Amid Much Sniping, Council Shoots Down Mayor's Proposal To Move Date Of Municipal Elections

If the sniping at Tuesday night's Township Council meeting was any indication, the process to adopt a 2011 budget is going to be a long and arduous one.

Following great debate, the council shot down Mayor Jerry Fried's ordinance that would have started the ball rolling towards the possible movement of municipal elections from May to the same day as general elections in November.

The ordinance received four no votes from Councilors Roger Terry, Cary Africk, Rich Murnick, and Renee Baskerville. Fried, Deputy Mayor Kathryn Weller-Demming, and Councilor Nick Lewis voted in favor of it.

"This has been first brought up a few days ago," Terry said. "We should be focused on the budget. It doesn't make any sense to me at all."

But most council members said they supported the idea of at least holding a public hearing on the issue in November to further study the repercussions of such a move.

Even so, when Fried introduced a resolution to amend Tuesday night's agenda so that a hearing date might be set, Africk, Baskerville, Murnick, and Terry voted against it.

Before the vote on the ordinance, Fried explained that, "This is not to be a change in the form of government. The election would remain a non-partisan election."

Former Mayor Ed Remsen spoke about a letter signed by 15 former members of the Township Council asking that the issue be studied at length before any move is made.

"There should be an independent citizens group looking at this issue," he said.

However, the group never said that the idea was a bad one, only that it must be studied intensely.

Various members of the public spoke, some in support of moving the election and some in opposition to the idea.

Some said that, if the municipal election was moved, the issues surrounding the local election would be overshadowed by national campaigns. And they pointed out that the move would extend the term of the current council by six months.

Others said that it would save at least $50,000 every four years and that it would draw more voters out to the ballot box.

Weller-Demming said that—when the current council was elected on May 13, 2008—only 7,149 people voted out of 24,951 registered voters.

"It's very important this this is fully vetted," she said. "That is the intent of this process."

Fried said that the idea of bringing an initial ordinance forth on Tuesday night was to put the issue before the public.

He said that hearings would have been scheduled and a final ordinance would not have been voted on until at least January 2011.

But councilors such as Africk, Murnick and Terry said again and again that they couldn't understand why Fried was in such a rush.

Africk said he wanted a committee set up to look into the issur further so that council members could "make an informed decision."

A law passed in January has made possible a change in election dates in Montclair and New Jersey's other 85 towns with Faulkner Act governments.

"I don't see what harm is done by introducing this [ordinance]," Lewis said. "We're not trying to railroad anything through here. If committees want to form and examine this, I think that's a good thing."

Also Tuesday night, Township Manager Marc Dashield said he hoped to have some budget numbers for 2011 to share with council members by Thanksgiving. He said the goal was to have the council vote on a final budget by March 15.

After the meeting, Fried emailed the following information related to the election ordinance:

"1) Having Ordinances pass first reading is the best way to bring issues to the public. We who supported the Ordinance committed to having the second reading in JANUARY.

2) Those who voted against the two actions (the Ordinance and the attempt to have a Town Hall public meeting on the issue) all spoke about how important it is to get the public involved through public meetings, committees, etc. Those who voted FOR the actions wanted the process to begin immediately. I hope that this important issue stays on a burner, even if it has been removed from the front burner.

3) I hope all of you hear from MANY voices in the community, not just the group of previously elected officials who spoke against taking action at this time. We too committed to caution, but not inaction.

4) It's hard for me to see how having three times as many voters and saving $50,000 endangers our governance because voters may be "confused" by voting for local offices at the same time as other offices. The 7,000 voters who come out to vote in Municipal elections are the citizens most focused on local issues. We hope to have many more residents involved in local governance. It is absurd to think that the 7,000 will lose their focus when voting in November… and much more likely that the 14,000 will indeed focus MORE on local issues since they will now be offered the easy option of participating in all levels of governance at one time."

Meanwhile, at the end of Tuesday night's meeting, each council member was given the chance to speak. Here's a bit of what each had to say:

Councilor Rich Murnick: "I'm recommending the budget process begin immediately. I'm relieved the question of the elecction has been put on the back burner. We're going to be forming committees to help with the budget. In Upper Montclair, we have some new businesses. Baby's Perfect Gift has opened on Bellevue. I'm not going to cross my fingers on Five Guys right now. But I'm holding out hope. There is a new parking lot by Charlie Brown's. It's free until we put in the meters. There's a wine store. Please get out there and help your local merchants."

Councilor Cary Africk: "What I've been hearing the most from people is that they want to carry over the effort and the excitement from the last budget process into the next year. They want this effort to start now. In the coming weeks, we need to focus on [budget cut areas] and form the necessary committees. We need to know the numbers we're shooting for though. If we need to cut $500,000, that's a lot different than $4 million. As soon as possible, I want to get those numbers."

Councilor Nick Lewis: "There's a nice Gallery Walk sponsored by the Montclair Art Council happening on Friday night. It's a really nice thing to do. The Upper Montclair parking lot is finally finished. The mayor has appointed me to chair a library task force that is going to be looking at the Upper Montclair library and possible uses for it. We'll set up a series of hearings. I invite everybody to participate in these. This is not designed to be an insular group."

Councilor Renee Baskerville: "I was surprised that I was not one of the people appointed by the mayor to be on the library task force. It's important for us to have people from all the wards on this task force. I think it's appropriate that we make sure it's Montclair residents who sit on this task force. I'm probably going to be working very closely with this group. I was the person who consistently pointed out the need for this task force. I'd like to remind everybody to come out and support Little Read at the public library. I'm scheduled to read."

Both Councilor Roger Terry and Deputy Mayor Kathryn Weller-Demming said they had little to report.

Mayor Jerry Fried: "There was a board of ed meeting Monday night which I think was really great in that it showed how bodies like the council and the board of ed can use volunteers effectively. The board had two committees look at pay-to-participate and also at transportation and how to address this horrible budget hole that has been dug for us due to cuts in state funding. The schools lost over $6 million and they are looking at a possible loss of an equivalent sum this coming year. It's great to see how they are using volunteers and it's a great benefit to the Township. We also have to commit to working on the budget. There is an outside group committed to working on the budget. All of these residents working on this will be a great benefit."