Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Borough Attorney: Closed Meetings, No Minutes OK

I received the following letter from the Dumont Borough Attorney with regards to closed session meetings by the Finance Committee, chaired by Carl Manna.

Read letter here

Now compare with the Open Public Meetings Act provisions here.

For the record, in 2009 there was only one budget hearing, held immediately before the vote by council. In other words, the decision was already made; the residents had little chance.

However, residents were not without fault. Less than a handful asked questions. Thanks everyone for making M&C's job way too easy.  I guess everyone else had no problem paying more taxes last year.

Will it be just as easy for the M&C to do the same this year? That's up to Dumont residents.  As of this writing, this blog's unscientific poll indicates an overwhelming majority feel our elected officials "are committed to reforming public contracting law".  How does that reconcile with outlandish rumors of certain rank and file borough employees receiving 15, even 30% salary increases, for talent retention?  Does that level of trust extend to paying whatever tax levy increases are recommended, sight unseen?