The Town Council has introduced an ordinance to reorganize the Department of Public Works, primarily to return to the superintendent of the DPW day-to-day management and reestablish supervisory duties that were removed in 2006 by the previous administration.
Back in 2006, the administration of Mayor Dennis Elwell said the changes were necessary to make the department supervisor more administrative. However, the supervisor of public works at the time was Michael Gonnelli, Elwell’s political adversary. Gonnelli, who is now mayor, believed the real purpose of the reorganization was to strip him of his responsibilities as a form of retaliation. The pair had been fighting over the terms of Gonnelli’s retirement and other matters.
“The changes to the ordinance were put in effect in ’05,” Gonelli said last week. “That was done when the previous administration was gunning for me. Basically they took away all of my duties and power. It doesn’t make sense to have a superintendent that can’t run a department. We gave the powers back to the superintendent to run the department.”
The town has advertised for applicants for DPW superintendent, a position vacated in October 2011 by Charles F. Snyder when he retired.
The amendments to the ordinance that were introduced on Wednesday also eliminate specific job areas such as buildings and grounds, transportation, and streets for the department’s assistant superintendents. Gonnelli said the assistant superintendent positions are subject to change once a new superintendent is hired and has time to evaluate the entire department.
“Basically it gave the council flexibility to have as many or as few assistant superintendents as necessary,” said Town Administrator David Drumeler. The current assistant superintendents are John Dubiel and Kevin O’Conner.
Separation of affordable housing
The council also introduced an ordinance that establishes a separate Affordable Housing Board in compliance with the state Fair Housing Act. Right now the Land Use ordinance states that the Secaucus Leased Housing Corporation (LHS), a private entity, monitors whether developers comply with state law requiring them to provide housing for low and moderate-income families. The Affordable Housing Board had operated on its own but is now recognized. The ordinance also eliminates any association to the LHS.
The LHS is a non-profit organization that was created in 1975 to help pay for the Elms senior citizen building.
“A lot of this is cleanup work for latest round of appellate court decisions,” said Drumeler. “There was an ordinance that transferred a lot of power to leased housing. We are placing power back in the affordable housing board.”
Despite the recent language indicating a separation of the duties between the Leased Housing Corporation and the affordable housing board, the members who serve on both boards are exactly the same. The mayor said that appointing new members to the Affordable Housing Board has not yet been considered, but will be evaluated in the future. He said Councilman Jeffas will be asked to sit on the Affordable Housing Board.
The ordinance also amends land use procedures to be consistent with current rules of the state Department of Community Affairs pertaining to development impact fees. Developers must pay certain fees to the town to make up for the strain their new residents will put on public services.
The council will allow comments from the public and possibly hold a final vote on the introduced ordinances on March 27.
The town of Secaucus should have received $3.1 million but only received $1.8 million.
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Energy receipts tax battle
The town passed a resolution to get its fair share of municipal revenues collected by the state for energy and utility services. The state began diverting those revenues since the early nineties, but in 2010 the amounts reached dramatic levels.
“The state is holding back $900 million of money that is supposed to be sent directly to the municipalities for direct property tax relief,” said Gonnelli. “The main focus of this is to get the governor to put the money back in the pot where it belongs.”
The town of Secaucus should have received $3.1 million from the CMPTRA and Energy Tax Receipts Program in 2011, but only received $1.8 million, according to the resolution.
Gonelli plans to testify in Trenton during hearings that will be scheduled by local Assemblyman Vincent Prieto, who is also the chair of the Assembly Budget Committee.
Gonnelli has linked the issue to tax sharing. Through the state’s tax sharing program, which started in 1973, the towns in the Meadowlands region that are allowed to have development must pay into a tax pool so that other towns that can’t develop for environmental reasons can share the monetary rewards. Secaucus has paid in excess of $72 million to the tax sharing program since its inception. Secaucus and some neighboring towns have complained that the fee is unfair. In a recent letter to area mayors, Gonnelli wrote that “if [the lost aid] does exceed the amount necessary for Tax Sharing we can request that the amount withheld be utilized to offset Tax Sharing payments.”
Safety, recreation fees, idling trucks
Several other issues were discussed at the meeting:
– To increase safety by the pre-school, the town will rework a crosswalk and create an island in the middle of First Avenue. The crosswalks will be made of a bright red material, and other islands along Paterson Plank Road will be improved.
– Recreation fees have gone up to $40 per participant in a sporting or recreation activity, an increase of $10 dollars. Second siblings will pay $35. Recreation football costs $50.
-Work by PSE&G at the end of Paterson Plank Road by Trolley Park is expected to take 60-90 days. The work will cause detours in bus routes. PSE&G will provide a new playground at Trolley Park after the work is complete.
– The council introduced an ordinance stipulating that commercial trucks that idle for longer than three minutes will be subject to a fine, imprisonment, or community service. Public hearing is also March 27.
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