I had a conflict with another meeting, so I didn’t arrive to this one until a little over an hour in. Imagine my surprise when I get there to find out they are only on agenda item #3 (out of 14).  Because I missed the first part, I submitted an OPRA request for the audio recording – all two and half hours of it. I’m glossing over some of the more mundane items, so if there is something you want to hear more detail on, let me know or check out the minutes once they are published.  Even with the “glossing over” there is a lot to get through, so thank you in advance for taking the time to read this.

The meeting was called to order and went through the usual Pledge of Allegiance, Moment of Silence (particularly for our service members being deployed to Iran), the request to turn off/silence cell phones, reading of the Sunshine Law, and Roll Call (all members were present).

Oaths of Office

Because he was not present at the Reorganization Meeting, Doug Ochwat was sworn in to a new three-year term. There was a little discussion when the Mayor asked him to place his right hand on the bible and raise his left hand. I don’t know…every time I’ve taken an oath during my time in the Air Force, I had to raise my right hand. Councilman Quinoa even made a joke that Concilman Ochwat wasn’t really sworn in because he used the wrong hand. While the right hand is traditionally the one that is raised, it should not matter, from what I’ve read.

The Fire Department officers were supposed to be sworn in at this time, but not all were present so it was delayed until later in the meeting

Engineer’s Report

The Township Engineer, Paul Sterbenz of Maser Consulting, presented his report on the following items:

• Traffic Signal at the intersection of Route 517 and Cat Swamp Road.
• Water Storage Tank Replacement (the water storage tank is past its useful life. Instead of repairing, it was determined that it should be replaced at a cost close to $1 million, as I recall)
• 2019 Roadway Improvement Program.

Oaths of Office (continued)

The Engineer’s Report was interrupted for the swearing in of Fire Department officers.

Engineer’s Report (continued)

Mr. Sterbenz continued his report on the following:

• 2019 Road Resurfacing Program
• Cat Swamp Road Improvement
• Sparrow Hawk Road Water Main Replacement Project
• Department of Public Works (DPW) Roof Assessment Project
• Letter from PVPOA for release of a cash bond from 2018 for a utility encroachment permit (adjustment of manholes and water valves)

Attorney’s Report

The township attorney, Richard Beilin (filling in for Ed Wacks) presented his report:

• Question about additional units for recycling and solid waste contracts

That was the end of what Mr. Beilin had for his report. However, there were other items that the Mayor and council members wished to discuss at this time.

Mayor Lomonaco asked to review Councilman Cote’s questions about the committees that are outlined in the town’s ordinances, but were not included in the Mayor’s appointments during the reorg meeting (Municipal Alliance, Technical Coordinating, and Vision). While the Faulkner Act (the statute that defines our town’s type of government and the powers granted to the Mayor and Council), with the exception of the required finance committee, gives the mayor the power to decide what committees there will be, whether these committees are required come down to the difference between the use of the word “may” versus “shall.”  The word “may” means the committee/appointment is discretionary. The word “shall” means it is required. For all three of these committees, Allamuchy’s ordinances use the word “shall.”  Now, none of these committees have been staffed for the past few administrations, even though they were spelled out in the ordinances. What does this all mean? It means that the Mayor and Council will review the ordinances to determine if there will be appointments made or ordinance(s) will be needed to remove one/all of these from the books.  To quote the Mayor “Once you know it’s there, you shouldn’t look away.”

But the discussion of committees didn’t end there. Mr. Beilin brought up a piece of proposed legislation that would require committees to follow the same OPRA rules with regards to notification and minutes. This led to a discussion about the Allamuchy Historical Society. Yes, the same organization that was discussed during the Board of Ed reorg meeting (see my summary blog for more information). Turns out that the Allamuchy Historical Society (AHS) is not technically a town organization, but is a private group.  Our Open Space Director, Charlie Fineran, is the head of the AHS and became involved at the request of Mayor Resker. Honestly, the whole discussion was a little all over the place and quite confusing. As confusing as it could be to someone to find out that the AHS is not a town organization. Which got me to wondering about the other organizations in town….

This is the point at which I arrived to the meeting, around 7:45 (the meeting started at 6:30).

Councilman Quinoa had a question regarding the Allamuchy School’s Ski Club.  As has been happening for many years, the Recreation Commission donates money to the school for a bus and driver to take the club to Shawnee Mountain. This year, the Commission received a request for a Certificate of Insurance (COI). It is standard practice for one organization to provide a COI to another to cover any liability. For example, when the Recreation Commission uses the school gym for basketball practice, the township provides a COI to the school for that activity.  However, the Ski Club is not sponsored by the Recreation Commission. The Commission simply provides funds, in the form of a donation, to allow the school to pay for the transportation. Unfortunately, there is no written agreement in place specifying that; thus, some of the confusion. (Side note: you will find that there are a lot of areas where there is no written agreement/nothing in writing memorializing decisions made by various organizations in town).

At this point, the attorney thinks he is done with his report.  Not so fast…..Councilman Ochwat wanted to revisit the discussion on the committees beyond the ones discussed earlier, specifically personnel.

Councilman Cote is planning to make a motion at the Regular Meeting that the Personnel, Contracts, and Ordinance committees have ordinances created that would require these committees with guidance on how they are staffed. As you may recall, if you read my summary of the Reorg Meeting, the Mayor appointed himself a Personnel Committee of one (yes, one-person committees are allowed according to the Faulkner Act). There is concern from the Mayor that such ordinances would be a way to bypass the mayor’s powers as stated in the Faulkner Act.  The argument is that it wouldn’t specify exactly who the Mayor could appoint, just that he/she would have to appoint people.  While there is no case law on something like this, Mr. Beilin is going to research what other towns have done.

NOW the attorney’s report is done….

Mayor’s Report

The Mayor reported on the following:

• Shades of Death (the half marathon that is raced every October). The town and the PTO received more money from the race director. The race will happen again this year, and then a new five-year agreement will be negotiated.
• Interim position of Prosecutor
• Route 517 Signs.  This is in response to the tractor trailers that park on Route 517 across from the Panther Valley Mall. Since this is a County road, the town had to request an ordinance from the Warren County Freeholders. The ordinance passed, prohibiting parking from the Allamuchy-Independence town line to the Route 80 interchange. Signs are being ordered and will be placed across from the mall.
• Deer Park Road.  The road is in serious disrepair and was supposed to be maintained by the state. This road provides access to a very popular trailhead on Allamuchy State Park. There was a right-of-way that was owned by the town, but had been vacated numerous times and finally auctioned off last fall to one of the Deer Park owners. The owner had since closed the road, blocking access to the trailhead and the State Park. Within 24 hours of the road being closed, the owner received a call from the State, who now seems willing to work with him on getting the road fixed.  There was a front-page article in the December 24, 2019 New Jersey Herald.

Intern Report: No intern report

Council Reports:

• Councilman Cote: His items have already been covered (discussion on the committees)
• Councilwoman Tuohy:
  • She attended the Warren County Freeholders reorganization meeting
  • Municipal Court: She is still waiting to hear from one of the towns that we are looking to do a shared services agreement with
  • Board of Education Reorganization summary
  • School Bus Parking Lot: She has been meeting with Superintendent Flynn to discuss repaving of the school bus parking lot. Another item for which there was no written agreement.
  • School Speed Limit Signs.  There are four signs, two are owned outright by the Board of Ed, one is owned outright by the Township. The fourth is a 50-50 split between the two. She is working on getting a written agreement in place because, not surprisingly, there isn’t one.
• Councilman Quinoa:
  • Personnel Manual. There is a meeting on Monday, January 13^th to discuss the updated personnel manual. They will be reviewing/comparing/discussing multiple versions: the one that has all of the feedback from the council members and the Mayor’s version
• Councilman Ochwat:
  • Accepted nomination/appointment as Council President from reorg meeting
  • SMSD (Special Municipal Services District) committee met prior to tonight’s meeting. Two more meetings scheduled: March 11^th to review the budget and October 28^th. Sal Maggio was appointed for another term.
  • WWII Plaque refinishing: No progress
  • Working with the CFO to put signs in the lobby highlighting how tax dollars are spent
  • Wants to make sure that the Human Resources Deputy Clerk is added to the agenda under Old Business
  • Phone System: He had brought up in December issues he had with reaching a staff member on the phone. That was to be corrected but has not been. The Clerk is working with the software company to make the updates.

Municipal Clerk’s Report: Nothing to report

Public Session: No members of the public spoke

Ordinances: There is one ordinance on the agenda for First Reading. This ordinance is to exceed the Cap due to a COLA adjustment. Sounds like it is an annual event, required by the state as part of the budgeting process.

Resolutions: None listed

New Business:

• Councilwoman Tuohy questioned why the Municipal Building was closed the day after Christmas since it was not a scheduled town holiday. Each employee is given one Floating Holiday and it sounds like everyone in the building chose to take their Floating Holiday on that day. The concern was that there was no public notice that the building would be closed and there was no one there in case a resident needed something. An agreement was reached to make sure that the closure is advertised for this year, assuming everyone will be taking their Floating Holiday that day (notice was only posted on the door).  One question which I have, and which was raised by Councilman Ochwat, is whether the Floating Holiday was to be determined by the individual or if it was dictated by the department. Floating Holidays should be at the individual’s discretion. If they all want to take that as their floater, so be it, as long as they get permission from their Department Heads. But it wasn’t clear if that was the case.
• Councilman Quinoa had a question about grants and whether we receive them/are applying for them. Per the Mayor, he receives a list of grants from various sources and passes them on.

Old Business

There was a review of the list of Old Business items to determine if any can be removed. A few were, but most had to stay. Some items of note:

• Allamuchy150 (full disclosure, I was an orginal member of this committee until I resigned due to reasons I will not disclose here). Allamuchy’s 150^th is in 2023. A committee was formed in early 2019 to start planning. Per the Mayor, there is nothing being done now (“People lose interest when starting too early”), but activity will pick back up in 2021 with the first event in September 2021 running through December 2022 (even though the 150^th is actually in 2023?).
• Cable TV: The township is still going back and forth with Altice to rewrite the franchise agreement.

Executive Session: None

Adjournment @ 9:00 pm

I had to miss the first hour or so of the January 8th Workshop meeting due to a scheduling conflict. Not to worry because I was able to OPRA the meeting recording to hear what I missed. And, no, Oprah does not attend our town meetings. What is OPRA, then? OPRA is short for the New Jersey Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq. (P.L. 2001, c. 404).  This statute provides a right to the public to access certain public records in the State of New Jersey.

To request records, you can fill out an OPRA request form, available on the town website or at the Municipal Building. You need to provide specifics on what types of records you want and how you want them delivered. A fee may be required for certain requests. In my case, I requested the audio recording of the January 8, 2020 Town Council Workshop meeting, and specified that I would provide a flash drive on which to copy them.

OPRA has been under some scrutiny lately, with many towns charging that filling OPRA requests create a burden and has groups such as the League of Municipalities pressing for a review of the law as it exists today. https://www.nj.com/news/2020/01/were-being-bogged-down-by-greedy-businesses-so-this-law-should-change-towns-say.html

To read the statute, visit https://law.justia.com/codes/new-jersey/2013/title-47/section-47-1a-1/

I don’t attend many Board of Education meetings, but I wanted to go to this one to primarily support a friend who had just been elected. Over 60% of our tax dollars go to the Board of Education, so it is good to stay on top of what is happening with our schools.

The Allamuchy Board of Education held its annual Reorganization Meeting on Monday, January 6, 2020 in the Allamuchy Township School’s Media Center. The nine-member board was joined by the Superintendent (Joe Flynn), the Business Administrator, Secretary, and the township attorney. The ten-member audience was mostly friends and family of board members.

The meeting was called to order at 7:34 pm, followed by the roll call of continuing members and the Pledge of Allegiance. Superintendent Flynn administered the Oaths of Office for the newly-elected/re-elected members. There are two oaths of office required for Board of Education members. The first is an oath to the Constitutions of the United States and the State of New Jersey, standard for all elected officials. The second is an oath confirming that the member possesses the qualifications to serve on the board of education, per the state statute. There were four members being sworn in:

• Mary Renaud (re-elected for a three-year term)
• Giovanni Cusmano (re-elected for a three-year term)
• Stephen Bienko (newly-elected for a three-year term)
• Harriett Gaddy (newly-elected for a two-year unexpired term)

Following pictures, the new board started with election of officers

Election of Officers

President: There were two nominees for the office of Board President: Lisa Strutin and Giovanni Cusmano. Lisa Strutin was elected by a vote of 6-3.

Vice President: There were two nominees: Mary Renaud and Giovanni Cusmano. Giovanni Cusmano was elected by a vote of 5-4.

Hackettstown Board of Education Representative. This position serves as a liaison between the Allamuchy and Hackettstown Boards and provides representation on Hackettstown’s Board for our students who attend high school there. There were two nominees: Harriett Gaddy and Giovanni Cusmano. Harriett Gaddy was elected by a vote of 5-4.

Other Representatives/Delegates: These are representatives to various state and municipal associations/governing bodies.

• NJ School Board Association (NJSBA) Delegate: Lisa Strutin
• Warren County School Board Association (WCSBA) Delegate: Venita Prudenti
• Municipal Liaison – Allamuchy Township: Mary Renaud and Stephen Bienko
• Legislative Chair Person: Craig Green
• Alternate Legislative Chairperson: Harriett Gaddy

New Role Call: A roll call was conducted of the 2020 board. The remainder of the meeting was conducted by the newly-elected officers

Public Comments on Agenda Items: No public comments

Reorganization Items – Annual Appointments: The Board makes annual appointments of supporting (e.g., secretary) and professional services personnel (e.g., attorneys, auditor, physician, insurance agents, etc.), sets meeting dates, and identifies required banking items. This section encompassed six pages of the agenda, with discussion on the following items:

• July meeting. Some members wished to cancel the July meeting at this time, while others wanted to leave it on the schedule and cancel it later if needed. The July meeting was cancled last year, but that did not sound as if it was a regular occurrence. The concern was that if it is left on the calendar, and then canceled, it would cost money to notify the newspapers (this is required by law). On the flip side, if the meeting was canceled and it was later determined it was needed, there would be a cost to re-advertise. In the end, a straw poll was taken and it was decided to leave the meeting on the calendar. Murphy’s Law dictates that if they canceled the meeting now, it would be needed. Besides, isn’t it easier to have a meeting on the calendar and cancel then to not have it and then reschedule after people have already made plans?
• Recognition of Organizations. The Board formally recognizes certain organizations, such as the Parent Teacher Organization and the Rutherfurd Hall Foundation, that do business for the Board of Education. While the Board is not legally required to cover outside groups, this allows those organizations to be added to the insurance policy. Lisa Strutin asked whether the Friends of Rutherfurd Hall, a volunteer organization that works on projects to promote and preserve Rutherfurd Hall, should be added. For those who are not aware, the Rutherfurd Hall property is actually owned by the Board of Education. The general consensus was that the Friends should be added; however, the Friends is not its own 501(3)(c) organization and, instead, falls under the 501(3)(c) of the Allamuchy Historical Society (AHS), which does work for more than just Rutherfurd Hall. Stephen Bienko questioned whether adding an organization will increase the premiums (it may, according to the attorney). The Board decided to table this until more research can be done.

Code of Ethics: The entire Board read aloud and adopted the State of NJ Department of Education Code of Ethics for School Board Members (18A:12-24.1)

Board Committees: The Board agreed to the list of Board and Ad Hoc committees, with the addition of Rutherfurd Hall Operations and Facilities as ad hoc committees, broken out from Operations.

Operations: Discussion of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Agrestic Acres LLC for a Local Farmers Market in Spring/Summer 2020. From what I gathered from the discussion the market will be in the parking lot of the Mountain Villa School. Agrestic Acres will do all of the recruiting and advertising. There will be no custodian or bathroom facilities made available. The MOA states that vendors will have to be within a 25-mile radius, but there was concern about that restriction from Mr. Britt. Mr. Bienko also questioned whether a maximum capacity will be included. The MOA will be sent to the vendor as a next step. It was unclear what, if any, of the discussion items will be included. From my perspective, the question around the maximum capacity was a fair point. Anyone that is familiar with the location knows that parking could be a concern. During large events, parking has been allowed on the grass. While I believe the farmers market would be a nice event, I would have a concern over its impact to the grounds.

Education: Approval for certain administrators to attend the NAPDS (National Association for Professional Development Schools) Conference in Atlantic City in February.

Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items: None

Executive Session: The Board went into Executive Session (used to discuss personnel, legal, and other confidential matters). No action, other than adjournment, was planned to be taken coming out of it.

Next Regular Meeting: Monday, January 27, 2020 @ 7:30 pm.

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 8^th @ 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?

As I was writing the post for the Reorganization Meeting, I had to read some of Allamuchy’s ordinances. Did you know that these are available online at a site called eCode360? Here’s the link if you want to take a look: https://ecode360.com/AL0810

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

Thanks for checking my page out! I’m new to this blogging thing, so just bear with me as I get things set up. Subscribe below to get notified of new updates. You can also join the Facebook group “Don’t Shoot the (Allamuchy) Messenger!”

First, let me introduce myself. I am Abby Christmann and I live in Allamuchy, NJ, a small town in Warren County. While I have lived here over 15 years, I’ve recently become very involved in the local community and politics. In 2018 I ran for mayor and in 2019 I ran for a position on the Town Council. I did not win either election – not surprising since I ran as a Democrat in a highly-Republican area. I did, however, have a good showing and made sure that our local elections were not decided by the small percentage of Republicans that vote in the primary election.

After this last election, I am done running for public office. I am not done trying to get people informed and engaged. And that is where this blog comes in. It is truly sad to see the small numbers of people who attend the Town Council and other meetings on a regular basis. Decisions are made at these meetings that impact the residents, yet so few are aware of. I truly believe that if more people knew what was discussed at these meetings, they would want to become more involved. My goal is to report on what I see and hear at the public meetings so that others don’t have to wade through the pages of meeting minutes. I may provide some interpretation, but I want to focus on the facts so that others can make their own interpretation.

So, here we go….