2011 Wrap-Up at Township Council Meeting

The last Bloomfield Council meeting of 2011 was joyful and bittersweet Monday night. Township residents celebrated the recent Superbowl win for the seventh-grade Bloomfield Jr. Bengals football team and said farewell to council members Janice Litterio and Robert Ruane.

Mayor Raymond McCarthy started the meeting off by congratulating the seventh-grade Bloomfield Jr. Bengals for winning the New Jersey Suburban Youth Football League’s “B”  Division Superbowl Championship. Head Coach Dan Collins said the team won on Dec. 4 with a score of 26 to 8 against the Berkley Heights Highlanders. The football team members and cheerleaders received a loud round of applause from the audience.

Next, outgoing council members Robert Ruane and Janice Litterio made short public speeches about their time in political office. 

Ruane, a retired ironworker, said he enjoyed his tenure on the council and he looks forward to staying involved in township matters as a citizen. Litterio said she was proud of her achievements in office and for serving the needs of her constituents. Litterio said she plans to continue helping out the township and she noted that she is serving on the bicentennial committee. 

Litterio, who decided not to run for another term, will have political newcomer Elias Chalet take her seat representing the First Ward. Ruane, who lost in the primary election, will have political newcomer Carlos Bernard take his seat representing the Third Ward.  Chalet and Bernard will be sworn into office in January.

Mayor McCarthy said that while he may not have agreed with Ruane and Litterio on some issues, he thanked them for their service and for working to better Bloomfield. 

Affordable housing 

Three township residents brought up the issue of affordable housing during the public comment portion of the meeting. 

Susana Sotillo, a linguistics professor at Montclair State University, asked the politicians to consider approaching the banks that own foreclosed homes to renovate the buildings and offer them for rent to students and visiting academics. 

Sotillo said many students and visiting academics at Bloomfield College and Montclair State University struggle to find nearby affordable homes and they would be able to help drum up local business. 

“This is a better option than letting our beautiful two family homes rot or be sold to absentee landlords,” she said. 

Kevin Lindahl, Vice President of the Bloomfield Tenants Organization, asked the politicians to consider reviving Councilman Bernard Hamilton’s proposal for the "Unconscionable Rent Ordinance." 

The draft proposal, which would have prevented landlords with apartment complexes with five or more units from raising the rent 5 percent or more, was delayed in November. Councilman Hamilton said it needed to be “tweaked” by the township’s legal department before passing. 

Lindahl said the proposed ordinance should be brought back. He said rent hikes should match the consumer price index and many tenants need a rent control law that has “real teeth and real protection.” 

Bloomfield resident Aurora Castaner agreed the township needs a rent control law and she believes the mayor was not responsive to the issue.

“The seniors are struggling and something must happen now,” she said. “There are people who need help and I hope you do something about it.”

After the meeting, Hamilton declined to comment on Lindahl’s statement about the proposed ordinance. But Hamilton did say he “needed to review a few things and go from there.” 

Mayor McCarthy declined to comment after the meeting on the rent control discussion. 

Other agenda items 

Actions taken by the Township Council: 

- approved an ordinance that will change the start time of municipal meetings and special meetings to 7 p.m.

- approved the combination of $4.995 million and $4.374 million in general improvement bonds.

- hired Patricia Farrell as a part-time file clerk in the inspections department for $15.84 per hour. The council also appointed Maria Brown as an alternate school traffic guard and approved hiring a part-time provisional construction official for $32.02 per hour. 

- approved the holiday schedule for 2012. The municipal offices will be closed the following days:

January 3 for New Year’s Eve

January 17 for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

February 21 for President’s Day

April 22 for Good Friday

May 30 for Memorial Day

July 4 for Independence Day

September 5 for Labor Day

October 10 for Christopher Columbus Day

November 11 for Veterans’ Day

November 24 and 25 for Thanksgiving

December 25 and 26 for Christmas