COUNCIL MEETING #1

Monday night Council meeting started with an all too common boo-boo. The doors to the Court House remained locked until about 7:50 leaving potential attendees standing on the side walk

Although at least one policeman was inside the court room he left without paying any attention to the locked doors. Since the building is under the control of the Police Department this could be considered to represent one more incident of Administrative Public be Damned Attitude.

The meeting began with the customary pledge of allegiance to the Flag with at least two present exercising their 1^st Amendment rights to refrain from the pledge. This was followed by the standard non-sectarian prayer which somehow during the meeting seems not to have been effective.

After Ceremonial presentations to the PHS Basketball Team represented by the coach and two players for their superior season and to Professor Palermo for his dedication to the Shade Tree Commission, the business of the meeting began with the passage of five Ordinances on Second Reading.

Three were Bond Ordinances; One transferred unused funds from Bond ordinances of previous years in the amount of $2,674.182.70 to general funds earmarked for street replacement. Another amended a 2008 amended2009 Ordinance to update the use of residual funds for specific street resurfacing. The Third is to issue bonds for $7,857,000.00 for a total of $8,252,000.00 for road replacements this year if possible.

According to a written Committee report submitted by Councilwoman Grieves; there are 31 streets broken into “6 Contract” groups that are on the schedule for this year. This does not include the South Ave/Pacific St/ Atlantic St and Watchung Ave projects that are at present underway.

Because of experiences the past six years; we will wait with baited breath to see how much is accomplished. Or will there be a big push next year an election year.

The Resolutions began smoothly with the acceptance a large “Consent Agenda” and went smoothly until R 184-12: Authorizing Permission for the Parking lot back of the Strand Theater to be used by The Maree Group for a Multicultural Music Festival July 31.

This is a for profit project with supposedly some funds to be designated to unnamed charities. The Council raised question about security and safety measures which had not been reviewed by the Department of Public Affairs and Safety

After a brief discussion with Corporation Counsel the resolution with the Council’s typical disregard for Parliamentarian Procedures passed an amended approval resolution dependent on receipt of a positive report from Director Hellwig.

The next hiccup occurred with R 188-12: Approval of Temporary Budget Appropriations for the month of June 20102. Mapp questioned a line item of $100,000.00 for Recreational Seasonal Employees S &W for June.

There being no representative from Recreation to explain the large amount, Department Director Jackson noted that due to his recent employment he could not give an offhand breakdown on this large increase over the monthly request

At this point Director of Administration and Finances Restaino who had been involved in the 24^th hour preparation of the Administration’s proposed 2012 budget jumped into the breach. 

However he too was unprepared with specific numbers from either the 2011 interim budget which is the basis for the 2012 proposal or factual data from 2011FY finances which could reveal actual figures the Council voted to “postpone action until the end of the meeting”

Nit picking note: The correct Parliamentarian procedure is to “Table until a (specific time). That could be later in the meeting, or another meeting or indefinitely which could be subject to re-introduction at any meeting or kill it.

The Soap Opera will be continued.