Township Council's Actions "Shocking"

Fireworks erupted Tuesday night after Mayor Jerry Fried’s proposal to move municipal elections from May to November was tabled by a 4-3 vote, with council members Cary Africk, Renee Baskerville, Rich Murnick, and Roger Terry opposing the plan.

All seemed calm until the end of the township council meeting when Joan Checca, who was among those who had circulated a petition in support of the move, stood to ask why the issue hadn't even warranted a public discussion before a vote was taken to table the idea.

"This is a copout," she said.

That led to heated words from council members including Baskerville, who said she still had questions about the legalities of a public official— the mayor — taking certain actions as an independent citizen.

"Is it a conflict of interest when the mayor goes up and down the street ... asking people who might want to be on various committees ... to sign a petition?" she asked.

Last month, Fried — along with Deputy Mayor Kathryn Weller-Demming and council member Nick Lewis — collected enough signatures to have a referendum on changing the date of local elections placed on the ballot in November.

But now the trio may have to go to court in order to have the referendum put before voters this year.

In a government tale with lots of twists and turns, the council failed last fall to pass a resolution to change the election date from May to November and that ordinance was attached to the petition circulated by the mayor and others over the summer.

According to state law, having enough petition names constitutes a first reading of the ordinance. And so at Tuesday night's meeting, the council was to proceed as if it was considering a second reading of the ordinance.

If the council still rejected the ordinance, which was likely, the question was automatically to be put on the ballot in a November referendum. If the referendum passed and the election was changed from May to November, it would extend the current council's term by six months.

Fried said that more than 1,160 signatures were collected from registered voters asking for a referendum on the date change.

But, on Tuesday night, Baskerville and three others voted to table the idea.

Lewis said the move was a "cynical, shockingly anti-democratic act by a majority of the council."

"I'm shocked that the majority of this council is working so hard to deny residents a voice on this issue," he said.

Weller-Demming agreed, saying that while six more months of the current council was an "unappetizing idea" even to her, she asked how the town would ever get a better council if more people didn't turn out to vote.

"This petition was signed by more people than most people sitting up here were elected by," she said.

From the start, she and Fried have argued that, by moving the municipal elections from May to November, more residents would come out to the polls.

Fried said that there's no reason why he, as the mayor, can't help circulate a petition.

He argued that some members of the council might be worried that a dramatic increase in voting would change the balance of power in Montclair.

Africk said he didn't see why Fried and others were in such a hurry to make the change and asked that a committee be allowed to study the matter.

The contentious issue is set to be taken up again at the council's next meeting on Sept. 20.