Regular
Meeting of the Roxbury Mount Arlington Consolidation Study Commission
Roxbury
Recreation Office
72 Eyland
Avenue, Succasunna, NJ 07876
7:00pm,
Wednesday, July 8th, 2015
MINUTES
1. Call
to Order
·
Chairman Heard called the meeting to order at 7:02pm
2. Pledge
of Allegiance
·
Chairman Heard led the commission in the pledge
of allegiance
3. NJ
Open Public Meetings Law
·
Secretary Rogers read the following: This
meeting has been advertised and is being conducted in accordance with the
provisions of the “Senator Byron M. Baer Open Public Meetings Act,” P.L. 1975,
c. 231
4. Roll
Call
·
The following were in attendance: Maureen Castriotta, Paula Danchuk, Jerry
Frisco, Chris Raths, Vincent Reilly, Chris Rogers, Steven Sadow, Gene Paradiso,
Craig Heard, Nancy Absalon, Larry Millus, Fred Hall, George Haeuber, Roger
Jinks
·
The following were absent: Laurel Whitney, Anthony Fernandez
5. Introduction
of Elected Officials and/or Recognition of Their Representatives
·
None
6. Election
and Installation of Officers, If Applicable
·
None
7. Introduction
of Guest Speaker or Presentation, If Applicable
·
None
8. Public
Comments on Agenda Items Only (Limited To 3 Minutes Per Person)
·
None
9. Secretary’s Report
·
Correspondence
o Secretary
Rogers reported that there was no correspondence for the month
·
2015-301 RESOLVED, that the Roxbury Mount Arlington
Consolidation Study approves the minutes for June 10th, 2015. See attached
o Gene Paradiso made a motion to approve the minutes of
June 10th. Paula Danchuk made a second.
o Steve Sadow stated that allowing Walter Luers to give
us legal advice would be a conflict of interest as he has previously sued Mount
Arlington Borough
o Paula Danchuk stated that she believed he sued Roxbury
as well
o Chris Raths suggested to add this is duly noted to the
minutes, and that some commissioners have reservations regarding his advice
o Maureen Castriotta – Abstain, Paula Danchuk – Y, Jerry
Frisco – Y, Chris Raths – Y, Vincent Reilly – Y, Chris Rogers – Y, Steven Sadow
– Abstain, Laurel Whitney – Absent, Gene Paradiso – Y, Craig Heard – Y Motion Passes
10. Treasurer’s Report
·
Bank Account Balance
o Secretary
Rogers read the bank account balance as reported by Treasurer Whitney: As of July 8, 2015 the total balance is
$5108.84
o Donations from June 11, 2015 to July 8, 2015 total
$39.31
o Expenses
from June 11, 2015 to July 8, 2015 total $39.31
·
2015-302 RESOLVED, that the Roxbury Mount
Arlington Consolidation Study approves the donations from May 7th to
June 10th, 2015. See attached
·
2015-303 RESOLVED, that the Roxbury Mount Arlington
Consolidation Study approves the expenditures from May 7th to June
10th, 2015. See attached
o Gene Paradiso made a motion to approve the donations
and expenses from June 11th to July 8th 2015. Paula Danchuk made a second.
o Maureen Castriotta – Abstain, Paula Danchuk – Y, Jerry
Frisco – Y, Chris Raths – Y, Vincent Reilly – Y, Chris Rogers – Y, Steven Sadow
– Abstain, Laurel Whitney – Absent, Gene Paradiso – Y, Craig Heard – Y Both Motions Pass
11. Chairman’s Report
·
Chairman Heard circulated a copy of the
commissioner roster. He stated that a
commissioner wished to not make their contact information public. He asked that everyone amend their
information should they wish to do so, so the commission can publish the
updated copy on the website. The roster
was circulated and a new amended roster will be circulated at the next meeting
and posted to the website.
·
Chairman Heard reported that we will have a
short meeting tonight. He would like to
see the newly formed committees break out into committees after the meeting
adjourns so members can get a jump on committee business.
o Steve
Sadow stated that information requested from Mount Arlington should be
requested through OPRA
o Chris
Raths stated that each community should decide how they wished to fulfill the
information requests
o Steve
Sadow stated that the commission should have a policy as to how it will request
information
o Craig
Heard stated that all information requests should be directed to the commission
chair and the data collection committee.
o Vincent
Reilly asked when will the commission know the information policy of Mount
Arlington Borough?
o Steve
Sadow stated that he will ask the council and report back at the next
commission meeting.
o Nancy
Absalon stated that Steve Sadow has not been present at several meetings. She stated that the commission discussed the
ability to pull information from websites if it was available online.
o Steve
Sadow stated that some information, such as human resources, is not online.
o Chris
Raths stated that many employment contracts are required to be online.
o Paula
Danchuk stated that she has to use OPRA as a councilperson
12. Committee Reports
·
Bylaws Committee
(ADHOC)
o
Gene Paradiso
asked for feedback on the most recent version of the draft bylaws
o
Chris Rogers
stated the correct name of the commission is the Roxbury Mount Arlington
Consolidation Study Commission
o
Chris Rogers
asked for clarity on alternates voting on normal business.
o
Gene Paradiso
explained that “appointed” refers to the municipal commissioners. “Other” commissioners refers to everyone else. If an appointed commissioner resigns, an
appointed alternate from the same municipality will replace them. If any other commissioner resigns, the
alternate commissioner from the corresponding municipality will replace
them. The commission will replace appointed
alternates through the municipality that selected them. The commission will replace all other
alternates by a majority vote.
o
Chris Rogers
stated that the commission was already out of balance as 6 commissioners live
in Roxbury and 4 live in Mount Arlington
o
Gene Paradiso
explained that this was okay with the Mount Arlington petitioners and that
Vincent Reilly owned property in both towns.
o
Maureen
Castriotta stated that this process is not what the petitioners
envisioned. The petitioners voted to
appoint commissioners based on experience, not address.
o
Chris Rogers
asked that the verbiage under the secretary’s duties pertaining to OPRA
requests be deleted. It should instead
be listed under the chair’s duties.
o
Steve Sadow asked
how we planned to safeguard records.
o
Nancy Absalon
stated that we already covered this at a prior meeting
o
Chris Rogers
stated he would give monthly folders to the chair to be safeguarded.
o
Chris Raths asked
that the commission should delete the word “recall” from the section labeled
vacancy of office
o
Chris Rogers
stated that we should change the word “could” to “shall” under the causes to
remove a commissioner.
o
Steve Sadow
stated that the reasons for removal should be left open
o
Jerry Frisco
stated that is should be left alone
o
Craig Heard
stated it should be clearly defined why we are removing a commissioner
o
Gene Paradiso
stated he would change the word from could to shall
o
Chris Rogers asked
for clarification regarding advertising upcoming meetings in the newspaper
o
Vincent Reilly
asked for clarification regarding what the commission was in the eyes of the
state and if we were required to advertise meetings
o
In response to
Vincent Reilly’s question, Steve Sadow asked if this was an effort to save a
few dollars
o
Chris Rogers
suggested that we advertise the meetings regardless as we had originally agreed
o
Chris Raths
recommended that we advertise anyway as well as send to both townships
o
Chris Rogers
asked that the majority of the commission be able to call a special meeting as
the chair already calls the normal meetings
o
Paula Danchuk
stated the only reason we would need to call a special meeting without the
chair’s consent would be to remove him.
o
Maureen
Castriotta stated that most governing bodies allow the majority of the members
to call a special meeting
o
Chris Rogers
asked if alternates count as part of the quorum?
o
Steve Sadow
suggested that 6 commissioners or alternates filling in for commissioners
should achieve a quorum
o
Chris Raths
suggested that we should not allow an unbalanced commission to occur
o
Gene Paradiso
stated that the change should be made regarding the commission chair appointing
committee chairs.
o
Craig Heard
suggested the committee should elect its own chair
o
Gene Paradiso
asked if the data collection committee could meet with both towns and school
boards
o
Chris Raths
stated that “Incidental” under finances should be changed to a lower case i
o
Chris Rogers
asked if all expenditures under 100.00 still need to be approved by the chair,
just not voted on by the full commission prior to authorizing. The commission will eventually have the
opportunity to vote on all expenditures and donations.
o
Craig Heard
suggested that all documents released from committee to be voted on by the full
commission should be released to the public prior to a vote.
o
Chris Rogers
asked if we should determine where excess funds should go at the time of
decommission
o
Gene Paradiso
stated he would delete the bullets under the policy section the bylaws
o
Maureen
Castriotta stated she was not in favor of a 2/3 vote.
o
Chris Raths
stated he was not in favor of a 2/3 vote
o
Nancy Absalon
stated that we should be consistent
o
Steve Sadow
stated that we should stay consistent
o
Chris Raths
suggested that we should only leave the 2/3 vote for removing bylaws and
removing commissioners
o
Gene Paradiso
stated he would make corrections and send out to everyone
·
Technology
Committee (ADHOC)
o
No update
·
Fundraising
Committee (ADHOC)
o
Jerry Frisco
stated he would contact agencies and will document efforts regarding his
fundraising efforts.
o
Maureen suggested
that we give a presentation to the Morris County Freeholders
o
Craig Heard asked
George Haeuber if we can fundraise?
o
George Haeuber
stated that we can.
13. Resolutions
·
TABLED - 2015-304 RESOLVED, that the Roxbury Mount Arlington
Consolidation Study approves the proposed Bylaws. See attached
14. Old/Unfinished Business
·
Insurance
o Gene
Paradiso gave an update on insurance quotes
o Craig
Heard stated that Gina Genovese did not think this would a good use of funds
o Chris
Rogers stated that she did not attach any strings to the donation given to us
by Courage to Connect, however he agreed that it did not make sense to spend that
much on an insurance policy at the moment.
o Steve
Sadow stated that the commission should examine what it is getting for such a
low premium
o Chris
Raths stated he would talk to some local agencies that specialize in municipal
work
15. New Business
·
Sub Committee Meetings
o Data Collection
o Municipal Government
o Education
o Finance/Administration
o DPW / Utilities
o Police/Fire/EMS
o Personnel
o Shared / Social Services
·
Chairman Heard asked for feedback on committee
selections. He asked members of the
public to sit in on the committee meetings.
He also asked the committees to search out members of the community to
participate in these committees
·
Steve Sadow asked if alternates can serve as
committee chairs? All agreed.
·
Gene Paradiso asked if he could set up meetings
with each board of education? All
agreed.
16. Public Comment
·
Charlie Alpaugh stated the Roxbury Historic
Trust will be hosting an Ice Cream Social from 12-4pm this Sunday at 209 Main
Street in Succasunna
17.
Adjournment
·
Chris Raths made
a motion to adjourn. Gene Paradiso made
a second. All agreed. No role call taken.
