BOROUGH OF MOUNTAIN LAKES COUNCIL MEETING

MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2008

7:30 p.m.

M I N U T E S

 

 

1.      CALL TO ORDER; OPENING STATEMENT:  This meeting is being held in compliance

with Public Law 1975, Chapter 231, Sections 4 and 13, as notice of this meeting and the agenda thereof had been reported to The Citizen and the Morris County Daily Record on January 3, 2008 and posted in the municipal building.

 

       Mayor George Jackson called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.

           

2.      ATTENDANCE AND FLAG SALUTE

All Council members were present except for Councilman Urankar. Deputy Mayor Davis arrived at 7:55 p.m.

Also in attendance were Borough Manager Joe Tempesta, Borough Attorney Marty Murphy,

and Borough Clerk Christina Whitaker.

 

3. EXECUTIVE SESSION     

         Resolution 58-08

WHEREAS, the Borough Council of the Borough of Mountain Lakes, County of

Morris, State of New Jersey finds it necessary to discuss matters relating to:

 

·         Personnel Matters/DPW Director    

·         Shared Services/Board of Education and Other Communities

·         Review of Executive Minutes

·         Litigation/ Kanter

 

WHEREAS, the Borough Council believes it to be in the best interest of the public to discuss such matters in closed session.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Borough Council of the Borough of Mountain Lakes, that it shall enter Executive Session to discuss only those matters mentioned above; the results of which will be disclosed when the matters are resolved and upon vote of the Governing Body to release the minutes.

 

Dated: March 10, 2008

 

_____________________                                          _____________________

Christina Whitaker, R.M.C.                                         George B. Jackson, Mayor

 

Motion by Councilman Shaw, second by Councilwoman Wilson, to enter into Executive Session with all members in favor signifying by “Aye”.

 

Motion by Councilman Shaw, second by Councilwoman Wilson, to close the Executive Session and return to the public portion of the meeting, with all members in favor signifying by “Aye”.

 

4.  COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS

Mayor Jackson suggested the Council take the opportunity to visit the Clerk’s office to see the changes made to the layout.

 

The Public Comment portion of the meeting was moved up on the Agenda.

 

5. PUBLIC COMMENT

Mayor Jackson opened the public comment portion of the meeting with consent of Council.

 

Mayor Jackson explained the Council’s policy of limiting each speaker to 5 minutes and no 

yielding of time to another person.

 

Fred Kanter – Hanover Road

Mr. Kanter said the Judge found in his favor.

 

The Mayor asked Mr. Murphy to explain what the Judge decided in the lawsuit filed by Mr.

Kanter.

 

Mr. Murphy said a transcript of the case had been ordered by his office.

He explained that the Judge found that the Borough was not in violation of the Open Public

Meetings Act, upheld the five minute public comment policy, denied plaintiff’s attorney fees be paid, and said that the minutes were being completed in a timely manner. For the most part, minutes were completed by the Clerk by the next Council meeting. The Judge said it was reasonable that the ones that were not available by the next meeting were due to the Clerk being out sick or on vacation. The Judge asked that someone else be designated to do the minutes if the Clerk was unavailable. The Judge also noted that the new executive minutes policy adopted by the Borough Council was satisfactory. The order still has to be prepared by the attorneys.

 

Councilman Shaw noted that the statement made by Mr. Kanter during his public comment

that Cindy Shaw filed a harassment suit against Mr. Kanter was not true.

 

6. SPECIAL PRESENTATION/HIGHLANDS COUNCIL- Eileen Swan

The Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act, signed in August 2004, is intended to preserve open space and protect the State's natural resources, including water resources that supply drinking water to more than half of New Jersey's families. The Highlands Act documents the geographical boundary of the Highlands Region and establishes the Highlands Preservation Area and the Highlands Planning Area. In November 2007 the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council (Highlands Council) officially released the final draft of the Highlands Regional Master Plan. 

Executive Director of the Highlands Council, Eileen Swan, updated the Council on the Highlands Regional Master Plan. There are two areas that the plan addresses, the preservation area, and the planning area. Mountain Lakes is entirely in the planning area.   The Highlands Council is in the process of reviewing all comments from municipalities before adopting the Master Plan. 

Ms. Swan said that municipalities that conform to the plan could benefit through State grants and funding.

She noted that he Council on affordable Housing (COAH) is required to consider the Master Plan prior to determining 3rd round obligations for all of the 88 municipalities affected by the plan. 

The Council raised some of its concerns, but made no decision on whether it would opt into the plan.

 

6. 2008 BUDGET DISCUSSION/Borough Manager Joe Tempesta and CFO Dana Mooney

Mr. Tempesta presented an overview of the 2008 proposed budget. (Hereto attached)

The Council discussed reducing the budget by removing brush pickup if it was not a

contractual obligation.  Deputy Mayor Davis suggested the DPW take over the responsibility

of picking up brush.

The consensus of the Council was to remove the new position of Assistant Beach

Director for a cost savings of $3000. The majority of Council members thought working as a

lifeguard provided sufficient training.  However, Mr. Tempesta raised his concern. He said

Dede Conlan has expressed her desire to retire soon and her position as Beach Director

required special skills.  He said he met with the person being recommended for the position

and found him to have the necessary credentials.

The Council asked that Ms. Conlan provide the Manager with more specific information

regarding her retirement.

Deputy Mayor Davis recommended removing all newly proposed recreation programs.

The Council agreed to reduce the fireworks line item to $3000.

The Council discussed the recommendation of the Traffic and Safety Committee to

 install new sidewalks.

Deputy Mayor Davis suggested using wood chips as an alternative to the sidewalk.

Ms. Mooney said the use of the Board of Education’s co-op could save the Borough money

when doing sidewalks in the school areas.

Councilman Shaw said he felt the Borough should not install new sidewalks but fix the ones

that were in disrepair.

Mayor Jackson suggested looking into sharing a street sweeper with another municipality

rather than purchasing a new one.

The Manager was asked to reduce the Capital Budget to $750,000.

Mr. Tempesta said he would like to introduce the budget at the March 24th meeting.

 

8.*RESOLUTIONS

R 52-08 Release of Executive Minutes  

R 57-08 Bill List

 

   9.*MINUTES

       February 25, 2008 – Regular

       February 25, 2008 – Executive

 

  10.  *DEPARTMENT REPORTS

A.      Health Officer

B.     Public Health Nurse

C.     Construction Official

D.     Fire Department

E.     Police Department

F.   DPW

 

Council Member

By:

2nd:

Yes

No

Abstain

Absent

Gormally

 

 

X

 

 

 

Emr

 

 

X

 

 

 

Shaw

X

 

X

 

 

 

Davis

 

X

X

 

 

 

Wilson

 

 

X

 

 

 

Urankar

 

 

 

 

 

X

Jackson

 

 

X

 

 

 

                    Consent Agenda Vote

                               

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      

     

 

     

      11.  ATTORNEY’S REPORT

       Mr. Murphy reported on the Court’s decision, in the Kanter lawsuit, earlier in the meeting.

 

      12. MANAGER’S REPORT (Hereto attached)

     

13. COUNCIL REPORTS

Appointments

Motion by Councilman Shaw, second by Deputy Mayor Davis, to appoint Danielle Fidacarro to the Memorial Day Committee, with all members in favor signifying by “Aye”.

 

Recreation Commission/Recommendation on Tags/Ellen Emr (Hereto attached)

 

The Historic Preservation Committee will give a presentation at the next meeting on the 100th Anniversary Book.

 

The Web Site Committee will give a presentation on purchasing recreation tags on the Borough’s web site

 

14. ADJOURNMENT

Motion by Councilman Gormally, second by Deputy Mayor Davis, to adjourn at 10:56

p.m. with all members in favor signifying by “Aye”.

 

*Consent Agenda

          

Attest:

___________________________                            _____________________

Christina Whitaker, Borough Clerk                           George B. Jackson, Mayor