Tense moment during the Berkeley Heights Township Re-Org Meeting On Reappointment of Municipal Judge
Mr. Donnelly and Mayor Devanney discuss the reappointment of Judge DeMassi; Mr. Donnelly abstains from the vote after guidance from counsel. Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel
Transparency in NJ Had a Near Death Experience – What Now?
Now that there has been a pause to overhauling OPRA and OPMA – let’s take the opportunity to make both laws better. I would argue that one of BHCW’s most significant accomplishments is the normalization of OPRA requests in our community. It wasn’t too long ago that neighbors would post the OPRA requests of other neighbors in some weird attempt...
A Key Moment During the 12/19/2023 Berkeley Heights Town Council Meeting
The annoying and potentially dangerous “don’t get in the way of progress argument” reveals itself yet again. The clip below is, in my opinion, one of the more important exchanges during the 12/19/2023 Town Council Meeting. Town Council Member-Elect Margaret Illis asked the Council whether the Council considered recommendations by the Planning Board. This is a question she asked the...
Six Days Before Christmas: The 12/19/2023 Town Council Meeting & Municipal Land Use Ordinance
On December 19, 2023, the Berkeley Heights town council unanimously voted on the final adoption of the Municipal Land Use ordinance. This is a 290-page document that was introduced for initial reading on December 5, 2023, and the planning board unanimously voted on this during it’s December 6, 2023 meeting. On the planning board agenda for December 6, 2023, it...
Resident Comments on Land Use Ordinance – 12/05/2023 Town Council Meeting
While BHCW has focused much of its attention on issues connected to political signs and free speech with the new land use ordinance, we must be aware that this is an impactful 200+ page document that includes multiple changes on a variety of items that’s worked its way through a lame-duck session. Government – good government – has a responsibility...
Resident Comments on Redevelopment Study Approved by the Council during the 11/21/2023 Berkeley Heights Council
An informative exchange involving a resident during the 11/21/2023 Town Council Meeting. One note is the response to the question on how these properties were decided on by citing one property owner’s request without clarifying how the other properties were decided upon. This was repeated throughout the whole meeting when asked. Also, we notice that we are no longer able...
Responses from Mayor Devanney and Members of the Town Council on Concerns Surrounding OPRA and OPMA Reform
Since learning about potential changes to OPRA in June of this year, we have been reaching out to the Mayor and members of the Town Council in connection to concerns we have about harmful changes to the NJ Open Public Records Act and (more recently) the Open Meetings Act. Here are the responses we received from Mayor Devanney, Councilman Couto,...
Update on Land Use Ordinance Discussed During 11/21/2023 Town Council Meeting
We were cc’d on an email connected to the Land Use Ordinance we posted about a few days ago – specifically on the issue of political signs. Councilwoman Kingsley informed us that changes were being drafted after meeting with the attorney today. At about the same time, we received an email from Ms. Viana (Township Administrator) informing us that the...
BHCW 11/27/2023 Newsletter
What’s Important to Know About Berkeley Heights This Week…. This week’s Newsletter looks at two essential items impacting Berkeley Heights residents being passed immediately after an election during lame-duck sessions. On the state level, legislators are looking to overhaul the Open Public Records Act and the Open Public Meetings Act. All early indications are that these changes make both laws...
Update On Efforts to Change the Open Public Records and Open Public Meetings Act During Lame Duck Session
So we got an update from someone who has a bit more information than us on concerns connected to potential changes to OPRA – this is what they wrote us on Wednesday afternoon: Danielson filed four opra bills but none of them are going to advance. Sarlo is working on an opra bill and opma bill but nothing’s been filed...
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