The Clifton Municipal Council on June 17 approved a slate of routine and contested items, including an adopted estimated tax levy for 2025, multiple contract awards and several traffic and parking ordinances on second reading. The council also considered, and failed to approve, a late appointment of outside counsel requested by the administration.

The council opened the meeting by taking action on an estimated tax levy and then moved through numbered action items that included contract awards, professional services authorizations, and ordinance votes. Several contested procurements and professional-service items were discussed in detail; some were approved, some were tabled for follow-up and at least one late legal appointment failed on the floor.

Key outcomes (as recorded in the meeting):
- Action item 1 — Estimated tax levy for 2025: the council approved the adoption of the estimated tax levy (vote recorded as 5 yes, 1 no, 1 absent). The council also set a special budget meeting to introduce the municipal budget during the week of July 7 to meet the state deadline.

- Contract awards and professional services: the council considered a series of contract awards and authorizations (multiple items read as separate action items). Several were approved by roll call after discussion (individual roll-call tallies were recorded on the floor for specific items); a number of other professional-service authorizations were tabled for further review, including items the council asked administration to re-negotiate or re-bid.

- Ordinances on second reading: the council adopted multiple traffic- and parking-related ordinances on second reading with unanimous recorded votes (examples called on the floor with roll calls recorded as 7 yes, 0 no). Those ordinances amend Chapter 4-39 (Vehicles and Traffic) and related sections to add or remove specific restricted parking and handicap parking spaces and to amend bond ordinance language (ordinance numbers cited on the floor included 07-9997-25, 07-998-25, 08-2025 series shown on the agenda; each was taken on second reading and passed as announced).

- Late outside-counsel appointment (resolution R0328 / appointment of outside counsel in Milano/Filano matter): council considered a late resolution to appoint outside counsel (Mark Tabakan of the Weiner Law Group) to represent the city in a lawsuit. That appointment failed on the floor (vote recorded: 3 yes, 3 no, 1 absent — recorded as failed). Council members directed administration to return with alternatives.

- Tabling and follow-up: several items (noted on the agenda as authorizations for professional services, redevelopment counsel items and related contract amendments) were specifically tabled for re-negotiation, review of invoices or to obtain additional documentation. Council members repeatedly asked administration to provide supplemental invoice detail, clearer scopes of work, and to reach out to all proposers for better pricing prior to final award.

What the council asked for next: administration was directed to provide more documentation for several professional-service contracts, to re-contact RFP proposers to attempt to reduce hourly rates where appropriate, and to ensure needed documents are provided to the council ahead of meetings. The council also set a follow-up budget meeting for July 7 to introduce the municipal budget, and asked for the redevelopment attorney and other presenters to appear at the next meeting with requested materials in hand.

Ending: Several adopted ordinances and contract awards will be posted in the official minutes; tabling and failed appointments mean additional votes are likely at the next meeting once staff returns requested documents and revised proposals.