Comments on 1/10/2011 Meeting - Part II

After the regular meeting, the Conference Meeting agenda was resumed in the Conference Room next to the main Council chambers.  Although the meeting was open to the public, no one who attended the regular meeting was aware of that; they all assumed that we were going into closed session.  I will make sure to announce the status of the meeting (e.g., closed versus open) next time something like this happens.

Various traffic issues were discussed as well as new proposed fees for field usage and the pool.  Also discussed was information that had been received from NJCAAN regarding proposed FAA modifications to flight paths from JFK, La Guardia, and Newark Airports.  NJCAAN indicated that there would be a tremendous impact on Livingston i.e., increase in decibel levels from the air traffic, due to the rerouting but, on VERY cursory inspection of the data, the facts did not support this.

Other questions I asked at this meeting, once the agenda had been dispensed with included:

• Whether we can receive quarterly updates regarding Council Memo #169 which outlined the savings on energy we could expect to receive due to our expenditure on 'green' fixtures.  The ostensible payback period on the expense was less than a year; I want to have the expenditures tracked to see if the savings are actually realized.  I did not get a positive response to this request stating that it would be too difficult to do but they would try to track.  During the budget meetings, I will see if we can't put some benchmarks in place or at least budget $63K less in energy spending over the next year (equal to the expected savings).

• During Rudy's speech at the Reorganization Meeting, he talked about getting the Town Council meetings televised.  I raised this issue and wanted to see if we could get monthly updates on getting LTV to start both taping and broadcasting on a regular basis.  During the ensuing discussion, it was apparent that the council members would be very happy to have the meetings taped, but that a) LTV could not get enough people to volunteer to do the tapings and b) the Council could not ensure that the recordings would run on a regular schedule, e.g., every Thursday and Saturday at 9 PM, so that people would know when to tune in.  I think that we should advertise for volunteers to work with LTV to do the tapings; there are probably enough people in town who have sufficient interest to show up for a training session and then volunteer their time once or twice a month (or one or twice a quarter if enough people step up)!

• I had raised the issue with Michele Meade regarding utilizing an online bidding facility so that Livingston's municipal RFPs can be disseminated beyond the livingstonnj.org website and the West Essex Tribune.  By utilizing such a facility, costs for producing and mailing RFP's would be eliminated and would also allow for better tracking and management of bids and resultant proposals.  This was raised again - I hope that it helps the town.

The meeting ended after 11 PM - it was a very long day.  Looking forward to the next one on January 24th - hope to see you there!  Let me know if you want any issues or concerns raised.  Comments are always welcome.