It is gratifying that the Court dismissed with prejudice all personal charges against Township officials and found that everyone was acting to serve the community interest.

I believe that using the EUS exception in situations like this with non-profit organizations is being more honest with the public than using some form of bidding where there is only one bidder. If the Courts are going to find that this does not technically comply with the Local Public Contracts Law, as this Court has done, then the law needs to be amended to address these situations because they are in the public interest. We intend to bring this to the attention of our legislators, as well as the Governor and Senate President Codey, to get such a clarifying amendment passed. The Court's decision has a chilling effect on creative public/private partnerships with non-profits that serve the public interest. Even this Court recognized in its decision that these contracts serve the community.

The Governor and the legislature are encouraging – indeed pressuring – municipalities to engage in just these sorts of public/private partnerships in order to save taxpayers money. The Township's only objective in these particular contracts was to get the best service at the best price – to save taxpayer's money. Therefore, a clarifying amendment to the law will be in the Montclair community's best interest and in the public's best interests statewide.

The full opinion of the Judge in this case is available here.