COUNCIL STUFF #2

Does Mapp take Xanax before Council meetings? In response to several questions from Councilor Rivers via speaker phone if he, Mapp, had apprised the Mayor of the meeting with legal professionals about methodology in disbanding the PMUA; Mapp remarked that he had tried to call her at least twice but her voice mail box was full. Since I recently read somewhere a complaint by a resident that she had had the same problem, it would be hope that the Mayor would make access easier.

The Mayor did say that Mapp could have knocked on her door and they would have let him in. Mapp did take umbrage that he had to physically come to her if he wished to speak to her.

HRH was also upset at not being invited to consult with the Counsel about the process that was going to be followed. She felt that there was enough local talent that we could get pro-bono advices.

Mapp did explain that his was a firm that had expertise in dissolving Authorities and that it was a complicated process that needed state approval before it could proceed. That a plan to provide equal services had to be in place and provisions would have to be made for needed employees. And importantly; cooperation by Council, Administration, and the PMUA was essential. There was no positive agreement expressed.

At the end Storch handed her the card for the legal firm and told her she was free to talk with them.

A Resolution authorizing the adoption of a cash management plan which had been tabled last month was a subject of discussion. At the previous meeting it had been amended to require the City Administrator’s digital (stamp) signature on all checks instead of the Mayor’s as originally presented in the Resolution and p-resent policy. Corporation Counsel Williamson again supported the Mayor’s request and quote part of the City Code which he felt gave her the right.

A Reid amendment to change the legal signature to the Mayor’s failed 3:3 the resolution will be up for action Monday night and expect the same and perhaps citizen support for the Mayor’s signature.

Supporting resolutions and Ordinances were agreed upon which including a $7,857,000 Bond issue which when added to available and unused funds will mean nearly 10.5 million dollars available for an extensive road repair program.

(Personal aside) Plainfield is fortunate to at last have an extremely qualified Director of Public Works and Economic Planning. I am confident that there will be real progress with the Council’s help in returning our roads to top condition making the town more attractive to new home owners. Mr. Jackson is also aware of the need for proper maintenance and is obtaining the equipment needed.

There will be more about the Economic Planning later or better yet perhaps Councilor Storch will brief us in his blog.

It is with sadness that we learned Monday night of the passing of Councilor Storch’s father and our sympathies go out to him and his family.

APRIL 2 MEETING #1

Although I was otherwise occupied; March Madness ended Monday night as predicted. Wednesday. Tomorrow the Baseball season starts although two games have been officially played in Japan. Of course NHL and NBA are still going strong with their true and second season starting. Spring College football practice is in full swing.

The political campaign for the Presidency is in full swing with three critical primaries today. The candidates for local office have filed and we will have 8 weeks of rhetoric ahead, and then 5 months until the general elections. What can be wrong with the world?

Of course in the background continues worldwide incidents of genocide; armed rebellions against civil right restrictive despots many with theocratic influence. All these are foreign to us in America so except for the pride of oil we can ignore; or can we?

However locally Oz remains OZ. The crux of the PMUA hour long discussion last night has been covered in detail today in Plain talker II and Councilor Storch has posted the 4 Resolutions click here which the Council will have on the agenda for voting next week Councilor Rivers via speaker phone objected to all basically because the Mayor was not consulted. AS expected Councilors Reid and Grieves expressed negative feelings but did not prevent these four important resolutions from being on Monday night’s agenda. Bring your Velcro vests.

On the positive side since City Manager has just recently assumed his position our recent Temporary City Manager has agreed to aid as a consultant in the process. His know how will be invaluable and perhaps we will have a no frills need oriented budget ready for adoption.

An Ordinance requiring all employees of bars to have fingerprints on record and part of their hiring procedure was withdrawn by the Council and the request of Administration. It was not known if there had been any changes from the wording which resulted in its tabling last month.

Also tabled at the administration’s request was a resolution to amend the “budget code number and authorization of Suplee, Clooney & Co. as auditors at the administration’s request

More to come

FULL REPORT IN STAGES LATER

The show ended at 11:30; too late to write anything in depth. I will look at my notes in the morning, and hope my doctor' scribe does not read "Take two aspirins and call me in the morning"
Suffice to say and hour was consumed by debate over the PMUA issue. This was one of two items that the Mayor and Council President Mapp crossed swords.

MONDAY APRIL 2

A clarification and an congratulations.

In yesterday's blog "Scoop" I meant to include this entire section of the City Charter regarding the Mayor's office which would explain why a Councilor would be the acting Mayor:

(c) At any time during an emergency declared by the council; a councilman designated under this section shall serve as acting mayor. The mayor may at any time designate in writing filed with the city clerk a councilman to serve as acting mayor under the provisions of this section. Whenever the provisions of this section require a councilman to serve as acting mayor and the mayor has failed to make such a designation or the councilman so designated by the mayor is unable to serve, the council shall by a majority vote of its whole number appoint an acting mayor from among its membership. Any person appointed pursuant to this section shall succeed to all of the rights, powers and duties of the mayor, until the mayor returns, the disability or other cause ceases. In the event of the death, resignation or disqualification of the mayor, there shall be a vacancy in the office which shall be filled by election for the remainder of the unexpired term at the next general election occurring not less than 60 days after the occurrence of the vacancy. The office shall be filled by the acting mayor until the qualification of the person so elected.

Sunday's Ledger sports places Justin Sears on the All State First team, and Sekou Harris on the Second Team. In addition both plus Jahmal Lane are on the All State Division 3 and the All Area First Teams. Congratulations to all three of their atheletic commitment and especial to Justine for his Acedemic excellency resulting in a scholarship to Yale.

Let us hope the other two have the scholastic records that will also give them the opportunity to receive a quality education. May they make the most of it

17 YEARS AGO

Rummaging through some old MAC Files which I had saved as Microsoft compatible I ran across this letter which was printed in the Courier. I have boldfaced some paragraphs of exceptional interest especially since this was written before the PMUA was formed. Almost all of the letter could be pertinent today with just a minimal change in names and players.

Letters to the Editor

PO Box 6600

Bridgewater NJ 08807

May 29,1995

Dear Editor:

After 16 months of "auditing" the Plainfield Council's meetings, I have come to a conclusion which the membership might disagree.

The communities welfare has a secondary role in the constitutional relationship between the roles of Administration and Council. Instead that relationships continues to be affected by self serving inter-party power agendas. Petty council politics obscure administration 's deficiencies in planning, responsibility, and concern for the city's tax payers.

Often the Agenda and Business sessions suggest a dearth of respect for the tax payer or resident., with verbal interplay reaching the level of a pair of three year olds discussing the ownership of a toy. Additionally, neither Sturgis' or Robert's Parliamentary Rules of Order appear to be followed or even understood.

There appears to be ignorance or deliberate disregard of Council membership's fiduciary responsibility. as follows. .

Public accountability. has been stonewalled by the present majority.. Discretionary funds budgeted for council related business expense may have been used for personal items. Without disclosure, that alleged abhorrent practice can continue unabated and without restitution. The office appears to have been conducive to the practices of patronage and nepotism.

The proposed Plainfield sewer/waste authority is a boondoggle to created another authority which will increase operating costs and create compensable jobs Existing administrative offices should have the capability of handling its operations. The recent administrations and council representatives have demonstrated an incapability to understand or control such an authority. Moreover, the authority would falsely reduce taxes by transferring the cost from the city tax bill to a utility charge which is not income tax deductible except as a business expense..

The recent special meeting to appoint a representative to the regional sewer authority, confirmed a past and present disregard for the City Charter (7.3) in order to seek self appointment to a remunerative dual office. Shouldn't there be a public legal notification of the availability appointed posts including qualifications and reimbursement? Obviously, if any member of the council or administration received compensation for services on any existing public authority this was in violation of the City Charter and the minimal action should be restitution. For a public official with access to legal council to be ignorant of the law is inconceivable.

The proposed Hartridge/Wardlaw property purchase doesn't take into account that the newest building's corner stone is dated 1938. Do any of the buildings would meet state codes? The possible loss of tax revenue could not equal the potential cost for the city to use the property. Incidentally, has there been in years any administration reviewed the validity of tax exemptions and/or abatements?

The Council routinely condones the repetitive submission of retroactive contracts .Many involve servicing outdated equipment which could be replaced by more efficient and cost effective state of the art items. Rarely if ever does the Council majority question the purchase of items using existing state/vendor agreements, which may exceed current market pricing, instead of by competitive bidding.

Seldom is there questioning regarding vehicles purchased as to utilitarian configuration or unneeded expensive options. Late last fall requests were made on an "emergency need basis for snow plowing capable vehicles. The list of available vendors was one. This can not be cost effective. Are there logs kept for vehicular usage, maintenance, and services that are easily available to the council and public especially at budget setting time?

The passage of the firemen emergency appropriation at the last regular meeting :again is an example of the city's government lack of fiscal and fiduciary responsibility. Before the Budget was approved the Council was warned that insufficient funding or personnel was being provided for fire protection. Moneys were over-allocated to other services in order to have funds that could be re channeled at a later date for unspecified purposes. However, latest emergency appropriation borrows funds from the next tax year budget

Administration's continual promises not to raise taxes.is inconsistent with a constantly decreasing tax base and ongoing increasing mandated school costs. Perhaps there is an inappropriate anticipated use of the $8+ million received from the old sewer agency sale for operating expenses, rather than for the long neglected infrastructure. .

The blame for Plainfield's sad status falls directly upon the voters. Lack of voter involvement and turnout is conducive to the election of less then optimally qualified candidates. Unless a substantial majority vote in both B of Ed and city government elections, small self-interest power groups can have an inappropriate effect upon the municipalities operations and taxes. .

Substantial numbers of voters should attend Council and/or B of Ed meetings. Both elected bodies need be accountable to the tax payer and more receptive to community needs rather than personal interests. Prior to any action, the privilege of the floor should be afforded the citizenry.

Although the membership of the Common Council and the Board of Education may have the desire to do whatever is believed best for the community, there is still a need for improvement . Understanding fiduciary roles and relationships with the professional administrators is a critical criteria. No one elected to these offices should be subjected to unjustified viscous public vilification or harassment Only with proper public restraint will more citizens be willing to serve.

Yours truly,

Harold S. Yood M.D.

How much change has there been in 17 years? Do we want any?

MONDAY NIGHT'S AGENDA

It is April 1 and March Madness should be over. However there is one more evening left and typically with MM it is shared with a more important event; the Council’s Agenda Setting Session. That will be my priority despite our political leader’s insistence that a basketball game is more important than a public affairs meeting.

A look at the agenda suggests that it should be a long meeting but one can be fooled. It is difficult to predict the magnitude of talk on the two “Discussion items;(a) Municipal Court- Outstanding Violations, and (b)Pay-to-Play reform as well as the two Unfinished business items; (1)PMUA Task Force-recommendations and (2) Economic Development update.

If all Council members are present the PMUA should produce a spirited debate. The outstanding violations the Municipal Court” I expect will consume only a limited time.

That leaves 2 Ordinances for Second Reading, 5 Ordinances for First Reading and some 36 potential Resolutions plus perhaps one or two that will b e introduced during the session.

One Ordinance for 2^nd reading and enactment deals with the finger printing and criminal research of all employed by Bars. Since this was tabled at the last meeting because the local bar owners protested that they were not informed about the provisions in this Ordinance and feared as written it would make it impossible to obtain staff. I have not read it to see if there has been any revisions, but would assume there were none since if changes were made from the first reading it becomes a different animal and probably should go through the 1^st reading/2^nd Reading process again.

Of the 5 new ones; 3 are Bond Ordinances: Bond 1252 is for appropriating $8,252,000.00 for road improvement and issuing bonds for $7,857,00.00 for the financing.

Bond Resolution 1253 cancels an appropriation of $2,674,182.70 that are no longer needed from an earlier bond issue and transferring the funds to Capital Surplus and then appropriating the sum to be used for Road Improvement.

Since these two Ordinances are related and to one who is unfamiliar with municipal financing it would seem that there is a total of $10,926,182.70 being designated for Roads. How is that accounted for in the budget?

The Third new Bond Ordinance amends Bond Ordinance 1245(Sept 08) as amended by Bond Ordinance 1246 (July 09). Since these were not available on the city’s site I am unfamiliar with the context.

Of the 36 Resolutions; 22 are Consent Agenda material and two are related to the new Bond Ordinances which leaves 12 of interest.

#K is the adoption of a long overdue Cash management Plan.

#J is a corrective action plan from the recommendations of the FY 2011 audit to be submitted to the DOLGS. It is extensive and will be of interest if track is kept of the progress in following through if approved.

#L Adoption of temporary budget for May 2012

#M amends Resolution 279-11 to reflect the appropriate budget code number for the auditors. I did not read it and do not know if there are any fund changes.

S, U, and V, W: deal with contracts and seem to have been awarded through the bidding process.

#E is from the Corporation Council and is to approve and authorizing the settlement of a suit against the City and Police Department in the amount of #80,000.00. The amount while large is not as important as the claim for “disrespectful treatment and hostile environment” One wonders what corrective action was taken in regards to what seems to be a serious complaint as well as the true nature of the complaint.

#F Is approval of the list of qualified vendors. The resolution and contends were not in the resource material Saturday.

This overlong blog may suffice for one Monday AM.

SCOOP

An anonymous source supposedly in the inner circle of the local party has tip me off that after a high level pow wow designed to limit the scope of the state DOCA investigation of the PMUA from spreading beyond the 1 million dollar payoff to include the city administration; the Mayor has been persuaded to submit her resignation.

The city charter provides that:
In the event of the death, resignation or disqualification of the mayor, there shall be a vacancy in the office which shall be filled by election for the remainder of the unexpired term at the next general election occurring not less than 60 days after the occurrence of the vacancy. The office shall be filled by the acting mayor until the qualification of the person so elected.

The rumor is that that Council President Mapp will assume the office as provided above. If this takes place early tomorrow and Mapp intends to run for the unexpired term in November there will be time for the Committee to place another name on the line for the 3rd Ward Council seat .

There is also a legal question as to the status of all in the administration who serve at the will of the Mayor for the duration of the Mayors term. Although here will be 8 months before a duly elected Mayor can be seated it is anticipated that there will be no major upheaval.

The person who passed this information to me intimated that it was the Assemblyman's hope that this will create a much needed stability in the local government and help restore his creditability in Trenton.













Is not today April 1st ?