2012: Whatever Happened To ...?

Those who try to keep track of things in Plainfield may end 2012 with a feeling that something is missing. Actually, quite a few things are missing, ranging from cabinet members in City Hall to updates on several major initiatives. With only a year to go in the current administration, it may be difficult to attract new staff, but a lot of the other stuff requires only a simple explanation.

The city has had just a part-time chief finance officer for most of 2012 and a temporary corporation counsel since July 1. Vacancies now include recreation superintendent, tax collector, health officer and purchasing agent. Some of these are statutory officers required by the state.

Among the unfinished stories:

--Settlement of the Dornoch dispute. The senior center was built "at no cost to the city" until the developer sent a quarter-million dollar bill to the city. It was supposed to be in negotiation, so what happened?

--Update on road repairs. A very ambitious road program was launched in 2012, so how much was completed?

--Status of the Urban Enterprise Zone funds and projects. About $2 million in the formerly state-administered fund was turned over to the city, but officials' inquiries about its status have gone unanswered.

--Status of PCTV operations. Residents say council meetings are not being shown on the local channel. Its web site is out of date. What gives?

--Status of Plainfield Advisory Committee on Hispanic Affairs. This group fizzled out and even though Latinos make up 40 percent of the city's population, there has been no word on re-establishing it.

As always, there is a New Year and a chance to do better. The City Council reorganizes at 7 p.m. Thursday in Municipal Court, with meetings this month on Jan. 14 and 22. The Board of Education will organize at 8 p.m. Monday in the Plainfield High School Conference room. The new Charter Study Commission meets next at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 8 in City Hall Library. And I'm sure all of us have new calendars and plans for goals and activities in 2013. If you have not been as engaged in civic activities as you wanted to be in 2012, your opportunity is at hand!

Happy New Year to all and may you and the city both prosper in 2013!

--Bernice

Urban Outfitters Opens

I finally got my chance to look inside the new Urban Outfitters in Westfield. If you have tweens, teens or young women in the family, they will most likely be entranced by the ambiance and the fashions. I myself have been having a "mutton dressed as lamb" phase since Audrey sent me some pricey skinny jeans she had scored at one of Seattle's thrift shops, but it was highly obvious that I am not of the Urban Outfitter demographic. I was more interested in the way the former bank at Broad & Elm had been made over to provide raw industrial underpinnings for the outre couture and funky merchandise.

If like me you grew up in the 1940s and 1950s and have no grandchildren, you can always go there as a field trip on your way to a more staid shopping experience. On the way out, make sure you don't accidentally buy a pair of those mittens with an expletive knitted in. Or if you do, save them to wear to a City Council meeting - 2013 politics may turn the air blue and you'll fit right in.

--Bernice

How the Dutch Do Christmas Cards

My neighbor is of Dutch heritage and I have come to know about some of her country's traditions. One is creating and exchanging elaborate Christmas cards, like the one pictured above.

Here's another one, involving collage and stitchery.

Here's some of the fine detail. It is a lovely custom and a nice reminder of holiday heritage. Thanks to my neighbor for sharing!

--Bernice

Winter Cheer

Coleus plants grown from cuttings are the stars of my windowsill garden this winter. I grew the Coleus from seed last winter and it did very well in my 2012 garden. I love the color variations!

--Bernice

Ratepayers Question Shared Services Costs

A category of solid waste charges for "shared services" drew criticism Thursday at the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority's annual rate hearing.

The authority provides solid waste and sewer services to city property owners, but even those who have "opted out" of PMUA trash pickup are liable for the shared services charges, which cover costs including collection and disposal of waste and recyclables from municipal buildings, parks, street cans and city-owned lots. In addition, shared services include pickup of bulky waste from all property owners in the city, downtown sweeping and litter control, operations of the Rock Avenue transfer station, city vegetative waste disposal and more.

Both low density residential solid waste rates and shared services charges decreased for 2013, but the latter makes up 44 percent of the combined cost and even those with private trash haulers will have to pay $80.30 per quarter for the "community services" funded by shared service fees. The annual shared services fees for 1,440 lots and 2,440 households total $589,156.

In a discussion of how the charges are determined, resident Bill Kruse said he asked for back-up information on the fees but was unable to get it. Kruse said he was told the information could run to 5,000 sheets and would be a combination of facts and opinions, from which the latter would have to be redacted. But Kruse, a retired engineer, said he looked at the engineers' bills and they did not reflect that amount of effort.

PMUA Counsel Leslie London advised Kruse to make an Open Public Records Act request for public documents, but Kruse asked, "What is a public document?"

"There is nothing to fudge," Jeffrey Bliss of the accounting firm Lerch, Vinci & Higgins said in defense of the methods of allocation.

Residents Jan Massey, Alan Goldstein and Dan Damon also queried the presenters.

When PMUA Chairman Harold Mitchell asked London to explain the authority's role, she called it unique in the state for providing solid waste services, except for North Bergen, which does so on a different basis. Bliss said where the North Bergen municipal utility authority only sends one bill to the city, PMUA sends out over 11,000 bills to ratepayers. There is no shared services fee and the cost of collection and disposal of leaves, brush and bulky waste there is paid through taxes, he said.

London noted the PMUA must also support operations of the transfer station.

"Do you think we are doing things efficiently?" Goldstein asked.

Bliss replied by defending the line-by-line budget scrutiny that he said is done.

Commissioner Alex Toliver alleged that PMUA gives the public a "hearsay," while North Bergen doesn't, but officials quickly corrected him, saying all utility rates are subject to public hearings.

With that, London read the new rate resolutions and they were unanimously approved by Mitchell, Toliver and Commissioners Carol Brokaw and Tracey Brown. Commissioners Cecil Sanders and Malcolm Dunn were absent.

The new solid waste rates will take effect April 1, 2013. An increase in the sanitary sewer connection fee, from $2,080 to $2,130, was also approved and will take effect Jan. 1.

Note: Blogger will not let me reply to comments using this laptop, so I am replying here. I am aware that all property owners are subject to the shared services fee. The concern of those who have opted out seems to be that they still have to pay this fee - they cannot fully divorce themselves from the PMUA. Feel free to comment and add what you want. I can't cram all the issues into one blog post.

--Bernice

Sewer Pipe Repair Plan Explained

A failing near-century-old pipe that conveys two million gallons of sewage per day will be replaced by laying new pipe along a vacant street at the Dunellen border.

The project was explained Thursday at a special meeting of the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority.

Michael Dziubeck of CME & Associates said the deteriorating pipe runs along the Green Brook, but replacing it in that location would disturb the brook and new pipe could be exposed through erosion. The alternative proposed was to place new pipe along Second Street, abutting and extending north on Jefferson Avenue.

The proposed site contains freshwater wetlands and the firm will handle the permitting process. Initial phases of the project include surveying and mapping at $6,878, design and specifications for $47,483 and permit acquisition over six months at $12,614 for a total of $66,975. PMUA Chairman Harold Mitchell asked whether the Plainfield Area Regional Sewerage Authority was involved and Dziubeck said they had to sign off on the project but were not part of it. (Sewage flows through the PMUA system, then through PARSA's system on the way to treatment by the Middlesex County Utilities Authority.)

The project is expected to be completed by July 2014.

--Bernice

Brown, Perry Honored For PMUA Service

Rev. Tracey Brown and PMUA Executive Director Dan Williamson

Rev, Tracey Brown, a Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority commissioner for four years, and James Perry, the authority's chief finance officer for more than 16 years, were honored at  a special meeting Thursday.

Brown joined the PMUA board of commmissioners as an alternate in 2008 and became a full commissioner in 2010. She is leaving as of Jan. 3, 2013 to fill the citywide at-large seat on the City Council. The governing body will reorganize on that date and Brown will be sworn in for a four-year term.

Brown, pastor and founder of Ruth Fellowship Ministries,  received a resolution of thanks for her service and the gift of a clock.

Perry was not present for Thursday's meeting but will receive a plaque and a copy of the resolution honoring him at a later gathering. He was praised for staying on past his previously announced retirement date of September 2011 to assist the authority in a time of transition, as its two former top officials, Executive Director Eric Watson and Deputy Executive Director David Ervin, left the organization in 2011. The three formed the original leadership of the authority.

--Bernice