Politics & Government

Mayor Crosses Line in Downtown Parking Dispute, New Providence Officials Say

Mayor J. Brooke Hern accused of 'undermining' council's efforts to resolve situation by conducting his own negotiations with merchants.

New Providence Council will meet Wednesday night to vote on a resolution to establish councilmen Bob Robinson and Gary Kapner as the council representatives for “downtown shopping district issues" and ask Mayor J. Brooke Hern to stop "undermining" the council's efforts to reach a fair parking solution by directing his own negotiations with downtown stakeholders.

A resolution unanimously approved at a recent meeting allows both councilmen to hold discussions about parking issues in the borough, which is a huge issue among residents and business owners, especially after Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc, the new owner of the Village Shopping Center, recently put up large signs threatening non-customers who park there will be towed

But according to the draft resolution for the Wednesday night meeting, council members have heard from community business leaders that Hern has tried to schedule a meeting with representatives from downtown businesses to discuss the parking situation without notifying any council members and while being aware that Kapner and Robinson were given that responsibility.

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This is not the first time Hern has attempted to conduct meetings on his own based on an email sent to all council members on June 17, which is included in the draft resolution.

According to the resolution, Hern stated the following in that email to council members:

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“Just to be clear, I’ve (sic) been working in close contact with the new owners [of the Village Shopping Center]. . . . Before this morning, I already began the process of reaching solutions to the illegal parking situation and to reach a global shared parking solution. . . . I don’t think it makes sense to have three different people from New Providence contact him [the new owner of the Village Shopping Center] within an hour over the same issue.”

According to the Rules and Order of Business of the Borough Council, the mayor and council are not allowed to make any commitment on the borough’s behalf without “express, specific approval of the borough council,” which includes “any commitment binding the borough in any form of communication.”

The draft resolution states Hern has taken action without communicating with council members or receiving a majority vote from the council to do so, and accuses him of being biased toward the outcome of the parking issue by characterizing it as “the illegal parking situation.”

According to the draft resolution, it’s the council desire that discussions with stakeholders who “provide and utilize parking in the downtown area” be taken place in a “productive, respectful manner to best insure a successful resolution in the best interests of the borough’s residents and businesses.

Councilman Robinson and Kapner are “uniquely qualified” to act as facilitators “given their long track records of running successful commercial enterprises” in New Providence, according to the draft resolution, and based on their volunteerism with New Providence Business and Professional Association and Downtown Improvement District. At the end of the draft resolution, it states the borough council lacks confidence in Hern’s “competence and ability to act as a neutral facilitator for negotiations between stakeholders concern the parking situation in the downtown area given that 1) the mayor has already publicly expressed an opinion concerning his view of the legality of certain parking arrangements and 2) the Mayor has previously demonstrated an inability to grasp the fundamental concepts of sound financial management necessary to facilitate a solution to the issues at hand.”

It also states the council stands behind their decision to approve the previous resolution that allows Kapner and Robinson to act on the borough council’s behalf in “facilitating discussions between and among stakeholders to arrive at an apolitical, sound solution that fairly represents the interests of the residents and businesses of the Borough of New Providence given Councilmen Robinson’s and Kapner’s exceptional knowledge of the community and the downtown as well as their demonstrated capacity to deal with the financial decisions that face both small and large business owners in today’s economy.”

In the final paragraph in the draft resolution, the council requests Hern to “immediately cease undermining the Council’s efforts to reach a fair solution to the parking issue by conducting parallel negotiations on his own in a manner that the Council believes does not serve the best interests of the Borough, its residents or its businesses.”

Borough Council will meet Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers, located in New Providence Municipal Center.


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