June 8th Meeting Summary

The Council had a meeting on June 8th. Here is a summary of what was discussed.

As was previously announced, Councilwoman Holland resigned at the meeting. The Council discussed at the end of the meeting an appointment process that will occur at our upcoming meeting on Monday, June 22nd. The individual who is appointed will be sworn in immediately, and will serve until there is a special election on November 3rd, 2026. Those interested in running for office will be able to pick up a packed to run in July.

At the top of the meeting, Boswell Engineering was in to talk about two traffic issues for which they provided the Council detailed memos. One was to open up Personette Avenue to be a two way street. As many of you know, currently Personette has a gate up at Depot Street that prevents two way traffic. With the upcoming light that is being installed by the County at Fairview and Personette, the Council is considering making this a two way street. The engineers discussed some considerations for the Council in terms of striping and stop signs. Several residents were on hand and provided some observations on traffic flow and concerns they have once this change is made. The Administration is taking all feedback and will work it into safety plans for the area.

The second traffic issue discussed was lowering the speed limit on all roads in the Township to 25 mph. This is something that we would need to get permission for from the County. Some members of Council expressed some reservations on lowing the speed limit on Bloomfield Avenue in the Extended Town Center zone. I brought up the fact that Montclair already made this change on their roads so the speed coming out of Montclair should already be 25 mph. Several members of the Neighborhood Traffic and Safety Committee and the public where on hand to support the measure. The next step is continued conversations about making this change and then a resolution for the Council to vote on to formally request it.

We passed all of our ordinances, including $4.1 million in capital improvements and $2.7 million for the water and sewer utility. We have many important infrastructure projects that can now get started around the township. We also passed minor changes to our ordinance on the voting procedures of our land use boards.

Two ordinances were introduced for a public hearing and vote at our next meeting. We introduced an ordinance banning the burning of garbage and vegetation. We also introduced a bond for a new ambulance.

Under resolutions, the following are highlights of the things that were approved:

• A change order to the Linden Avenue street reconstruction project for additional costs related to the removal of trees. I expressed my concern at the meeting that the Township needs to have a plan to pay for extra trees that now need to be replanted since we took down such a large number of shade trees.

• A contract with NewGen to update our water and sewer rate study

• Contract close outs for the municipal building roof replacement and the bank stabilization of the Peckman river

• Formalization of canceling taxes for Verona Flats

• An emergency contract for urgent repairs for the sewer treatment plan

• A NJDOT grant application for the reconstruction of Fairway, Morningside, and Hillside (I abstained from the vote as I live on one of those streets)

• Changing the employee prescription plan to RxHarmony (I abstained from the vote, as did Mayor Tamburro)

• A contract for the Derwent Sanitary Sewer Repairs

• A contract for the engineering for the Franklin St. Bridge and watermain repair

• Various other contracts

Our next meeting is on Monday June 22nd. As always, you can make any comment on any matter before the Council by sending your thoughts using the convenient form located here: https://www.veronanj.org/councilcontactform.