February 25 Town Council meeting

Council approved proposals to fund more than $900,000 in successful property tax appeals, hire a firm for architecture and engineering services to renovate town property at 549 Valley Road, and spend $55,000 on contracts for the town public information officer/communications director and a vendor to manage social media and marketing at the February 25, 2014, council meeting.

The meeting agendas and related materials are here. The council meeting video, indexed to enable quickly finding specific issues, is here.

During Public Comment, extensive discussion focused on the town’s decision to dump snow and ice cleared from streets on the Open Space property at 577 Mount Pleasant Avenue. Also, a resident raised concerns about delinquent property taxes on Councilwoman Patty Spango’s restaurant property.

In addition, council approved a contract to control resident geese and extended the contract for the collection agency for municipal court. Council also approved authorization to reimburse private residential garbage collection.

Council approved funding $919,511 in successful tax appeals in the latest in a long series of millions of dollars in rebates for properties that were over-assessed in past years. The successful property owners include Kessler Institute ($390,332 for 2008-10), Best Western–Turtle  Brook Inn ($171,782 for 2009-13), the 414 Eagle Rock Avenue office building ($137,362 for 2011-13), and the Wilshire Grand Hotel ($85,858 for 2012-13).

Council agreed to the administration’s request to approve its selection of Herbst Musciano of Boonton for building design, specifications, bid documents and subcontracting for survey and engineering site design at 549 Valley Road. The property, recently acquired after several years of environmental remediation, is planned to house the police traffic division now operating next door under lease. Herbst Musciano’s original and supplemental proposals were for $26,880. The firm beat out original proposals from CTS Group of Chatham $37,800 and PS&S of Warren $31,500.

The council approved 4-1 a 10-month no-bid contract (March-December) for the town’s communications director and public information officer, Ms. Jessica Glicker. Her proposed fee, which includes a 4% raise, is $3,300 per month. I voted against this contract, based on Ms. Glicker’s actions in precipitating last year’s PR disaster for the town -- the town’s cease and desist letter to a member of the town’s Public Relations Commission. The resident had registered a web address, www.WestOrange.info, similar to the town’s version of its social media vanity address, “/westorangeinfo”. The response to the letter went viral, garnering massive news and social media coverage critical of town government.

Council also approved 4-1 an administration no-bid contract to hire Bashkoff Enterprises of West Orange as a consultant to manage social media and marketing. The firm, which has handled social media in the previous year, would expand its duties to include marketing at a monthly fee of $2,000 for 11 months through December. The town has previously engaged Bashkoff for $1,000 per month and a separate marketing consultant (whose contract was not renewed) for $1,250 per month. I voted against the Bashkoff contract, whose goals include promoting schools and businesses, as unlikely to deliver sufficient value for the expenditure.

Public comment included residents criticizing the town’s decision to dump huge amounts of snow and ice on the recently acquired Open Space property, which is commonly known as  “The Rock,” across Mount Pleasant Avenue from the town’s recycling center. Over several consecutive days, including overnight, trucks and plows dumped snow and ice on the property. One of the residents, Ms. Leigh Ann Zaolino, and a representative of the Sierra Club, Robert Moss, insisted that state law does not allow such a use for property acquired through Green Acres funding. They also expressed concern about contaminated and compacted soil, as well as water run-off on downhill homes.

Business Administrator Jack Sayers said the town did not have other options to get rid of the snow and cited a 2013 state policy advisory indicating that municipal open space was a potential use for snow and ice removal. He also said the town should have let residents know about snow removal operations.

I pointed out that the town had hired contractors on an emergency basis, without council approval, to cart the snow. I expressed surprise that the contracts weren’t provided to the council for the meeting, to no response from the administration.

Also during Public Comment, resident Christine Bosco complained that Councilwoman Spango was delinquent for a second year in property taxes on her business property. Town records indicate nearly $30,000 in delinquent taxes, plus interest. The records also indicate she had previously paid delinquent 2012 taxes. Council President Susan McCartney called Ms. Bosco “despicable” for her comments, and Councilman Victor Cirilo tried unsuccessfully to stop Ms. Bosco from continuing. Councilwoman Spango responded by saying her business faced difficult conditions and that she had recently made a partial payment. Town records show her last payment in November.

A council majority approved 4-1 the proposed contract for Goose Control Technology of Metuchen for $3,000 to prevent increased resident geese populations at OSPAC, Degnan Park and Stagg Field. The fee includes $500 to manage volunteers to help find nests. I read an e-mail from a long-time volunteer, Ms. Sydell DeMaio, saying she and others were not planning to participate this year because of their dissatisfaction with the program. I obtained assurance from the administration that it would not pay the $500 if the program did not have volunteers. I voted against the contract because I believe West Orange, like several Essex municipalities, should have an all-volunteer program.

Also receiving approval was the proposed one-year extension of a contract held the last two years by TaxServ Capital Services NJ of McLean, Va., to collect municipal court fines and fees. The firm collects funds due the court and is compensated by additional fees paid by the debtor. The court has sent approximately 850 cases to TaxServ, which has recovered approximately $9,500 in fees and fines and received $1,234 in compensation from debtors.

Council also approved renewal of the town’s rent-control ordinance on second and final reading, as well as an ordinance setting fees for the Ginny Duenkel pool on first reading. The pool ordinance, which maintains the existing fee structure and levels, will have a second reading and public comment at the next council meeting.3

If you’d like to contact the council with your thoughts on any of these issues, please send an e-mail to council@westorange.org or call 973.325.4155 to leave a message.

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