Listening Sessions
Keith and Jim firmly believe that the council must be responsive to residents. Teaneck has a lot of untapped potential, and they understand that not everyone has time to come to a council meetings, waiting for an opportunity to address the council.
In order to make ensure that all voices have a seat at the table, Keith and Jim intend to introduce smaller listening sessions. These will be chances for residents to meet with various council members informally, to discuss issues that matter most to them. Some will be structured on a particular topic, while others will exist to bring your issues front and center.
Only by engaging in meaningful conversation with residents can we hope to plot a course with vision for the future.
Transparency
Every action of the Township Council (as well as the actions of our Statutory and Advisory boards), must be made in public. As vice-chairman of the Planning Board, Keith Kaplan made certain that the Planning Board went above and beyond the legal requirements for transparency. In addition to posted information regarding new applications and business permits before his board, he requested major site plan applications send pdf’s of architectural schematics, traffic reports and information that would be relevant to residents as they consider the requests being made within the municipality.
Based on feedback, one thing is certain: How we provide information is as important as as what is provided.
Let’s use road repaving as an example.
You can click here to see the current list of roadway resurfacing planned for spring 2018. And yet, with a little bit of effort, we can produce this map:
This map (you can see it and engage with it below) contains all roadway resurfacing in the last three years. It’s color coded so you can see exactly where we have focused each year.
Jim and Keith have already pledged to make roadway resurfacing a priority when elected. The Township must create a capital plan that takes long term projects into account and ensured the necessary funding.
With these types of efforts, the township can use the website and technology we already have at our disposal to let residents see what has been accomplished as well as what can be expected in the next year and years to come.
Dunleavy and Kaplan want to partner with small businesses for their growth and success