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A statement, a question and an idea for the future
regarding the November 12th Millburn Township Committee vote on
the proposed Downtown Redevelopment Plan.
STATEMENT
Members of WeLoveMillburn were glad to see, that at last nights meeting, all five members of the Millburn Township Committee voted that the Township Attorney could write a legal resolution that kills the current proposed Downtown Redevelopment Plan. They will make it official when they vote Dec 2nd.
QUESTION
Approving budgets, creating ordinances, approving personnel, even authorizing the purchase of
a new fire truck should be done by the five elected township officials we voted in and the full time business manager they appoint handles the running of the day to day municipal services. But what constitutes something that should be a referendum item? By law, township residents vote on new school building bonds and school budgets besides the Board of Education members. So then why would something as large and important to all as a $100 million plus redevelopment plan, that affects the whole town, not be voted on by all residents in a referendum too. What constitutes a referendum item vs. other items that the Township Committee members can and should vote on without us?
IDEA FOR THE FUTURE
Whether something is a referendum item or not, whose obligation is it that the public be informed of big issues like a redevelopment plan? We seriously suggest that one of the Township Committee members head up a new group they can call the Resident Information Committee. For background, currently Committee members head up committees on the deer issue, the library, safety, etc. In the future, we suggest one member should be in charge of informing the public. The committee can be made up of the Town Clerk, the person who runs the town website, someone from local newspapers and local residents. But the Resident Information Committee would be headed up by a Township official. Regarding the recent Downtown Redevelopment Plan, the fact that our organization, WeLoveMillburn, had to suggest to the Mayor that she send out postcards to all households and that we had to run a multimedia campaign to get the word out that there even was a proposed plan shows this is needed. While the Mayor and other Township Committee members were appreciative of our efforts, the responsibility should not lie with an outside citizens group but rather the Township Committee.
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