Listening post was held in the conference room off the Council Chambers from 7 PM to 7:30 PM. Unfortunately, the only listening that was being done was by me and one other attendee - while others were discussing Pitchers and Catchers and their fantasy baseball software processes. I am not quite sure as to whether it is because the Listening Post is not well publicized that it gets short shrift or whether the population of Livingston is just unaware of how important it is.
The Listening Post is an opportunity for the townspeople to raise their issues, questions, and concerns in a somewhat less intimidating and more informal manner than during a regular council meeting. Rather than contacting an individual councilperson regarding a complaint or a question (and I had gotten several even before I took office!), this allows an issue to be raised in an open forum where, one would hope, the more people that know about the problem, the faster the fix can be put in.
At one Listening Post, a couple raised the issue of allowing information to be sent via email instead of snail mail - to help cut down on waste (as most of the information is either not looked at or looked at and trashed) and on the cost of postage. This is a very helpful suggestion and we took it upon ourselves to begin to look at the problem and how to resolve it.
The bottom line is - if the people of Livingston don't use the Listening Post, it will go away. There really is no point in sitting around for 30 minutes talking amongst ourselves....
As for the conference meeting, there was a bit of fireworks. We revisited the proposed Tree Ordinance that had been submitted by the Livingston Environmental Commission - primarily to deal with lots of under 1 acre. That ordinance is now under review by the Planning Board and we expect their comments shortly. No fireworks yet. Then we discussed the Riparian Zone Ordinance which deals with the water quality of streams in the town. Apparently, Livingston did not enact this ordinance previously because, as the Town Manager indicated in her memo, "due to concerns about the need for separate municipal ordinances when the NJDEP has regulations that already protect these areas." All well and good, but now we gotta! The only thing I asked was that we add the language that this is being foisted on us by the State in the initial "Whereas" clause. Still no fireworks. We had some housekeeping items regarding legal bills ... now the fireworks!
The Town Manager recommended the award of the bid for a Geographical Information System (GIS) to the tune of mega bucks (not sure if the bid results have been published yet so don't want to list the amount). Both Mike Rieber and I challenged the need for this system. Despite the fact that the funds have already been allocated, as long as they haven't been spent they might not need to be! One of the major objections we have for this system is that, if it's not going to save us mega bucks, and if I haven't needed it up till now, why are we spending the money now? The question I asked is whether this is a 'nice to have' or 'need to have.' I believe that we 'need to have' new polycarbonate tanks for our Fire Department - it's a safety issue. A new GIS is not. If it is important, we can look at it next year or the year after that - but maybe it's okay to defer this spending until later. I firmly believe that, in this case, not spending where we are not saving is fully justified. The end result is that the award is being deferred and the Chief Engineer will be brought in to justify this expense. I look forward to it!
After this little tiff, we then discussed another mega bucks bid (same issue - don't know if the bid results have been published yet) on Phase I of the Development of a Comprehensive Wastewater Master Plan. This item has a bit more traction in that we are processing storm water to the tune of - gee, no one can give me those numbers - and by implementing this modeling system, we can find the areas of excessive flow and then correct it. It did not appear that there is any other way to get this done. This also seems to have benefit to the citizens of Livingston in a very tangible way – when water pressure drops, someone can be immediately alerted and start working on a fix. On the other hand, I had a concern with this bid in that the vendor recommended by Purchasing had to 'rebid' as they didn't seem to include several things in their initial bid. My 'spidey sense' gets raised by these types of things as a) we've given more consideration to one bidder than others who bid it properly initially and b) if the lowest bidder is construing things so narrowly, do I hear change notices later?? Again, hackles were raised all around.
The rest of the items were pretty much more housekeeping with the inevitable change notice regarding something for the new building. I am sure the rest of the council members are as tired of them as I. We did have a fairly lively discussion regarding how to deal with the feral cat situation in Livingston and I am not convinced that it is cheaper to trap, neuter, and release than to trap and destroy. I know trap and destroy is not a popular alternative, but is it really more humane to let them wander in the freezing cold and either starve to death or be killed by wild foxes or hit by cars?
So, the meeting ended with the Town Manager's temper running rather high. I believe that Michele wants to do the best job possible; but my job, as well as my fellow council members, is to question, challenge, and re-think any and all expenditures. My goal, and I hope that my colleagues is as well, is to ensure that our property taxes stay flat while maintaining services for the community. Spending without a clear payback period just does not make good business sense.
Let me know what you think out there!
Way to go Deborah. Keep up the good work. Of course, the biggest increases are really in contributions to pensions and healthcare - two items that we can't touch? 20% as a minimum should be expected from township employees to increase their contribution toward the cost of healthcare. Signed: local taxpayer tired of being milked as a cow.
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