Pleasantville Council adopts tax-abatement ordinance, approves engineering contracts and salary increase for business administrator

Pleasantville — The Pleasantville City Council on June 1 adopted Ordinance 5 authorizing a tax-abatement agreement with Casanova Today LLC for properties on Old Turnpike and approved a package of resolutions to fund engineering work, pursue grant awards and carry out routine municipal financial actions.

During the public hearing on Ordinance 5 no members of the public spoke. Council members then voted in favor of the ordinance by roll call; the clerk recorded unanimous approval. The ordinance authorizes the city to enter a tax-abatement agreement with Casanova Today LLC for the addresses listed in the agenda.

In a series of largely uncontested votes the council approved Resolution 107, a notice-to-proceed to C&M Associates for pump-station engineering work (amount stated in the agenda: $8,000); Resolution 108 and 109 awarding engineering services for two New Jersey Department of Transportation programs (Municipal Aid and Transit Village projects, amounts on the agenda: $70,000 and $45,000 respectively); and multiple resolutions authorizing applications to the New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Authority for UEZ assistance funds (amounts on the agenda not to exceed $168,000 for Main Street demolition, $285,000 for Route 40 bridge improvements and $115,000 for a marketing program).

The council also approved routine administrative items: a tax refund authorization, assignment of municipal lien certificates to Benjamin Franklin Capital LLC, and license renewals. Resolution 118 authorized an emergency temporary appropriation to address a timing gap before adoption of the permanent budget.

During the meeting the council unanimously approved an add-on, Resolution 119, authorizing a salary increase for Business Administrator Robert Walls. The council also adopted add-on Resolution 120, authorizing special counsel to seek a declaratory judgment from the court to clarify the statutory or ordinance-based designation of an "appropriate authority" (the resolution text on the agenda sought court determination; the council voted to authorize counsel to pursue that relief).

Most roll calls were recorded as unanimous 'yes' votes in the transcript; the clerk read each roll-call for the record before announcing each resolution as approved. One vote on a license renewal (as recorded in the agenda roll-call sequence) included an abstention noted on the record; the agenda and roll-call transcript provide that abstention as part of the official record.

Next steps: Ordinance 5 is adopted and the engineering procurements/resolution actions are authorized to proceed as described on the agenda; the special-counsel authorization allows the city to ask a court to interpret local authority language as noted in the resolution text.