The pay-to-play ordinance was officially removed at the Oct. 7 Moorestown town council meeting.
With Deputy Mayor Christopher Chiacchio calling his vote in via phone, the council voted unanimously to repeal Ordinance 16–2013, also know as the “pay-to-play” ordinance.
Councilman Greg Newcomer said he would like to see the council continue to discuss this topic in the newly integrated town council workshops, which will precede each work session meeting, starting at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 28.
“I made it one of 11 items to discuss,” Newcomer said, referring to his list of workshop topics. “There’s been a whole lot of discussion around town.”
Resident Mark Singer also commented on the buzz that arose due to the ordinance and stressed that discussion would continue even though the ordinance had been repealed.
“It stirred up a lot of interest that otherwise wouldn’t have been,” Singer said. “It won’t go away.”
The pay-to-play ordinance was passed on Aug. 19 and raised the maximum contribution levels from $300 to $2,600 for professional business entities and $500 to $7,200 for a political action committee.
This prompted a committee to file a petition with the municipal clerk, which included 1,393 signatures opposing the ordinance.
On Sept. 9, Mayor Stacey Jordan asked the township council to rescind its approval of the ordinance.
Jordan later stated that the ordinance was an attempt to get ahead of the state, following the agreement by Gov. Christie and State Senate President Steve Sweeney to mandate a uniform political contribution policy throughout the state.
With the first reading of the ordinance to repeal “pay-to-play” passing at the Sept. 23 town council meeting, Jordan said following the meeting that she would now rather wait to see what is mandated through the state before addressing the pay-to-play ordinance again.
While addressing new business at the end of the Oct. 7 meeting, township clerk Patricia Hunt said the petition was deemed sufficient and certified, however, being that the ordinance had been repealed earlier in the meeting, it has since been rendered moot.
“I happened to view the petition after it was certified,” Newcomer said. “I was amazed to see how many people signed it and how many people were involved in the process.”
In other news:
• During the manager’s report, township manager Scott Carew discussed possible options for broadcasting future council meetings on television. While Carew explained that the purchase of video equipment could possibly set the township back about $1,300, Newcomer proposed to Carew the possibility of looking into using equipment and students from the high school to tape the meetings as a more cost-effective measure.
• Township council honored Richard “Mike” Bartello with a proclamation for promoting youth activities for more than 60 years.
• During the mayor’s statement, Jordan said she had recently visited the future town hall and found it to be “very impressive.” Following the meeting she said construction is progressing with “no glitches.” The new town hall is expected to be finished by April.
