June 25 Town Council meeting

The administration’s cease-and-desist letter to a resident over a website – and his lawyer’s sarcastic reply that “went viral” and rained negative publicity on the town from across the Internet – dominated the July 25, 2013, town council meeting.

The result was a raucous meeting that included the absence of the mayor and comments on the issue from the business administrator a few minutes before the end of the four-hour meeting, when most audience members had left. Partially through the meeting, I said it was the worst council meeting I’d ever seen in the several years I’ve participated in town affairs. I’m not sure any written report of the meeting can do it justice, so I urge everyone to watch it in its entirety, either on public-access TV, http://westorange.org/mediacenter.aspx?VID=29, or with an index that allows you to find specific issues, http://bit.ly/14EQjaF .

Town Attorney Richard Trenk sent the letter, which is here http://localforums.org/westorange/forum/index.php?topic=55.0 . Jake Freivald responded through his lawyer, Stephen Kaplitt, here http://localforums.org/westorange/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=672f1879955231139f46a7b128e33b0a&topic=101.msg697#msg697. Mayor Parisi sent an e-mail to the council and Mr. Freivald saying he acted at the request of members of the Public Relations Commission (PRC). Mr. Freivald resigned as my appointee on the PRC last week. Mayor Parisi was quoted in a West Orange Patch article on the resignation http://westorange.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/pr-commission-member-resigns-after-lawyer-s-retort-to9ffeb51d97 as saying, “We had no intention of pursuing the matter further anyway."

Mr. Freivald, who spoke on the issue of www.WestOrange.info at the June 11 council meeting, returned to criticize the letter, Mr. Trenk and the mayor, as did nearly a dozen other residents. In addition, the town’s Public Information Officer, Jessica Glicker, spoke to say she had complained to cause the mayor’s actions. I told her at the meeting that I was disappointed not to hear her mention any regret that her actions had helped bring such terrible negative publicity for the town. Cynthia Cumming, a PRC member and editor of The Alternative Press of West Orange, who also complained about Mr. Freivald, spoke to resign from the commission.

I was quite emotional in responding to public comment and at times had difficulty speaking. Among my comments, I said I thought this incident showed that it was important for the council to see itself as a separate entity from the administration so that it can offer competing viewpoints when a situation such as the letter arises. I also said we need to remember that we work for the residents of the town, must give them respect, listen to them and answer their questions.

I also said that the mayor and town attorney had acted inappropriately, resulting in “massive, terrible publicity for the town,” that we need to get past this situation quickly by the mayor putting his Patch comment in another letter to Mr Freivald.

“Then let’s move on,” I said. “We’re a better town that this.”

At the end of the meeting, Jack Sayers, the town’s business administrator, finally commented (at 3:32:50 of the meeting video), saying he probably should have spoken earlier. Earlier in the meeting, he had spoken harshly to Mr. Freivald when he approached the council dais to give Councilwoman Spango, who was criticizing Mr. Freivald’s website, papers he said were proof he made no negative posts.

Mr. Sayers said no one at the meeting had gotten the administration’s position. He noted the animosity at the council meeting as well as the personal conflicts on the PRC. He said the administration’s decisions were made based on a number of factors and that every issue has two sides to the story.

“There are people who had issues with regard to certain things that were going on that commission, and we acted upon that,” he said. “Now whether the decision made was the proper decision or not, we believe that we did what we had to do to get accomplished what we had to get accomplished. And obviously that’s where we are today … And personally, I don’t believe personal attacks on people solve problems.”

He said any further decisions on the letter would be made by the town’s legal department.

I pointed out to Mr. Sayers that the PRC ordinance has a clear process for addressing commissioners believed by others to be a problem – and that process wasn’t followed because no one ever came to me about my appointee at the time, Mr. Freivald.

Early in the meeting, during General Matters Pending, I asked the administration about the status of my questions, submitted in March, about the Prism Edison downtown redevelopment. Assistant Town Attorney Ken Kayser said he didn’t know the status and that I should ask the mayor. Mr. Kayser, who a few months ago authored a legal opinion that insisted the mayor has all the power to administer a redevelopment agreement, also disputed my contention that the town’s redevelopment ordinance designates the town council as the redevelopment agency. The ordinance says precisely that:

“Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55C-8, all obligations, rights and responsibilities of the West Orange Redevelopment Agency are hereby assumed by the Township Council.”  (Chapter 2-7.1).

When the council addressed the meeting agenda, it approved hiring a consultant to develop a town-wide energy aggregation program for lower-cost electricity, referring to the Planning Board a proposal to change the Harvard Press Redevelopment project from condo sales to rentals, and confirming payment of $215,000 in successful property tax appeals.

The meeting agendas and related materials are here  http://westorange.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/06252013-38?html=true.

The council approved a resolution hiring Gabel Associates of Highland Park to develop an energy-aggregation program that could provide lower-cost electricity to town residents. The program would offer a large number of resident customers to energy providers, who would bid to provide power at a discounted rate.

Gabel would be paid for its services largely by a commission on the amount of power provided. A Gabel representative estimated the firm would earn about $70,000 from the project. Council made multiple changes to the agreement with Gabel before the approval. I’ll post the amended agreement when it’s available.

The designated redeveloper of the Harvard Press site on Mitchell Street in the Valley near the Highland Avenue train station wants to change its approved redevelopment plan from condo sales to rentals to secure financing to start the 100-unit project. The Planning board will provide the results of its review back to the council for further action. The approved plan is here.

The council also approved payment of $215,152 in successful property tax appeals. Most of the rebates are for residential property. However, the Emeritus senior living property at 520 Prospect Avenue received $171,000 from 2005-6 as part of a larger settlement of its appeal.

In addition, my proposal to clarify language in the council’s agenda ordinance to provide that all materials the council receives for consideration at the meeting are also on the town website was tabled for consideration in the first meeting of our council term beginning in July. Many supporting materials, including contracts and supporting letters, are now given to council members but not posted on the town website.

The council majority elected Councilwoman McCartney to her third one-year term as council president, 4-0 with me abstaining. I’m the longest-serving person on the council who has not served as president. I nominated myself for the position, believing I had secured a second from one of the other councilpeople that did not materialize. The council majority later removed me from my liaison position on the Renna House board, just as it removed me from the Downtown West Orange Alliance a year ago.

In other proposals, council:

- Tabled, for a third time, a resolution supporting PSE&G’s Energy Strong proposal to build $3.9 billion of infrastructure – which has run into stiff opposition to its payback schedule.

- Approved sending out estimated third-quarter property tax bills.

- Authorized revised appraisals for property on Wiley Terrace the town wants to buy as open space, for an additional $2,500.

- Extended a contract for a part-time town planner for another six months, due to the extended medical leave – and retirement as of June 1 -- for the town employee. The substitute planner is paid $2,000 per month. Mr. Sayers said it’s likely that an outsourced planner will continue in the future.

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