Board of Trustees Further SID Ordinance, Swear In New Firefighters

A recap of Wednesday’s Board of Trustees regular Meeting

Announcements

• Village Hall Offices and Village Facilities – Closed Monday, February 20 in observance of the Presidents Day Federal holiday.
  
  
• Board of Trustees Budget Workshop Meeting – The Board of Trustees has scheduled its next Budget Workshop meeting for Wednesday, February 29 at 8 p.m. in Village Hall.

Presentations

• South Orange Village President Alex Torpey swore in Probationary Firefighters David Klugel and Antonio Popola
  
  
• Main Street South Orange presented a Design Excellence Award to Stuart Wainberg and Jared Hutter of WainCo.  The duo was recognized for the new sign above 75 South Orange Ave., as well as the work they did in restoring the building.

Ordinances

• Ordinance 2012-01 passed 4-0 (Trustees Howard Levison and Deborah Davis-Ford were absent) on its first reading.  It will now be up for a second reading with public comments at the next Board of Trustees meeting.  This ordinance creates a special improvement district and a downtown business improvement zone in South Orange.
• Ordinance 2012-02 was tabled until further notice.  This ordinance amends the Central Business District Redevelopment Plan to provide for ground floor offices for medical and wellness care uses as a principal permitted use in Central Business District-1.  The use is permitted provided that medical care is provided on an appointment basis and that emergency care is not offered.

Public Comments

• Maplewood Town Committeeman Jerry Ryan spoke in an unofficial capacity about abolishing the Board of School Estimates.  He said that the Board of School Estimates is “archaic, unfair, unclear and undemocratic.” 
  
  
• Former Village President Bill Calabrese, Leslie Pogany, owner of Bunny’s, and Stony Johnson, owner of Stony’s, brought up their disapproval about the Special District Improvement.

Consent Agenda

• 11 resolutions were passed on the consent agenda. 

Resolutions

• Resolution #2012-046 was not acted upon by the BOT.  This resolution would’ve moved the election of school board members to November.
• Resolution #2012-047 passed 4-0.  This resolution supports marriage equality for same sex couples in New Jersey.

All Board of Trustees meetings can be viewed on the South Orange Village website here.