BOT Meeting recap 3-12-12

The following is a brief unofficial recap of many items that occurred or were discussed at the March 12, 2012 BOT Meeting.  Official minutes will be posted online at www.southorange.org when they are available or the video can be viewed on-demand at southorange.org/videoViewer.asp

Presentations

• Representatives from the Lions Club  shared an update on their history and recent activities
• Tom Riordan, Chair of the Environmental Commission, shared a summary of recent activities

Ordinances on Second Reading

Ordinance 2012-01 Establishing a Special Improvement District

• Michael Auer - spoke in favor of the SID
• Ed Schwartz - suggested differentiating between property types, having  clear goals and objectives,  sending out an annual survey, measuring website traffic (look at jcheights.com and jcdowntown.org as examples) and making the SID website a profit center through advertising
• Bill Calabrese - suggested having the entire town fund the SID
• Thurman McKoy - about to open a business on Sloan St and spoke in support of the SID
• Jared Hutter - spoke in favor of the SID
• Robyn Fields - spoke in favor of the SID

Ordinance passed 6-0

Public Comments

• Anthony Greene - requested funding for the CCR
• Lois Larki - requested funding for the CCR
• Shelly Slafkes - requested funding for the CCR

Note: At the March 3, 2011 budget workshop, the idea was proposed of providing physical space for the CCR in South Orange in lieu of financial support. At the July 18, 2011 budget workshop, that idea was agreed upon by a majority of the Board of Trustees. From the minutes of that meeting: "After much discussion, the Board of Trustees agreed to appropriate $22,500 in funding to the CCR in the 2011 budget, less the pro-rated value of office space offered by the Village as an in-kind contribution. The Board of Trustees further agreed that as of January 1, 2012, the Village would only be providing in-kind office space, plus telephone and utilities, with no monetary funding."  This was communicated to the CCR on July 20, 2011, in January 2012 and again via email on February 8, 2012.

 Discussion

• Vacant Store Fronts Ordinance - Legal Committee suggests moving to a better solution than covering vacant storefront windows with black paper in order to enhance the appearance of the town.  Ordinance will be forthcoming which will provide options to utilize more attractive materials as a stop-gap measure, until the newly formed SID can address in greater detail.

• Single Stream Recycling - Currently, the Village does source separation of recyclables and uses two toters and two pickup cycles.  To encourage recycling, residents would no longer need to separate recyclables and pickups would be twice per month.  The flipside is that the Village will receive less revenue for commodities ($40/ton less), but recycling will likely increase 10% or more.  Source separated will remain available at the DPW yard and will still receive the higher commodity prices.    Resolution will be prepared for next meeting to award a contract beginning this Summer.  The next few months will be spent communicating to and educating residents on the new program.

• Village Reasessement update - Village Administrator, Barry Lewis is putting an updated page on the website by next meeting to share an understanding for residents of what their taxes would be before and after the recent reassessment.

• Procedure to create a SID Board - Main Street will revise organizational documents to morph to the SID.  Village Administrator, Barry Lewis will write-up a timeline for the SID implementation and share it at our next meeting.  People interested in volunteering to be members of the SID Board can do so online at http://southorange.org/volunteerApply/volunteerApplication.asp

• EOWC Litigation update - Village is awaiting appointment of a special master.  Village Administrator, Barry Lewis is working on getting the water quality test results posted to the website.

Consent Agenda

9 items passed on the Consent Agenda, 6-0

One item was removed for separate action - A Resolution encouraging the Board of Education to move the BOE elections to November, beginning in 2013.  This resolution failed, with only myself voting in support.

New Business

Village Charter update - Village Counsel, Steve Rother shared that we would have a redlined version of the Village Charter, incorporating the for the next BOT meeting on March 26.