To workshop or not? That is the question

Maltz, Pfefferkorn favor monthly workshop meeting

By linda denicola

Staff Writer

Newly elected Millstone Township Committee-man John Pfefferkorn would like to see the format for Millstone meetings changed to the model that Upper Freehold uses.

Right now Millstone holds two regular meetings a month, on the first and third Wednesdays, but does not hold a workshop. Items that need to be dealt with in workshops are discussed during the regular meetings.

Upper Freehold holds three meetings a month, two regular and one workshop.

Mayor Evan Maltz said he is also in favor of holding a workshop meeting, but not a third meeting. He would like to continue with two meetings a month, changing the first one to a workshop.

Maltz said that prior to Pfefferkorn’s swearing in in January, he was asked to make Pfefferkorn the liaison to the school board, a position that had been held by former Committee-man William Kastning.

Maltz decided to drop that liaison position because he didn’t think it worked very well. At that time, he suggested making the first committee meeting a workshop, enabling the school board and any other board or commission to come in and discuss issues with the committee.

"The committee, in general, was against having workshop meetings. The consensus seemed to be that it had been done in the past and didn’t work very well. This is the first time since I proposed it in December that it has been brought up," Maltz said, referring to Pfefferkorn’s suggestion.

The way a town elects to conduct its business meetings has as many variations as there are options.

Roosevelt holds two meetings a month, on the first and second Mondays. The second one is an agenda or regular meeting at which public comment is allowed, and resolutions and ordinances are passed.

The first one is a workshop meeting where township business is discussed but no action is taken. The public is allowed to attend but cannot participate. Allentown, like Millstone, holds two regular meetings a month, on the second and fourth Tuesdays.

At the Feb. 6 meeting, Pfefferkorn, who was elected in November to his first three-year term, also questioned the township’s policy of putting items considered routine by the Township Committee under "consent agenda" and voting for them in one motion.

According to Pfefferkorn, many of the items are not routine and need to be discussed beforehand.

In response, the ordinance governing public meetings was amended to include the sentence: "The township clerk, in consultation with the mayor or the township attorney, if necessary, shall determine items to be so listed; however, any member of the Township Committee shall have the right to cause any such item(s) to be separately considered."

Although that sentence had not been part of the ordinance, it has been an accepted part of the agenda.

In addition, paragraph four was deleted because it pertained to workshops, which the committee doesn’t hold.

Pfefferkorn voted against the amendment at the Feb. 20 meeting, but it passed with the other four committeemen voting for approval. "I think we’re taking a step backward," Pfefferkorn said. "My concern was not to create an ordinance to change it [the consent agenda], but to have a workshop session to discuss items on the consent agenda."

He said he would like to have either a third meeting, or one workshop and one agenda meeting.

Deputy Mayor Cory Wingerter said he would not like to have to attend another monthly committee meeting and needed more information about how that process works. "I need to be educated on having a workshop and agenda meeting. I thought it was working the way it was," he said.

Mayor Evan Maltz explained that most of the items that go under "consent agenda" are recommendation letters from the township’s professionals, like the engineer or attorney.

Pfefferkorn said later in the week he "would like to have a workshop session where we are discussing the business needs of the town. Upper Freehold has two public meetings and a workshop. I would like to go with that format."

As an example of what is not being collectively discussed, he cited the recently released report on the Open Space and Farmland Preservation Council. "The fact that we’re not looking at how to fix the problem on the open space council concerns me," he said.

Wingerter, who said that he believes that the suggestions made in the report, as well as comments by the township attorney and members of the committee, should be incorporated into a document. "At this time, I am not sure what purpose a special meeting would serve," he said.

Pfefferkorn listed more reasons why he feels there needs to be a monthly workshop. "There are significant problems that need to be brought into a workshop session for detailed discussion and resolution. It includes action plans, additional education of employees, goal and performance measures, followed up by annual performance reviews," he said.

"In the personnel policy, it says we will give annual reviews to our employees, but there are no annual reviews being conducted. We need to give our employees direction and hold them responsible," Pfefferkorn said.

Pfefferkorn also brought up a couple of things that happened at the Feb. 20 meeting which he believes point toward the need for a workshop.

A long discussion was held on the release of a performance guarantee for one development but the council ended up discussing the wrong development, Pfefferkorn said.

Pfefferkorn believes that that kind of waste of time would be eliminated if issues were discussed in a workshop.

In addition, there was a resolution for a temporary, emergency appropriation of $90,521 on the consent agenda. The motion failed 3-to-2 with Pfefferkorn and Maltz voting no.

According to Pfefferkorn, weak internal controls led to the need for the emergency appropriation. "On Friday, at our stated budget meeting, a revised resolution to this was presented for $5,621. This passed 5-to-0. Why was Wednesday’s version $85,000 higher than required?" he asked.

Maltz said that he trusts Pfefferkorn’s expertise on financial matters. "I’m letting him steer us financially. I think John’s training is to shave everything down to bare bones. He gave us a lower number. We’ll see if this gets us through our budget process," he said.

But, he added, "as soon as another group of bills comes in, we’ll have to go through another emergency appropriation. Not that that’s a problem, it just involves a little more paperwork." On the other hand, he said, "if we appropriate more money than we need, it just goes back into the new budget."