Note – If you wish to view the one hour pre-meeting presentation by the Belleville Development Group regarding their massive Northeast Redevelopment / Second River Station project, click this link to view that video first.
There is a great deal of discussion in the regular meeting over this proposal, as well as the potential acquisition of the Roche/Jergens property by the township. It’s a good idea to watch both meetings.
Be sure to watch this video through to the end. It really was a phenomenal meeting, with perhaps the best example we’ve seen in the last year of both the Council and the community coming together, and working collaboratively in debating what is best for Belleville.
This was a packed house, with standing room only, and there wasn’t much if any conflict of opinion the entire meeting. There was no shouting. Instead, there were well-argued appeals to reason and common sense.
Town attorney Thomas Murphy even invited another attorney, Mr. James Ray, from the firm of McElroy, Deutsch, and Mulvaney, to field questions from residents regarding the potential acquisition by the township of the Roche/Jergens property, which has been of concern to many residents. The discussion was both informative, and frank.
This was an engaged public, combined with good governance in play. This was Belleville at work, and it was a beautiful sight to behold.
That is, until Councilman Longo proposed “Resolution 9” toward the end of the meeting, and brought it all to a screeching halt.
We don’t have the exact wording of the resolution in hand yet, but it is our understanding that the proposal is to compel the Council and all township employees to cooperate with an alleged corruption investigation into the dealings of Town Hall, on the threat of loss of employment with the township.
Mind you, to our knowledge and apparently that of Mr. Murphy, no investigation of Town Hall has been substantiated anywhere at this time.
More importantly, considering Longo did not support a recent resolution to launch a formal investigation by the township into the multi-million dollar financial calamity of biblical proportions in the school district from which he came, this particular resolution of his would appear to give new meaning to the word, “hypocrisy”.
So, let’s just say Longo’s proposal was not met with enthusiasm, and some verbal gunfire ensued.
Other than that minor fiasco however, this was a stellar meeting, for both the Council and township residents. We hope to see this more collaborative tone continue going forward.
Enjoy the video.
Update: NorthJersey.com has published their coverage of the meeting:
Belleville council authorizes purchase of Roche property
By the way, see what kind of fun you guys miss when you don’t come to public meetings?
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