HILLSDALE—Mayor John Ruocco reserved the back chunk of his State of the Borough address on Jan. 4 to decrying a perceived lack of transparency on council and pushing against surprise bylaw changes that stripped him of some powers heading into 2022.
(See “Council brushes back its mayor, a critic,” Michael Olohan, Page 1, and Letters.)
But before that, he used the opportunity to express gratitude for services above and beyond in 2021, to circle back to highlights of a difficult year, and to call out priorities for the year ahead — including getting ahead of 5G cell tower installations, approaching redevelopment thoughtfully, and tapping federal funds for infrastructure improvements.
At the borough’s annual reorganization meeting, Ruocco thanked “all our borough employees, volunteers, professionals and elected officials who gave so much of their time to ensure that the essential services of local government continued throughout 2021, despite the persistent pandemic.”
He said “great efforts were spent in 2021” in trying to provide vaccine opportunities to residents, and lauded the borough’s health officers and medical officials, who “worked tirelessly with the county and with the NorthWest Bergen Health organization to expand such opportunities.”
He said, “They were assisted by volunteers — everyday residents — who maneuvered through a technological and logistical maze to assure that the most vulnerable residents received a vaccination.”
Ruocco lauded the borough’s police and volunteer first responders, who “were able to consistently answer calls for help from our residents.”
And he praised borough office and library staff for making “sometimes difficult adjustments for the situation and [who] continued to deal with the needs of our residents and patrons.”
Ruocco singled out “Our recreation staff and Pool Commission,” for plowing ahead in reopening Stonybrook after a shuttered 2020. (See “Stonybrook club posts healthy revenues, repays borough,” Page 7.)
The mayor said the DPW did an excellent job at snow and leaf removal last year.
And he said, “Our commercial businesses adapted during the persistent pandemic, assisted by actions taken by the governing body to encourage outdoor dining, outdoor business sales, and entertainment.”
He said, “These should continue if conditions do not improve. Even if they do improve, I have asked this council to look for ways to make permanent the lifting of restrictions on outdoor dining.”
He said, “Not content with merely a pandemic, Mother Nature decided to treat us more harshly this year, with several late summer storms, most notably Ida. Although sparing us from large scale electrical outages, it reminded us of how vulnerable our municipal infrastructure is to the threat of flooding, causing significant and costly damage to our DPW building and some residences.”
Ruocco said, “This council must make the relocation of the DPW compound the number one priority” among optional infrastructure proposals in consideration.
He touched on additional noteworthy events from 2021:
- The governing body approved a budget that provided for essential services, but included a 5.3% property tax increase, “the largest in many years. It was needed to provide for a half-million-dollar down payment to our capital improvement fund, which is intended to go toward the building of a recreational community center and artificial turfing of Centennial Field.” At the time, he said, council assumed it would cost $10 million and be financed largely through debt. “It would be the largest debt issuance in Hillsdale’s history. A special council committee that I appointed is working with an outside consultant to study the feasibility of such projects.” (See related story, Page 1.)
- He said, the borough contracted with its garbage carrier to have twice a week trash pick-up for an extra $125,000 annually.
- The governing body agreed to move the emergency dispatch desk to the county, “an approach I wholeheartedly have supported for several years and which was originally advocated by our police chief in 2018. This assures that we will keep up with technological and safety advancements, reduces the chief’s staffing burdens, and saves the borough money.”
- Ruocco said, “In so doing, the mayor and council listened to the concerns of volunteer first responders and agreed to upgrade their radio equipment at a cost of about $325,000. That will assure that communication channels continue to work efficiently on the county platform.”
- Hillsdale decided to forego allowing cannabis businesses in town, “preferring to first assess the impact that this might have on other municipalities who opted in.”
- The council decided to order a $40,000 feasibility study of what it would cost to improve the train station, deciding not to commit additional taxpayer resources to this project but instead to rely on NJ Transit,” which owns the building.
- Enhancements worth $80,000 were made to Memorial Field, with the help of a matching County Open Space grant.
- The governing body passed a new tree ordinance clarifying rights, responsibilities, and processes for the removal and planting of trees on borough-owned and private property.
- The governing body adopted a $2.4 million road improvement program, “the largest one I can remember, the bulk of which accommodates the extensive digging that public utilities are conducting. That work will continue into 2022.”
- The governing body instructed the Planning Board to update the Borough’s Master Plan. “This effort has begun and residents may have noticed a questionnaire made available to them by the Planning Board to help inform them of changes that the board might want to consider.” The Master Plan, once drawn by the board, subjected to public comment, and approved by the council, will serve as a strategic road map for development in town.
- The governing body has begun negotiations with a designated conditional redeveloper for the transformation of the industrial property now owned by Waste Management.
Looking ahead
On the budgetary front, Ruocco said, “The governing body should seek to avoid a second straight year of high tax increases…”
He said “The governing body needs to weigh carefully any proposed redevelopment plans that emerge from present negotiations with designated conditional redeveloper Claremont/March.”
The mayor urged the council weigh Planning Board comments “appropriately” and seek public input before any decisions are made. “There is strong potential for high density, multi-story residential rentals, since the council adopted a Redevelopment Plan that included bonus densities of up to 60 units per acre.”
Ruocco said, “That far exceeds the requirements of our affordable housing plan and was one of the reasons I vetoed that part of the Redevelopment Plan. [The council immediately overruled him. — Ed.]
Ruocco warned “decisions of this council will irrevocably change the character of the borough, affecting population, traffic, required municipal services, and property taxes. We need to get this right, and take into account the views of our residents.”
With respect to proposals for a recreation community center and Centennial Field turfing, Ruocco said, “I urge the committee that is working on this to follow the heretofore ignored advice of the consultant and involve community leaders in gathering basic information on what they think the needs of the community are before asking the consultant to do any further work.”
He said, “The council must also take into account that the average homeowner could well be footing additional school taxes of up to $1,000 annually from a proposed new George White [school] construction” and that “The council should … reconsider what previously was rejected … namely exploring outsourcing options, even if on a temporary basis.”
He said, “Decisions will have to be made on the use of the $1.1 million that the borough will get via the federal government’s American Rescue Plan,” which he proposes for infrastructure needs, “for example, sewer improvements, that historically tend to be neglected politically because they are not ‘sexy’ but are nevertheless items that must be attended to.”
The mayor said Hillsdale needs to “act soon on gaining leverage via ordinance over the way wireless communication providers like Verizon implement their 5G small cell strategies.”
“Without any action,” he said, “There is the strong likelihood that our streets will be overrun by ugly and numerous poles on all residential streets. I have recently asked the attorney and BA to focus on this.”
Transparency, rule changes
Ruocco pivoted to “the challenge faced by this council that may prove to be the biggest one of all: how to be more transparent with the residents who put their faith in us, and how to deal with dissent from the mayor without trying to hide information from him or exacting retribution on him by curtailing legitimate, traditional, and common mayoral prerogatives extended to other mayors.”
In all, he spent 780 words of his speech’s 2,211 words, or nearly 37%, defending his “fiduciary duty as the head of the municipality to speak out when he concludes that unprofessional or ill-informed decisions are taking place” and complaining about his fellow Republicans’ move to strip him of ex-officio membership on standing committees.
The Republican recounted conflicts he’s had with the council on matters of transparency, and said “the unfortunate appearance of all this is magnified because we are all from the same political party.”
He said, “That heightens the suspicion of impropriety and the sense that decisions are made by those only in certain circle: that things are needlessly being hidden from the public, whether it be true or not.”
Ruocco said he was not made aware of proposed changes to his powers until he received the meeting agenda from the clerk just prior to the New Year’s holiday.”