Will they ever learn?
11 months ago the Upper Saddle River Mayor and Council held their monthly meeting where Rockland Electric Company came to give a presentation on smart meters. Despite the fact that residents were struggling to understand what was going on and strenuously seeking information the council in their lack of wisdom, thoughtfulness and organization didn’t include this appearance on the meeting agenda and no one knew. Only a handful of people turned up.
And in an worrying repeat of this glaring oversight, the rather bulky meeting agenda for the mayor and council meeting on August 1, 2019 contained one glaring omission. Guess who turned up?
Toll Brothers.
After months of environmental damage and continued stormwater runoff, pumping of toxic water into the Pleasant Brook, residents fury over this, and an 11th hour stop work order Toll Brothers turned up for the meeting. The people that residents were actually waiting to hear from were there.
But nobody knew.
Interesting.
Nice to let us know Mayor Minichetti.
Thanks for looking out for your town and allowing the residents to actually hear and speak to the offenders. You could have sent a Swift911 and alerted residents so they would attend. But no, there was a sinister silence. Doubly troubling as Toll Brothers appearance coincidened with the Library’s summer concert which is a popular event. So, what better date to choose than one where everyone’s attention is diverted?
It really makes you wonder who are you actually working for? Because right not it doesn’t look like it’s for the town.
To add insult to injury, a representative from Boswell engineering also attended the meeting and he, Mike Kelly, was representing Kevin Boswell who is the town’s engineer and also the person responsible for managing the Orchard Ridge project for the town. Obviously it would have been better if Mr Boswell had attended because I believe we would have gotten to the bottom of why the initial plan to remediate the property responsibly was then turned into the ridiculous action of cutting down 566 trees, getting rid of the sod and remediating the soil of the entire property all at once. It was absolutely amazing to me the total lack of knowledge that was demonstrated by our elected officials. As I have been saying, this would never have happened if I was your Mayor and Marc Garbar and Leandra Galasso were members of the council. The disaster continues and Pleasant Brook remains muddy. This is not about the stop work order it should be about the damage that has already been done to our environment over the past 720 days!!!! NO ONE WANTS TO TAKE THE BLAME!!!!!!
I am the individual from Monmouth County following your website…still hard to believe one of the wealthiest towns in NJ is facing all these issues. Is USR concerned that the character of its town is going to change? Overdevelopment, affordable housing, influx of certain populations, quality of schools? Isn’t the mayor, town council, planning and zoning board transparent? Sorry for my ignorance. I love NJ and its beautiful towns.
You would think that they would have the best interests of the town first and foremost. They say they do. However, there actions don’t quite line up as too many things are dealt with retroactively, and there is no anticipation. There shameful lack of responsibility with the Toll Brothers disaster is just one example. They live in the town but it is always too little too late. But to hear them tell it all is fine. So based on their actions the jury is out on whether they actually care or are just paying lip service. Thanks for your comment.