Verona Town Council July 6th Meeting Summary

On July 6th we had a meeting. The Mayor was not present. Here is a summary of what was discussed.

We had two interesting presentations for long standing projects that the Township is working on. The first was the Community Energy Plan. This is essentially a road map on how Verona is going to become more energy efficient over the next 3 years. By completing this road map, we can unlock additional grant funding offered for energy efficiency initiatives. I encourage residents to look through the report here. In the report are dozens of action steps Verona has taken and will take to become more energy efficient. The biggest opportunities Verona has is to reduce residential and commercial energy usages and the plan includes several action items in these areas. There are also steps that Verona can take to reduce the Township's energy usage, which will help to reduce expenses that are ultimately paid for via taxes.

I encourage residents to read the plan. Any comments can be sent directly to our Township Manager here. The next step is that the Council has to formally adopt the plan at our next meeting. From there, the Administration will work on applying for additional grants to implement the action items.

The second presentation was for our Age Friendly Plan, which was presented by NJ Future. You can read the plan here: https://www.veronanj.org/councilmeetings. This plan was also developed with grant money received. You may recall that the Township conducted a survey of residents to ask questions regarding aging in Verona and what the challenges are that are experienced by residents. The survey and subsequent recommendations were organized into the AARP's framework for the 8 domains of livability: Outdoor Spaces & Buildings, Transportation, Housing, Social Participation,

Respect & Social Inclusion, Work & Civic Engagement, Communication & Information, and Community & Health Services. The analysis ended with a list of priorities the Township should focus on to be more age friendly and address the issues seniors are facing.

When I ran for office seven years ago, I talked a lot about the importance of strategic planning and how that can result in more efficient government and planning. This, along with the Community Energy Plan, are great examples of this type of work.

As part of this meeting on the 6th, I asked the Township Manager to provide an update to the public on the status of the public safety complex. This was a result of comments made on my social media page that I want to make sure the Township addresses broadly to all members of the public. The current status of the Public Safety complex is that Verona has responses from an RFP for technical assistance from vendors that specialize in the designs of public safety buildings. Requiring technical assistance on this project is something that I advocated for after receiving feedback from the public.

The Council is going to be asked to interview these experts and pick one to proceed to advise on the project. The goal then would be for that expert of review the current drafted plan and make recommendations to the Council on changes that can be made to the project. The Administration agreed to provide a public information update on the project soon so that all members of the public are informed on where we are.

I remind residents that the best way to ask questions and provide feedback is to use our convenient form that goes to all members of the Council here: https://www.veronanj.org/councilcontactform.

In terms of formal action taken, we passed an ordinance making some changes to who from our Administration is responsible for certain zoning enforcements.

We introduced an ordinance to incorporate the lot on Lakeside Avenue into our ordinances on parking lots to allow us to regulate parking there going forward. This is not the start of any construction there per se, but is necessary as an administrative step to allow for some temporary use for long term parking. Comments on this proposed ordinance can be sent to the entire Council here: https://www.veronanj.org/councilcontactform. A public hearing will be at our next meeting.

Under resolutions, we had a debate on who has the authority to change the pool hours for special events, eventually passing a resolution 3-1 to give that authority to the Township Manager only. We passed a resolution that revised a previous resolution to submit a grant to the NJ Department of Transportation to improve Morningside Road only. We have significant water, sewer and stormwater issues to address on Morningside, so this is where the grant is needed. This means that Fairway and Hillside are not scheduled to be part of the grant. I voiced my concern on the condition of Hillside as I believe that street is in disrepair and needs to be addressed.

Other actions taken at the meeting included authorizing a contract with Boswell on the Derwent Sewer repairs, authorizing the inclusion of Verona in the Essex County Urban County Community Development Program, and accepting our 2023 tonage grant for recycling.

Under new business, we discussed adding a new position - Salary Ordinance for Supervisor Sewage Plant Operator. This position is necessary and is being required by the NJ DEP that we add to our sewer plant operations. An ordinance to add this position will be on our agenda for the next meeting. We also finalized Council appointments for our Boards and Commissions.

Our next meeting is on Monday July 20th. Any comments on any matter can be sent to the entire Council here: https://www.veronanj.org/councilcontactform.