BOROUGH OF MOUNTAIN LAKES COUNCIL MEETING
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2009
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 and The
Star Ledger on January 6, 2009 and posted in the municipal building.
Mayor Stephen Shaw called the meeting to order at
7:30 p.m.
2. ATTENDANCE AND FLAG SALUTE
All
Council members were present.
Also
in attendance were Borough Attorney Marty Murphy, Interim Manager Robert Tovo
and
Borough Clerk Christina Whitaker.
3. EXECUTIVE
SESSION
Resolution 118-09
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:
·
Negotiations
with Denville Courts
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.
Motion by Councilman Happer,
second by Councilwoman Emr, to enter into Executive Session, with all members
in favor signifying by “Aye.”
Motion by Councilwoman
Bravo, second by Councilman McWilliams, 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 Shaw announced that Barry Lewis,
the new Borough Manager, would be starting on
October
5, 2009.
The
Shared Service Task Force will hold a public forum at the high school media
center on
October 1, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.
Borough
offices will be closed on Monday, October 12 in recognition of Columbus Day.
The
next
meeting of the Borough Council will be held on Tuesday, October 13.
Mayor
Shaw noted that this meeting would be Chief Tovo’s final as Interim Borough
Manager.
Special
Resolution 02-09 (hereto attached) was unanimously adopted by the Borough
Council. The resolution recognized Chief Tovo’s achievements as Police
Chief and Interim
Manager.
Mayor
Shaw said that the Borough was surprised when Joe Tempesta gave his notice in
June.
But when
asked by the Council to fill in on a temporary basis, Chief Tovo agreed to do
whatever was
asked of
him.
Councilwoman Emr said Susan Ferguson asked that the following comments
be conveyed to the
Council.
Ms. Ferguson said the Chief had been
terrific and she enjoyed working with him on behalf of the Lakes
Management Committee. A record rainfall
and poor conditions of the boards in the spillways of
the two dams had him facing a challenge
almost immediately. He took initiative and got up to
speed right away on the water levels in
the lakes and the conditions of the dams.
He worked successfully with complaining
homeowners and initiated a careful and methodical way
to lower the water levels in both
lakes providing much needed data for
Lakes Management to work
with.
He reviewed the conditions of the boards in the spillways, worked with
the engineer to order new
boards made out of a strong composite
material, and organized a rebuilding of the Mountain Lakes
spillway utilizing a temporary
“port-a-dam”.
Councilwoman Emr said that Cathy Harvey told her that
he was wonderful with both the
Environmental Commission and the COAH/Highlands
Committee. When anything was
needed, the Chief provided Ms. Harvey with
information the next day, sometimes resolving
issues that had been overlooked for
months.
On a personal note, Councilwoman Emr said she wanted to mention a list of tasks Chief Tovo had
accomplished since the beginning of July when he became the Interim Manager:
“DPW reorganization—He restructured the work
orders in the DPW so that each one
included the names of employees and start and stops times of
each project so that there’s a sense of accountability. For the first time that I know of, we can
now quantify hours and dollars of the DPW to measure productivity and develop a
real accounting of the DPW and Board of
Education shared services.
He carried out an auction of old Borough
items and found a government web site to
auction off more expensive used equipment.
Broadcast
e-mail—He
worked with Michelle Reilly to take the languishing broadcast e-mail project
and create a successful and very popular communication tool for the Borough,
fine tuning the e-mails with each announcement. Our web site committee couldn’t
believe it actually got off the ground!
Responsiveness
to committees and commissions. He was very busy at night
and went to many committees and commission meetings and impressed them all with
his responsiveness to their needs.
Drainage
problems fixed— Resident complaints about drainage issues were addressed quickly to
the satisfaction of the homeowners.”
Councilwoman Emr said she thanked the Chief for his service to
the Borough, “especially in this emergency when he stepped up to the plate and
did two jobs with a very small extra stipend of $1,500 a month, saving the
Borough about $25,000 from our budget for
the manager’s salary.”
Councilman McWilliams said
he appreciated the great job the Chief had done.
Councilman Jackson said the Council was originally
just looking for the Chief to keep the Borough on course but he did much more
than that.
Deputy Mayor Gormally said the Chief pushed
everything forward so no ground was lost during the interim period. He said the
Chief did a “phenomenal job” for the Borough.
Councilman Happer said the Chief was very professional in his
approach and provided the Council with good advice.
Councilwoman Bravo said that the Chief demonstrated
what Mountain Lakes is all about “caring.”
She said he cares deeply for the Borough and its residents.
Chief Tovo said he enjoyed his interim position and
would consider holding such a position in
the future.
6. PUBLIC COMMENT
Mayor Shaw explained the Council’s policy of
limiting each speaker to five (5) minutes and no yielding of time to another
person.
Mayor Shaw
opened the public comment portion of the meeting with the consent of the
Council.
With no one
wishing to be heard, Mayor Shaw closed the public comment portion of the
meeting.
open to the public
7. DISCUSSION
A.
Fire
Truck Bonding/Bond Ordinance
Fire Chief Steve Butera provided the
Council with a sample spec packet and explained what would
be included in the specification for
the fire truck.
The Council discussed how explicit
the specs would be to ensure the fire department
received the equipment it actually
needed. Fire Chief Butera said the department reviewed its
older vehicle to determine what
changes would be needed for the new truck.
Acting CFO Ken Huelbig explained it
was necessary to introduce an amendment to bond
ordinance 06-09 before the fire department
could go out for bids. (ordinance 17-09 hereto
attached)
B.
Professional Reviews
The
Council reviewed the reappointment schedule maintained by the Clerk.
C.
Manager/Policy Direction
The Mayor said he has already spoken to Barry Lewis about
reviewing the Borough’s personnel
policy.
Councilman Jackson said reviewing
health benefits must be a top priority.
Other areas of concern were lakes
and dams, the Highlands – COAH, and tax appeals and
refunds.
8. *RESOLUTIONS
R 113-09 Salary
R 114-09 Tax Refund
R 115-09 Tax Refund
R 116-09 Tax Refund
R 117-09 Payment of
Bills
9. *MINUTES
September 14, 2009- Regular
September 14, 2009- Executive
|
Council Member |
By: |
2nd: |
Yes |
No |
Abstain |
Absent |
|
McWilliams |
|
|
X |
|
|
|
|
Emr |
|
X |
X |
|
|
|
|
Jackson |
|
|
X |
|
|
|
|
Gormally |
X |
|
X |
|
|
|
|
Happer |
|
|
X |
|
|
|
|
Bravo |
|
|
X |
|
|
|
|
Shaw |
|
|
X |
|
|
|
10. ATTORNEY’S REPORT - none
11. MANAGER’S REPORT
Chief Tovo explained the “Memorandum of Understanding”, (hereto
attached) between South City
Grill and the Borough regarding the
prohibiting of special events that are not affiliated with South City
management.
Chief Tovo said he and Mark Prusina
inspected the sidewalks on Larchdell Way and Beechway and
recommended replacing the sidewalks
rather than patching them. To replace the sidewalks would
cost approximately $28,000 compared to
$14,000 to patch. The funds are available for replacement.
Students in route to the schools use the
sidewalks.
The majority of Council voted in favor
to replace the sidewalks with concrete as recommended by the
DPW Director and Chief.
Councilman Jackson said he would prefer waiting until next year to
replace the sidewalks and would
like an update on capital spending.
The Chief updated the Council on the
Fanny Road drainage issues. He said 2
to 3 catch basin might
be needed for a long-term solution. He
noted that Boonton could connect into the Borough’s existing
drainage pipes.
During the summer months the DPW will
schedule garbage cleanup at the beaches on Monday,
Wednesday and Friday and two times in the
winter.
Chief Tovo updated the Council on the
condition of the lakes. He told Council members that Allied
Biological recommended Hydro-Raking of Grunden's Pond.
12. COUNCIL REPORTS
The Woodlands Committee has agreed to help with an
Eagle Scout project that includes removing evasive plants in pocket parks.
There is a vacancy on the Zoning Board of
Adjustment.
Mayor Shaw said it was time for Commissions and
Committees to review goals and appointments for the coming year. He asked the
liaisons to inform their chair’s to start working on these items.
13.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion by Councilman
McWilliams, second by Councilman Jackson, to adjourn the meeting at 9:56 p.m.
with all members in favor signifying by “Aye.”
*Consent Agenda
Attest:___________________________ ________________________
Christina Whitaker, Clerk Stephen H. Shaw, Mayor