MORRIS COUNTY — Parsippany-Troy Hills Councilmembers Janice McCarthy and Emily Peterson hosted a successful town hall Zoom call with Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill last week. The call was not without some unexpected technical issues as hundreds of people attempted to join the call but were told that they were overcapacity.

According to an email sent out to attendees of the event by Mikie Sherrill’s Political Director, Ben Silva, the attendee capacity was exceeded following a surge of enthusiasm around the event, with sources indicating that there was an excess of 300 people who attempted to join the meeting.  As a result, there will be a second Sherrill Zoom call on Tuesday, August 18.  To register, visit mobilize.us/sherrillforcongress or pardems.org.

NEW JERSEY — New Jersey lake associations are hailing Governor Murphy’s second conditional veto of legislation which would have undermined some lake associations’ ability to assess their residents for the maintenance of lakes in a private lake community.

The Planned Real Estate Development Full Disclosure Act was amended in 2017, establishing that residents in private communities are members of the association. Attempts to modify PREDFDA to exclude lake associations from its provisions were introduced in 2019 in a bill sponsored by District 24 representatives Oroho, Wirths, and Space, which was conditionally vetoed by Governor Murphy.

The amendments failed to pass in 2019 and were re-introduced in 2020 as S908/A2480, which passed nearly unanimously, with Assemblyman Brian Bergen, an avid supporter of lake associations from District 25, the sole dissenting vote.

The Governor vetoed the legislation recognizing the attempt to shield certain property owners who objected to contributing, but noting that “the interests of these property owners must be carefully balanced against the interests of all other parties, including those property owners who have previously been contributing to their associations.” The Governor emphasized the need to “safeguard the ability of lake associations to collect funds necessary to comply with critical environmental, health, and safety requirements…”

Ernest Hofer, President of the New Jersey Coalition of Lake Associations, praised the Governor’s conditional veto, stating “our lake communities face many challenges in their efforts to maintain their natural resources, and the proposed legislation would have had a potentially devastating effect on some lake communities. It is more important than ever, particularly with the threat of Harmful Algae Blooms, that lake associations can rely on the equitable pro-rata contribution of all of the residents to maintain the lake community in which they live.”

NEW JERSEY — Three New Jersey industry leaders spoke with Assemblyman Brian Bergen Thursday about what is and isn’t working for restaurants during the coronavirus pandemic. The conversation took place through a Facebook Live event that streamed on the NJ Assembly GOP’s Facebook page.

Gov. Phil Murphy initially closed all New Jersey bars and restaurants for eat-in service on March 16 limiting service for takeout and delivery orders only.  On June 15, he allowed restaurants to offer outdoor dining but rolled back plans for indoor dining at 25 percent in early July.

Here are some of the highlights of the discussion with Marilou Halvorsen, president of the New Jersey Restaurant and Hospitality Association; Mike Perro, director of operations of P.J Whelihan’s Restaurant Group; and Bob Wagner, managing partner of Ott’s Restaurant Group.

1. Roughly 80 percent of restaurant workers are still unemployed – even after outdoor dining.

Only 23 percent of the almost 300,000 restaurant workers laid off in March has returned to work following the opening of outdoor dining said Halverson.  “So that is a huge number of people who are still unemployed and probably contributing to the unemployment numbers right now.  And they don’t have the extra $600 still coming in.”

2. Curbside pickup almost bankrupted most in the industry.

“We were teetering; we were on the brink,” explained Perro.  “Thank God, outdoor dining came along when it did or we probably wouldn’t be sitting here right now having this discussion.”

Wagner said that there were still dozens of restaurants in his area of Burlington County that operate only with curbside pickup.  “I don’t know how they do it; I really don’t,” he said.  “It’s sad.”

3. Bad weather complicates outdoor dining.

While everyone agreed that outdoor dining has been a lifesaver, operating in the weather-dependent outdoors presents new challenges for restaurant owners struggling to make ends meet.

Frequent thunderstorms over the last few weeks have made many owners give away as much as fifty percent of the meals prepared said Wagner.  “So it’s a lose, lose again,” he said.  “Because of the thunder and lightning, they can’t sit underneath a metal frame tent.”

Also detracting many customers, July was the hottest month on record in New Jersey in 125 years of record keeping.  But worrying restaurants for the future is the upcoming colder weather in the fall or winter.

“I can’t imagine what is going to happen if we can’t have indoor dining over the fall and winter period,” said Perro.  “It is going to a disaster for the industry.”

4. Unfriendly landlords prevent some restaurants from expanding outdoors.

Wagner said bad landlords are hurting many owners he knows.  “Some of these people who are stuck with these landlords and these leases that won’t let them use parts of the parking lot call me up for help and I don’t know what to tell them,” he said, “And these stories are every day that you hear this stuff.”

5. Murphy’s reversal on indoor dining had a catastrophic effect on many restaurateurs.

“It was catastrophic,” explained Halverson.  “They spent tens of thousands of dollars bringing in all their supplies, sanitizing their restaurants, training staff for new protocols and taking people off unemployment – it just created havoc for both employers and employees.”

She hopes that Murphy will sign a bill working its way through the legislature, sponsored by Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick and Senate President Steve Sweeney, that would reimburse restaurants for money spent on food and supplies in the days before restaurants were supposed to be able to open for indoor dining.

6. Neighboring states have reopened indoors safely.

Halverson said that states, such as Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, and Pennsylvania did not experience an uptick of cases after moving to indoor dining at 25 or 50 percent.  “There is no science to say that restaurants are dangerous,” she said.  “A majority of people know how to do it and do it safely.  And that is real science.”

“There is a precision to how we operate our restaurants under these circumstances,” added Perro who also operates a restaurant in Horsham, Pennsylvania.

7.  Restaurants have some of the toughest safety and cleaning protocols already in place.

Halverson said her industry has safety standards as high as in health care – and certainly higher than retail outlets.  “One of the things we do better than really anybody is the cleanliness,” she said.

8.  Governor Murphy has not met directly with industry experts to discuss options.

Halverson said that her organization talks with his staff on a regular basis but that numerous attempts to meet with the governor have not worked out.

“Maybe if he actually spoke with people like Mike and Bob and other people to really understand and walk him through what we do every day, he would be more comfortable,” said Halverson.  “Unfortunately we were told that he would not meet with us.”

NEW JERSEY — Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Phil Murphy signed an executive order to create modified vote-by-mail (VBM) election for the Tuesday, November 3 General Election. The order suspends the sending of sample ballots and requires that each county’s elections officials send VBM ballots with pre-paid postage to all active registered voters for the General Election. Additionally, every voter will have the option to either return their ballot through a secure dropbox or turn in their ballot at a polling location on Election Day. The Administration is working with the Department of State to implement a new online voter registration system where New Jersey residents will have the opportunity to register to vote. The online system will launch on September 4, 2020.

“COVID-19 has impacted nearly every aspect of our lives, from our health and safety to how we participate in our democracy,” said Governor Murphy. “This virus continues to threaten public health, and with today’s announcement, we are ensuring that New Jersey voters do not have to make a decision between exercising their right to vote and protecting their well-being.”

“Every voter deserves to participate in free, fair, and safe elections,” said Secretary of State Tahesha Way.  “By sending every New Jersey voter their ballot in the mail, we are protecting the health of voters, elections workers, and our democracy.”

In order to address the influx of VBM ballots, the executive order will extend the deadline to allow ballots being returned through the United States Postal Service (USPS) with a postmark on or before November 3rd to be counted as a valid ballot by the County Clerk, if received by 8:00 p.m. on November 10th. Ballots without a postmark that are received by the county boards of elections within 48 hours of the closing of polls on November 3rd shall be considered valid.

The executive order will also require a minimum of at least one polling place in each municipality and a minimum of 50 percent of polling places in each county to provide New Jersey voters with access to in-person voting opportunities, including accommodations for voters with disabilities.

All public schools will close for in-person instruction on Tuesday, November 3 to allow counties to use their buildings as polling locations, if necessary. Polling locations will be required to follow public health standards, including ensuring six feet of distance, requiring poll workers to wear face coverings and gloves, frequent sanitization of high-touch areas, and providing sanitization materials to all individuals at a polling place.

Click here to view Executive Order 177.