Haimoff Selected as Mayor Again; Delivers State of Township Address
Tillotson will serve another year as deputy mayor and Sari Greenberg was sworn in to serve on the committee.
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At the Township Committee’s annual re-organization meeting Tuesday night, the new board selected Mayor Sandra Haimoff and Deputy Mayor Robert Tillotson to serve another term each and newcomer Sari Greenberg was sworn in to serve on the committee.
In her state of the Township address, Mayor Haimoff talked about the tough year Millburn ended up having, after starting out as calm and quiet.
“Then came August,” she said. “Irene stormed in, and on her heels a rare October snowstorm barreled into the township, downing trees and limbs heavy with leaves and snapping power lines. These two events presented us with new challenges and veered us off course for a period of time.”
Haimoff outlined the projects and work of the committee during the past year including approving the plans for a parking deck at Essex and Lackawanna; taking own the Rimback Building; using grant money for the Gilbert Place Riparian Restoration; cleaning up the Taylor Park fuel tank; redoing the tennis courts at Taylor Park; and restoring the Bauer Center porch.
The Township Committee also passed ordinances to deal with commercial filming licenses; sewer access fees for new development; driveway access for commercial areas; and sump pump discharge.
In addition, the township privatized its garbage collection and recycling and is still looking at the cost-effectiveness of the possibility of combing police dispatch services with Summit, New Providence and Berkeley Heights.
But the biggest issues and projects the committee has faced or worked on this year stem from the destruction caused by both Tropical Storm Irene and the October snowstorm, she said.
“Recognizing that all of the problems caused by the Rahway River could not be solved by Millburn Township alone, we reached out to the upstream and downstream towns,” she said. “That resulted in the formation of the Mayors Coalition on the Rahway River.”
That coalition met with the Department of Environmental Protection and the Corps of Engineers on Dec. 22, and the Corps agreed to include Campbell’s Pond, Diamond Mill Pond and the Orange Reservoir in its plans and conceptual designs for flood damage reduction.
“This was a big step in resolving part of our storm flooding problem at no cost to Millburn,” she said.
In the year to come, the Township will continue looking at additional ways to communicate in cases of emergencies and as well implementing additional safety measures.
“Public safety is one of our paramount concerns,” Haimoff said. “We are investigating more safety measures such as installing cameras a strategic plances. Lighting is another source of concern and we have been working with JCP&L, not only to ensure that we don’t have another power outage that last for 12 days but that our street light are replaced quickly when they burn out.”
Not only will the township continue to pressure JCP&L to that end, she said, it will also “be applying pressure to the Board of Public Utilities” to deal with JCP&L.
“We will continue to learn from the past, work in the present and plan for the future,” she said.
P_R_PC
8:30 am on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Great quote - “We will continue to learn from the past, work in the present and plan for the future,” Haimoff said. Let's hope it holds up.
Honestly, I'm not surprised by her re-selection - this board has proven to our community, time and time again over the last year, that they have lost contact with its constituants. Had this been up for a vote I would find it hard to believe the town would have re-selected Mayor Haimoff.
The entire community is watching you Mayor Haimoff, Deputy Mayor Tillotson and the entire Township Committee - you've failed us in the past and we won't allow you to do it again (however, I'm afraid we may have already started the snowball down the hill towards a blizzard, or hurricane, of mismanagement of our town.)
Good luck Millburn/Short Hills.
bill
10:49 am on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Did she mention the complete lack of police response to the growing crime in our community under her watch? She was a failure in doing anything, no increased patrols, no strong enforcement messages, no nothing. Carjackings happen and we get only 2 or 3 days of police at the station in the morning, I have not seen a cop there in 2 weeks. No one caught yet for break ins since the council does not care to pressure police or hire more. Mayor H's inaction is a danger to us all, she should be impeached, not reappointed.
Noreen Brunini
3:51 pm on Thursday, January 5, 2012
I am happy to note an increase in neighborhood police patrols during the day. Be grateful you are not in Detroit. On CNN today, they announced Detroit will now be closing their Police stations from 4 pm - 8 am daily! Am just incredulous any municipality would even consider this an option let alone implement such.
Joel
11:31 am on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Bill....your statement that "there was a complete lack of police response to the growing crime in our community under her watch" is inaccurate. Millburn has a very competent police department. Arrests have been made, patrols have been beefed up, and there are many things being done by the police that are not transparent to the public. You can get involved by helping to set up neighborhood watches, establish campaigns to remind people to lock their cars and not leave items of value visible, and encourage residents to partner with the police department to help deter crime.
bill
11:43 am on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Joel maybe we missed it, but can you link the article where the millburn police have arrested someone for carjacking, home invasions / robberies, or auto theft in the last 3 months? Also, patrols have not been beefed up, there are 3 fewer police officers than the plan / budget has. They are below capacity according to the twp manager with no plans to increase capacity.
They have done nothing to deter crime that we can see on a daily basis. They say they are doing things behind the scenes, but this is always a cover for police doing nothing nationwide, it is an old trick that they all use. Visible deterrence and police presence, public arrests and convictions, and strong repeated tough talk work, it has been proven in many other towns. Blaming residents and pretending that there is some behind the scenes magic going on has gotten us nothing.
J S Beckerman
11:22 am on Thursday, January 5, 2012
Why do I continually sense that our local government merely "kicks the can down the road" on important issues by forming committees and promising to investigate issues? I wish we had people with vision and, more importantly, the drive to implement.
P_R_PC
12:12 pm on Thursday, January 5, 2012
+1
Can we change the process? Does anyone know the steps would we need to take to change our town council/mayoral system into an town election process vs. town committee selection process?
I would be in favor of a town voted mayor - and a 2 year term.
It can be done! Check out this story - town in CA pushed to change the process: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/encinitas/article_1c3c6330-f026-54fc-a7eb-d8691e39126b.html