Welcomed Changes to the New Township Committee
- Kin Gee
- Jan 13, 2020
- 3 min read
Editorial note – Please share and cross post this to family, friends and neighbors. If you wish to receive this as an email directly, please send an email to betterholmdel@yahoo.com.]
Welcomed Changes to the New Township Committee
Jan. 13, 2020 – In case you missed it, after the newest members were sworn in, the new Township Committee elected Greg Buontempo as Mayor and Cathy Weber as Deputy Mayor during the re-organization meeting on Jan. 2nd.
In a refreshing change, the agenda for this Tuesday’s Township Committee meeting was released late Friday afternoon, more than 48 hours before the meeting.
Please see the following link for the agenda for the meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 14th at 7:30 PM:
Public Comments On Agenda Items
In addition to the timely release of the agenda, a change to the Rules of Order now allows public comments on agenda items before the items are voted on by the Township Committee.
Video Recording & Live Steaming
Another important change is the introduction of an ordinance to direct video recording and live streaming of Township Committee meetings. While not required by the Open Public Meetings Act, technological advances have made this easier in recent years. This is being done at various state government agencies as well as the State Legislature.
Holmdel residents group Citizens for Informed Land Use (“CILU”) has long provided the much appreciated service of video recording the meetings and posting them on YouTube. Nevertheless, Holmdel residents have advocated for this for some time and this represents another change that will help foster transparency and to engage Holmdel residents in the Townships happening and governance.
Executive Session Agenda Items
Residents should take note of several items that are on the Executive Session (closed to the public).
1. Hinds Lawsuit – In 2019, after an investigation of unauthorized expenses by Township Engineer T&M Associates, the Township Committee voted to censure then-Mayor Eric Hinds for his role in these unauthorized expenses. As reported in a Patch news article, represented by the local Chair of the Holmdel Democratic Party Larry Luttrell as his lawyer, Hinds has now filed a lawsuit seeking to “void” the censure. Among other things, Luttrell argued that the Township Committee members should have given the public 48 hours advance notice of its intent to censure Hinds – despite the fact that Mayor Hinds, as the presiding official of the meetings, has rarely, if ever, publicly release the agenda 48 hours in advance of meetings in 2019.
2. Election Results Lawsuit – After the election recount and the official certification by the Board of Election that Cathy Weber and Prakash Santhana as the winners of the local election, candidate Chiung-Yin Liu has filed a lawsuit on Dec. 17, 2019 contesting the results of the election. Monmouth County Clerk Christine Hanlon, the Monmounth County Board of Election, the Superintendent of Elections, Holmdel Township Clerk Wendy Patrovich and Prakash Santhana were all named in the lawsuit.
In the nearby Bayshore town of Highlands, the incumbent Mayor, after the mayoral race was decided by one vote following a recount, conceded the election instead of launching into an expensive and time consuming challenge.
A case management hearing before the judge took place last week and according to the order issued by the judge, a trial date of May 4th was set. However, there are a number of steps such as: (a) answers to the complaint,and counter claims, (b) document production requests, (c) answers to counterclaims, and (d) a decision for handwriting experts and, if so, their expert reports, etc. that must occur before this May 4th trial date. An individual familiar with this case expressed the opinion that the case looks to be protracted and costly to all parties including Holmdel Township.
Given this schedule, the litigation may not end until August or September of this year, possibly later.
3. NJ Natural Gas – As previously reported (see below for link), after being denied by the Holmdel Zoning Board in 2016 and 2018, NJ Natural Gas filed a petition with the NJ Board of Public Utilities seeking an order to build the industrial regulator station in a mostly residential area on Holmdel Road. The Township Committee voted NOT to approve a settlement agreement that would have allowed the construction of the regulator station.
The Administrative Law Judge in this case has now set a date for a public hearing on Feb. 13th, 6 PM at the Holmdel Senior/Community Center for public comments. An organizational meeting for this public hearing is being held by Holmdel concerned residents this Wednesday, Jan. 15th at 7 PM.
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