file photo by Boyd Loving
An open letter to Mr. Matt Rogers, the Village attorney:
Dear Mr. Rogers:
I could not attend the Village Council meeting of 2 August on account of my delayed flight back home. Fortunately my plane had WiFi and I was able to stream quite a bit of the meeting.
In response to a question by Councilman Voigt you described some procedure the Village Council was following to short circuit the process to hire Pike to build the garage. As a layman I was unable to follow your answer. Could you possibly tell me what is happening?
More importantly, the Mayor appears to have her mind made up on using Pike and it is damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. Compared to the previous Village Council which held innumerable public meetings to present various plans to the community, the Mayor in typical fashion is playing her cards close to the chest. The Deputy Mayor and Councilman Hache seem to be in on her plans but I was shocked how uninformed Councilmen Voigt and Walsh are.
Comments by some of the mayor’s supporters in the social media seems to indicate that some in her circle are in the know, but not two of her colleagues.
(Side note to Councilmen Voigt and Walsh: By allowing yourselves to be shut out, you are failing miserably in executing your fiduciary to your constituency.)
Thank you,
Rurik Halaby
Village Attorney Matthew Rogers responds :
On Aug 4, 2017, at 13:42, Matthew Rogers <msr@mrogerslaw.com> wrote:
Rurik,
There is nothing nefarious afoot. I’m responding to you, the
Council, present Village staff and your wife. You can always share with
whomever you’d like.
The Local Redevelopment and Housing Law permits municipalities to
consider property(ies) within its borders for redevelopment if the property
meets certain criteria. The Statute was designed to promote the
rehabilitation and/or the reconstruction of properties that have long gone
without attention, particularly in commercial locations or areas. There is a
process prescribed by the Statute that must be followed in order to take
advantage of the statute’s benefits, which allows the municipality to avoid
the public bidding process and negotiate directly with one or any entities
that the municipality wants to consider for the project in mind.
The Council can start the process by requesting the a study be
performed by the Planner to determine if the property, in this case the
Hudson Street parking lot, meets the criteria of the Statute. If it does
and the process is completed, then the Village can negotiate directly with
any contractor it so wishes. As you know, there has already been a
presentation from PIKE at a Council meeting, where it became apparent that
they can both provide a design and build the garage. The thought is that by
utilizing the statute, the Village can avoid the time it takes to bid out
design and then bid out to find a contractor to build the design.
Additionally, it is the hope that by directly negotiating with the a
contractor, the Village can also save money on the cost for several reasons.
It will hopefully work and provide those benefits. If not, then the bidding
process can always be utilized.
This is the process that was used several years ago with
Kensington’s proposal for the development of Walnut Street garage and the
age restricted housing, which although extensively negotiated, the
contractor withdrew.
I hope this answers your question and if not, please let me know.
Matt
Matthew S. Rogers, Esq.
Law Offices of Matthew S. Rogers, L.L.C.
123 Prospect Street
Ridgewood, New Jersey 07451
Phone (201) 857-3700
Fax: (201) 857-3699
