TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON, N.J.—The much anticipated Pascack Road/Washington Avenue intersection improvement “very likely” missed the county funding cycle for 2020 and now looks to be a 2021 project at the soonest.
That’s according to Council President Michael DeSena, who has been pressing the township administration for answers after it came to light that the required shared services agreement (SSA) Mayor Peter Calamari signed in September was not then sent to the county for execution.
The SSA sets forth the division of responsibilities between the township and the county as per respective resolutions previously adopted. The Board of Chosen Freeholders approved it July 2, and the township adopted it Aug. 12.
The council understood Calamari to have sent the signed paperwork in on Sept. 9.
“It’s all pushed back because it’s not executed. We missed the funding schedule,” DeSena told Pascack Press on Dec. 18.
He added, “We’re not out any money but we’re greatly inconvenienced. We’ll know more Dec. 30, but it looks like we lost our spot.”
As well, negotiations with landowners who will be affected in the improvement “have not begun and they need to happen,” DeSena said.
He added, “Mr. [Robert] Tovo [town business administrator] and the mayor are supposed to be working on that and they have not been.”
The Township Council has set a special meeting on Monday, Dec. 30 at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers, Municipal Complex, 350 Hudson Ave. in part to take up the intersection.
The end-of-year agenda consists of housekeeping items and the approval of the police union contract, discussion of the attorney report regarding salary discrepancies, an intersection update, a separate item for “revised plans for intersection project,” and the salary ordinance.
DeSena said, “My whole thing is that 70 other municipalities sign these agreements every day and every year. Why does Washington Township have an issue with that?”
The intersection improvement is a defining priority for this council, and funding the engineering “soft costs” was its first attempted ordinance in 2017. The intersection, now a notorious bottleneck near the fire station, daily serves tens of thousands of people in addition to residents.
Plans for an intersection fix lingered in township files for years before that.
Outgoing Independent Councilman Michael Ullman told Pascack Press on Dec. 18, “It’s floundering. We don’t have an executed document. It’s beyond frustrating.”
He added, “Why can’t we find out about this? Complete shade is bring thrown over the council.”
According to email available as a public record, it happened that Township Attorney Kenneth Poller had urged tweaks and an engineering review of the SSA, copying Calamari on a Sept. 9 memo to Tovo that recommends Calamari’s signature be taken off the document.
“The agreement was signed by the mayor in anticipation of the agreement being approved, but that page should not be sent back to the county until the items I raised have been addressed,” Poller wrote.
“I would recommend that the signature be crossed out for now or whited out so there is no confusion. I called the mayor and advised him that I had some comments to the agreement,” he added.
Poller indicated certain emendations (some typographical and others to do with clarifying roles in the event of conflicts) and asked that John Yakimik, project manager for Boswell Engineering, look over the agreement from an engineering viewpoint.
None of this seems to have been shared with the council.
Asked for a status update Dec. 16, after DeSena had learned from the county that the SSA was not executed, Tovo explained at the dais that Boswell Engineering had last week submitted an update to the plan, lengthening the stacking lane on Washington going westbound.
Tovo said the change could have tax implications for some property owners.
Asked for the number of property owners who would need to be in talks with the town on the project—as a separate engineering issue some land will need to be acquired for PSE&G light poles when Pascack Road is widened—Tovo said, “Two that we’re aware of.”
Ullman observed it would have been prudent to have that land by now.
At the meeting, DeSena and Council Vice President Steve Cascio pressed Tovo and Calamari for clarification on the SSA:
Cascio: But the contract was sent to the mayor and it was signed by the mayor and returned to the county?
Tovo: [pausing] No.
DeSena: I thought we did that in September. Was the SSA sent to the county in September like you said you were going to sign it?
Calamari: Yes. Yes that was.
Cascio: Hence they accepted it?
Tovo: Yeah, I don’t recall any issue with the contract, the issue—
DeSena: No, no, we’re saying the agreement between township and county. The shared service agreement, the SSA.
Calamari: But that doesn’t get so linear as to have the final plan—
DeSena: —No, somebody advised us in the last two days that it’s not executed; they don’t have it.
Calamari: All right. I’d like to know who advised. Because this is getting out of control.
DeSena: Because we were asked for a copy, and they don’t have a copy. Do we have a copy, Mr. Poller and Mr. Tovo, of the executed SSA?
Tovo: I thought we did. We’ll look into it.
Cascio: If you can send me that copy via email I’d like to see it. Because I’d just want to make sure we’re on line…
Poller, at the meeting, was seen to confer with Calamari but did not take part in the discussion.
On Dec. 18 we emailed Poller and Calamari asking what evidently prevented the SSA from being executed. We also forwarded a resident’s related question:
“During this past summer Mayor Calamari stated in public meetings he was in talks with Seasons owner and the county to construct a commuter by day/event parking by night lot on the property of the northwest corner of Pascack and Washington Avenue.
“Can Mayor Calamari comment on how that discussion is going? I believe there is a new working plan that does not include a parking lot. Let’s have a transparent dialogue.”
At press time, we had not heard back.
This article first appeared in the Dec. 23 print edition of Pascack Press.