Petition filed under the Faulkner Act
March 2, 2017
Earlier this week I handed in a petition with over 400
signatures from Berkeley Heights Voters stating that they would
like to repeal the $28,000,000 bonding for the municipal building
complex or submit it to a vote.
My goal was to get 334 signatures in the shortest amount of time
possible. The Faulkner Act requires 15% of the
Ballots cast in the municipality during the last General Assembly
election.
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES Free Public Library of Berkeley Heights Ignores OPMA
February 14, 2017
It seems that the transparency issue is widespread, not only
with the Town Council itself but also with Board OF Trustees
for the BH Library.
Recording public meetings is a right afforded to us by NJ Common
Law. However, the Berkeley Heights Library Board of Trustees
do not think this applies to them.
I attempted to document and educate the public by broadcasting our
towns committees.
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Mayor Woodruff's Answers Question on $28M Bond Ordiance
February 10, 2017
A resident asks Mayor Woodruff how does he know that the
taxpayers in town want to more than double the town's debt by
voting on a $28,000,000 bond. The Mayor smugly answers that
he doesn't.
A must watch!
https://youtu.be/OdmMdVZmcpQ
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YMCA
February 7, 2017
Why are the negotiations with the Y being all done behind closed
doors? At first they invited the Y back into executive session to
negotiate, until they were told that is illegal.
Then they said that they would prefer to have one on one
negotiations with the towns lawyers. OPRA requests return no
document on any offers from the YMCA.
For tomorrows meeting they have arranged executive session to
discuss the Y.
This entire dealing is being done behind closed doors, why such
secrecy?
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Berkeley Heights Town Administrator sends cryptic msg about the Sunshine Act
January 30, 2017
It seems that the town has taken the time to read the Berkeley
Heights Sunshine Act
John Bussiculo wrote:
Joe Sordillo has reasons why we couldn’t use it.
I replied:
Can I have clarification of Joe's reasons?
John Bussiculo replied:
Will be discussed at the next meeting.
Not really sure why they cant provide the reasons now, if there
is a technical issue with the Act, we can discuss and work out the
kinks.
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Misuse of Public Resources
January 29, 2017
During the Jan 24, 2017, Town Council meeting, the Council
decided not to address the Berkeley Heights Sunshine Act even
though they had ample time, 10 days, to review the document
prior to the meeting. The Mayor seemed to state that
they were already transparent so why do they need to read an act
about transparency.
Rather than having a public and transparent discussion about
transparency, they chose to release a statement on the
Berkeley Heights Website.
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Council Looks to Reduce Transparency
January 23, 2017
During the Jan 24, 2017's Berkeley Heights Town Council meeting
the Council will present changes to the Berkeley Heights Code
seeking to close the door on committee meetings.
Why?
It is very peculiar that they really don't want the tax payer
involved in any way in these Mayor Appointed Committee meetings.
They first tried to introduce an ordinance to stop
the recording of these meetings but people in town voiced their
disdain and the council backed off.
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Berkeley Heights Sunshine Act
January 19, 2017
Berkeley Heights Sunshine Act
Based on recent incidents where the Berkeley Heights Town
Council has chosen to hide and confound important information that
would provide the town with valuable insight, I would like to
present the Berkeley Heights Sunshine Act.
This Ordinance is an extension of the Open Public Meetings
Act. The sole purpose of this Act is to increase the level
of transparency in Berkeley Heights.
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PILOT = No Taxes For Berkeley Heights Schools
December 28, 2016
I would like to present this article for everyone on this list
to read in their time off. It is short but very very important. It
is a quick overview of PILOT ( Payment in Lieu of Taxes ).
Why this is important for Berkeley Heights is that the town
seems to be throwing the PILOT term around quite a bit and what we
need to realize is that the SCHOOLS get $0 from typical PILOT
deals.
From the article:
What are major arguments *against* tax abatements?
--Departure from Equitable Tax Principles.
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Faulkner Act - Mayor-Council-Administrator
December 4, 2016
In accordance with a ballot question that was passed in November
2005, Berkeley Heights switched from a Township Committee form to a
Mayor-Council-Administrator form of government under the Faulkner
Act or OMCL ( Optional Municipal Charter Law ).
There are 4 categories of municipalities under the Faulkner Act.
The Mayor-Council-Administrator form that was chosen by Berkeley
Heights is the least common of the 4, in fact only 3 municipalities
in NJ have chosen this category: Berkeley Heights (2007), North
Brunswick and West Millford.
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