Allamuchy is statutorily required to hold a reorganization (“reorg”) meeting within the first week of the new year. What happens at the reorg meeting? Among other things, newly elected (or re-elected, in Allamuchy’s case) officials are sworn in, required staff appointments are made, calendars are set, and committees are established.
The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, a Moment of Silence, reading of the Sunshine Law (more formally known as the New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act; see https://hiv.rutgers.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Sunshine-Laws.pdf). Roll Call was taken. Present were Councilpersons Tuohy, Cote, Quinoa, and Mayor Lomonaco. Councilman Ochwat was absent for the record. Including the council members, there were only 13 people present in the room. All but two – me and a council member’s wife – were either elected officials, employees, or appointees.
Here is the agenda with notes for each item. Ordinances that are referenced can be found on eCode360 (https://ecode360.com/AL0810):
Statements of Determination and Oaths of Office:
The clerk read the Statements of Determination (pretty much the certified election results from November). Mayor Lomonaco swore in Councilman Quinoa. Councilman Ochwat will be sworn in at the next meeting on January 8th.
Nomination of Council President:
Mayor Lomonaco nominated Councilman Ochwat to serve as the Council President. All concurred. While this appointment may seem unremarkable, it requires some background discussion. In previous years, the mayor had appointed a Deputy Mayor to serve in the capacity of mayor when the mayor was absent or unable to serve. The mayor had also appointed a Council President. There was discussion in recent meetings that the Deputy Mayor position does not, in fact, exist and that the position is actually called the Acting Mayor according to the ordinance. As we see, the mayor did not appoint an Acting Mayor. No big deal because in the absence of an Acting Mayor, the President of the Council would serve as presiding officer when there is no Acting Mayor. The rub here is that the Town Council, not the mayor, nominates and elects the President of the Council (§4-1:F “The Township Council shall elect from among its members a President of the Council, who shall serve in place of the Mayor as presiding officer whenever the Mayor is unable to appoint or refuses to appoint an Acting Mayor as set forth herein.”). Some may argue that the Mayor is part of Town Council; however, the duties of the Township Council and the Mayor are very clearly separated in the ordinances.
Nomination of Standing Committees:
Appointments of council and community members to various committees. Some of these committees are required by statute or ordinance but, in general, the mayor is able to create/disband committees as he/she sees fit. In comparing this year’s list to last year, there were a couple of committees that were removed, including Public Contracts and Grants and the Communications Committee.
There was some question over the personnel committee to which Mayor Lomonaco was the only appointee, where previously there were generally two members. The mayor indicated that he would bring in additional council members, as needed, depending on the situation.
Councilman Cote questioned why there were no appointments to the Vision Committee, Technical Coordinating Committee, and Municipal Alliance Committees, all of which are required according to the town ordinances. The mayor replied that two of the committees have to do with development of land and are not applicable, and one has to do with police departments, also not applicable. Also, the township attorney is in the process of reviewing all of the ordinances so it is possible these will be removed. Let’s take a look at the ordinances for these committees:
- Vision Committee (Chapter 10, Article IV): “The Allamuchy Township Vision Committee is hereby created and established within the Township of the Allamuchy for the purposes of identifying the future needs, concerns, goals and interests of the Township of Allamuchy and its residents; identifying and making proposals for the manner in which same may be addressed or achieved; initiating and overseeing studies concerning same; and advising and reporting to the Mayor and Council as to same.”
This could be interpreted for the sole purpose of land development, but it seems a little more vague than that.
- Municipal Alliance Committee (Chapter 10, Article III): This committee is required by statute (P.L. 1989, Chapter 51) and the Governor’s Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. The goals and functions appear to revolve around creating a network to promote and support drug and alcohol prevention and education programs and related activities.
- Technical Coordinating Committee (Chapter 10, Article V): This committee appears to be as needed by the Chair of the Land Use Board to address specific applications.
I don’t recall seeing appointments to these three committees in previous reorgs, so it will be interesting to see where they fall after the ordinance review.
Resolutions:
Establishment of depositories, setting of calendars, setting certain required fees and rates, appointment of professional services personnel and other general appointments.
Discussion centered mostly around the general appointments. The list was not provided to the public but Councilwoman Tuohy questioned why the list of appointments also included employees. Apparently, this is the way it’s always been done. That answer is one of my biggest pet peeves. Just because it’s always been done that way doesn’t make it right. Apparently, Councilwoman Tuohy agreed because she read down the list of all of the appointments to remove those that are employees from the list.
Swearing in of Fire Department Officers: This was postponed to the January 8th meeting, which will also include swearing in of First Aid Squad officers.
Appointments – Land Use Board: These are required by statute. There are four classes of members. There were appointments made to two of the classes:
- Class II: The mayor indicated that this was the “fireman” appointment. Indeed, the members that are usually appointed to this role are from the fire department. However, the ordinance only specifies that this is “One of the officials of the Township other than a member of the Township Council”
- Class III: A member of the Township Council
Appointments to the Special Municipal Services District (SMSD) Commission
The SMSD ( § A311-1) is specific to Panther Valley and covers specific services such as trash and recycling. As with other commissions, commissioners are appointed/re-appointed as terms expire.
Other/New Business:
Councilman Quinoa brought up the Personnel Manual that the Council has been working on revamping over the past few months. It seems that the draft is ready for review and he suggested that a special meeting be called to focus on this one document as the review of the 46-page document could take 2 – 3 hours. There may be some discussion at the January 8th meeting, but it looks like there will be a public meeting on January 13th to specifically review the manual.
Public Session: No discussion
Committee Reports: Councilwoman Tuohy mentioned that the Board of Education Reorg meeting is this coming Monday.
Mayor’s Report: No discussion
Approval of Bill List: No discussion
Adjournment: 6:39 pm. (Under 40 minutes. I think this is a new record!)
The next meeting is the Workshop scheduled for Wednesday, January 8th @ 6:30. Unfortunately, I have an overlapping Panther Valley meeting so I will probably miss the first half hour or so. Maybe someone can take notes for me?
Don't Shoot the (Allamuchy) Messenger! 