.C
· The second proposed appointing and authorizing a professional services contract with JARDIM, MEISNER, & SUSSER, P.C – and specifically with the firm’s partner, Scott D. Salmon – as the new Township and Litigation Attorney.
· The third proposed appointing and authorizing a professional services contract with CARLIN WARD ASH & HEIART – and specifically Michael Ash – as the Township Redevelopment Attorney.
· The fourth proposed appointing the Weiner Group, LLP as the Town’s Labor and Tax attorney.
As Teaneck Voices has previously discussed (Click Here) , a process initiated by the new Council in January that had led to RFQ/RFP bids being opened on April 14 had then resulted in the Township being able to select from among 16 firms each of which could apply for any or all of seven different types of legal services. Council as a whole then had met in special closed sessions to interview legal services candidates and apparently determined to appoint the 3 firms in the five legal services types.
The qualifications of the selected firms were described in detail in the bid applications and access to them is explained in the Voices edition discussed above.
As the Council statements preparatory to the single vote on all four of these resolutions proceeded, it quickly emerged that the entire Council (with a single exception of one member on one firm) was satisfied with – even energized by – their choices. It was clear from member statements that Council expects the new Township lead attorney, Scott D. Salmon, to be “a new asset” to the Town’s governance.
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The agenda for the second (8:00 pm) part of the 5/23 meeting had originally called for adoption of all the ordinances and resolutions which would establish all the guidelines for the 2023 municipal budget and the 2023 capital expenditures.
The public hearing and votes on adoption of the bond ordinances will, however, be delayed until June 13 which – because therein is the capital commitment for the long-neglected Teaneck Garden Club roof – came as a disappointment to the many Club members in attendance who nevertheless again eloquently made their case Council then unanimously promised the roof will be funded this year.
Less clear is the timing on the $1.8M ladder truck which will be considered separately from the rest of the capital projects in June. When Ord 27-2023 was first to be introduced, Council voted only 4-3 in favor when the minority asked to delay the ladder truck commitment until 2024.
But, in fact, the rest of the evening proceeded with nothing but unanimous votes with a couple stray but very quiet abstentions. The municipal budget with its 3.49% rate increases this time not only did not generate any public hearing mention but no further comment from Council itself.
With early appreciation for TVAC and for the new GPS map of Teaneck’s historical places developed by the Historic Preservation Commission, Council seemed at ease in its governance. But the meeting was largely – though not entirely - devoid of redevelopment discussion. Look for much more intensity as those issues emerge beginning with the new Master Plan Committee meetings currently first scheduled for the evening of June 14.
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Memorial Day 2023 in Teaneck, NJ | |
Monday May 29, 11am on the Municipal Green - Memorial Day, 2023 – a truly memorable event. It was a beautiful day – the sun was shining, a cooling breeze was waving the many trees in our Tree City, the Teaneck High School band was playing patriotic standards - and friends were greeting friends as if finally bursting out of the pandemic. Looking around, it really felt like HOME!
And, indeed, the theme of our Keynote Speaker, Charles B. Rynearson, Jr., US Army Lt. Colonel (Ret.), Field Artillery was exactly that, HOME.
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As Rynearson shared with us, he grew up as an “army brat” so home was wherever his sister and brother, his father and mother – and the aroma of his mother’s bread baking – were. When he chose to follow his father’s career, West Point and the US Army, home was wherever he and his wife, Robin, gathered their family – with the aroma of baking bread always present. And when he retired and asked Robin where she wanted to go, she said, “I want to go home – to Teaneck.” And they did.
Teaneck’s Memorial Day event brought another homecoming – a new memorial, Military in Lasting Memorial, to bring home and honor the men and women of Teaneck who lost their lives while serving our country on active duty during peacetime. The first name inscribed is Michael K. Pleasants, a 27 year-old Teaneck High School Graduate who, in May 2021, died in a vehicle accident in San Diego, California. The stone memorial stands beside the memorial to those who lost their lives in Korea and Vietnam, both facing the iconic World War II memorial that flies the American Flag.
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This Memorial Day Hometown Celebration was capped by Teaneck High School students proudly conducting the Gold Star List Roll Call.
It was a day worthy of the new Council elected in November 2022 which is bringing back to Teaneck a culture of Respect, Openness, and Inclusion – the special things we all need from a good Home.
This past Thursday, Teaneck Voices published a special issue introducing six young men who lost their lives serving our country in its armed services. Unfortunately, we neglected to publish their pictures along with their profiles. Here are those heroes’ pictures.
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This Week in Teaneck - 5/29 to 6/4 | |
In this short week there are two land use board meetings back-to-back and a Youth Advisory Board meeting.
The sharp contrast between the way in which the Planning Board and Board of Adjustment have adjusted their operating modes to the post-Pandemic era is itself noteworthy.
The Planning Board (PB) will again be meeting at the Rodda Center at 7:00 pnm on Wednesday May 31 for an in-person only meeting. Its agenda (Click Here) indicates that the meeting will continue painstakingly to sort through how/whether Holy Name Medical Center’s proposed Site Plans for a new Day Care Center and gravel parking lot comport in whole or in part with the 22-2022 Township ordinance that authorized an expanded hospital zone for the Center.
The initial HNMC hearing was on October 27 last year. Many foibles mixed with some effective cross-examination of under prepared experts have kept this site plan review process going for more than 7 months. Sometimes these scheduled HNMC hearings are cancelled, often for unspecified reasons.
In the background of these hearings, as most residents know, is the negotiation spawned by litigation which challenges the legitimacy of the process (Planning Board and Township) which approved that Ordinance (Click Here). Whether or not these hearings should continue while the negotiation (focused primarily on a potential agreement between the Holy Name and its neighbors to the West) continues remains an issue. In fact, at the conclusion of the Board’s last (May 25 meeting) the Board members went into a closed session to discuss precisely this question. The results of that closed session may (or may not) be revealed publicly at this week’s (May 31) meeting. Additionally, whether or not the Board has sorted out who the Board Attorney is/should be until the Board’s reorganization in July is also not publicly known. The previous attorney left in April to become a judge.
Although there is not concurrent internet transmission of these Planning Board hearings, readers may possibly want to view the prior meeting video - particularly its final eight minutes (Click Here).
The Board of Adjustment (BofA) will continue to meet by zoom only and has a robust agenda for its June 1, 2023 ameeting at 7:00 pm.
Unfortunately, the zoom access for this meeting is not currently clickable on the Town website but Teaneck Voices has transcribed it. It is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84837390169 and the passcode is 405216. The rest of the agenda can be seen at Click Here.
Although most of this B of A agenda is of little general interest, among the issues currently scheduled is whether the BofA will allow the owner of the new mixed development on Old Bridge Road west of River Road to change the allowed uses of that development’s retail spaces to include a dental facility. Whether and if so how specific medical facilities should be included in or excluded from our retail districts – now and/or in future zoning – is clearly an issue that needs resolution here in Teaneck. This case will surely provide some insight into how our current land use board members see it.
Youth Advisory Board (YAB) – Wednesday May 31 at 7:00 pm The only informstion currently available
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Revaluation -
Where to Go to Understand the Process
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A very modest-sized crowd of residents attended the Thursday night (May 25) presentation by Appraisal Systems (ASI), the organization which is managing the Township’s revaluation this year. It is the first revaluation since 2015.
Town Assessor, James Tighe introduced the ASI officials in attendance:
· Robert Brescia, ASI’s Executive VP who will head ASI’s Teaneck revaluation process,
· Michael Kopplin, a Residential Field Inspector for the firm
Brescia then led the 53-minute meeting which consisted of a Power Point and the Q&A for a variety of resident questions. Happily, the meeting was recorded and placed on the Town website. Readers can readily watch the entire meeting if you Click Here.
Alternatively, you can go to the ASI website where a 34 slide Power Point will allow you to get answers to a full array of questions at you own pace. Click Here. Additionally, there is a page (Click Here) on the ASI website that explains the Teaneck-specific process ASI will use.
The picture below is from the website video of the 5/25 Revaluation meeting
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Clearly some evolution in transparency and in substantive progress on major unresolved issues has recently occurred in Teaneck’s municipal governance. But there is so much more that needs to be done – soon.
What follows are just two of the issues which are best characterized as Still Waiting … We plan to make this a regular Voices feature. Let us know for what are you Still Waiting. …
1) Still Waiting for a redesigned website. When Teaneck Voices readers call/text/email us to ask whether/when/where to find out about a Teaneck municipal governance issue/meeting, the request is typically linked to a complaint about the requestor not knowing how to begin to navigate the Township website. As often as not, the requestor goes on to suggest that Town officials simply do not want to/care about informing the public.
Town officials had promised a “new website” before the end of 2022. Then there appeared on the website this announcement. (Look under Business on the website’s main page, then bids)
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When Voices reporters followed this blurb up, they were told that five firms had applied – and when Voices explored the claimed work product of several of these firms, prospects looked good. The procurement office told us that a team from the administration was reviewing the bids.
It been nearly 3 months since those bids were opened. And not a word about the process or results. In other words, Still Waiting…
2) Still Waiting for a 2023 User-Friendly Budget. It is no secret that the state-required form for a municipal approved or adopted budget is not just unfriendly. For all but those specifically trained in government documentation, those NJ municipal budgets are, well, how about unfathomable, indecipherable, incomprehensible.
It is no accident that when the Council agenda called for a public hearing before the May 23 resolution to adopt the budget, not a single resident responded. We do not believe that indicates there was informed consent.
But there is a solution – and this time the solution had originally come from the state. Every municipality is required to produce a prescribed document named the NJ User-Friendly budget. This much shorter document offers the reader clear terms and readily understandable comparisons between whatever is in the current budget and what were its predecessors. And not just for a few items. The document actually serves as a sort of guide for the more ambitious resident as to how to examine the actual budget the Town sends to the state. Take a look – at the 2022 Teaneck User Friendly Click Here.
In other words, the User-Friendly budget could annually “open” the Township finances to resident examination before the Council adopts its budget – or when it still could be actually be significantly altered. That is before the budget is introduced since alterations are very limited after initial introduction approval.
So, when does this User-Friendly document get published in Teaneck. Well, that is another matter.
Let’s start with today and work backwards. It is not available today, May 29, despite the fact that Council approved the introduced budget on May 23.
It obviously was not available when the budget was introduced, on April 18.
It was not available when the Manager proposed his original budget – in March
Many municipalities (not all) make it a definite policy to publish the “to-be-introduced budget” in User-Friendly budget form.
When does the state require it to be published? Voices reporters very recently asked the relevant state official in the DCA office that question. The answer was shocking. We were told the state had originally required it immediately after a municipality’s introduced budget was approved. But under some pressure from municipal officials, the state is currently completing a draft regulation to allow municipalities to wait until after their budgets are approved before issuing the User-Friendly Budget.
Meanwhile, in Teaneck, Still Waiting..!
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Contacting Teaneck Voices
By Email: teaneckvoices@gmail.com
By Phone: 201-214-4937
By USPS Mail: Teaneck Voices, PO Box 873. at 1673 Palisade Ave. 07666
Teaneck Voices' Website is www.teaneckvoices.com
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