March 17th Meeting Summary

The following is a summary of our meeting from Monday March 17th.

At the top of the meeting, we gave an update on the shooting incident from over the weekend and had a lengthy public comment session where we listened to the public's concerns and fielded questions. The Township announced some actions that were taken, which are summarized here: https://www.veronanj.org/news/post/20871/. In addition, our Township Manager, Mr. Kevin O'Sullivan, announced after we came back from closed session that additional zoning compliance issues will need to be addressed by the business in order for them to continue to operate during the 45 day period they have been given. I highly encourage you to watch the meeting if you have any questions, and to reach out to our Township Manager directly with any concerns here: https://www.veronanj.org/town-council-contact-form.

As I stated in the meeting, this shooting was my worst fear realized for our community. I spent several years volunteering on the issue of gun violence prevention, and to have this happen in our community is devastating. My top priority has always been and will continue to be the health and safety of residents, our first responders, and the entire community. I want to thank the residents who spoke at the meeting, as it was important for them to share their frustrations, concerns, and fears with the Council.

On Monday night we took action on several other important matters. We officially introduced our budget. Total General Appropriations will be $28.8 million, up 2% from the previous year. The amount raised by taxation will be $18.2 million, an increase of 2.88%. The public is invited to inspect the budget and make a comment at any time, but especially at our budget hearing on April 21st at 7 pm. Comments as always can be sent here: https://www.veronanj.org/councilcontactform.

We also passed a resolution settling an issue with Fair Share Housing over the adjustment made to our affordable housing numbers. A few weeks ago we submitted an adjustment to the number of units that Verona is required to build from 173 to 149. Fair Share Housing filed an objection, and last night we announced that we settled with them at 155. The next step in the process is to develop a plan to build this required housing, and as part of that step we will be making further adjustments as allowed under the law. That plan will need to be adopted before the end of June.

The Council passed an ordinance last night to lower the salary range for the Deputy Township Manager position from a current range of $145,000 to $147,900 to $120,000 to $145,000.

The Council also introduced an ordinance to change parking regulations on Bloomfield Avenue from Park Avenue to Hillcrest Terrace to remove the 30 minute time limit on the South Side. This was based on several complaints the Council received from residents that live in Ardleigh Mews Condos that they need to be able to park vehicles on Bloomfield Avenue due to insufficient parking in their complex. While I feel the residents have raised a valid issue, I objected to the introduction of this ordinance as it did not follow our practice of first discussing ordinance changes in new business to allow for the public to provide feedback prior to introduction. There are other residents and businesses in the area that may want to provide feedback. The ordinance did have the votes for introduction and a second reading and public hearing will be held on this ordinance at our next meeting. You can make a comment prior to the meeting here: https://www.veronanj.org/councilcontactform.

Those were the highlights from our meeting. We are having a joint meeting with the Board of Education on Tuesday, March 25th at Verona High School. Our next regularly scheduled meeting is on Monday, April 7th in Council Chambers. As always, comments should be sent to all members of the Council by using the form here: https://www.veronanj.org/councilcontactform.