Millburn Flood Committee Stalled Amid Arguments At Town Meeting

MILLBURN, NJ — After a majority of Millburn Township Committee members voted to stall the formation of a flood mitigation advisory committee on Tuesday, Mayor Tara Prupis accused them of politicizing the matter.

The Township Committee had passed a resolution at a previous meeting to form a flood mitigation committee, a measure that came weeks after Tropical Depression Ida's rains caused flooding in town.

On Tuesday, Township Committee member Maggee Miggins led the effort to delay the formation of the committee. Deputy Mayor Richard Wasserman and committee member Sanjeev Vinayak sided with Miggins, resulting in a fierce debate.

Two weeks ago, the town had put out a call for volunteers to sign up for a flood mitigation committee. The purpose of the committee was to allow residents and property owners to weigh in on future flood control efforts.

Mayor Tara Prupis and committee member (and former mayor) Dianne Eglow intended to select 12 members to the committee, based on the interest forms they received. At Tuesday's meeting, Prupis said they wanted to extend the committee to 14 people. She read off the names.

But Miggins said she wanted to table the resolution, because she believes more research needs to be done on the committee.

Prupis and Eglow were visibly shocked by this and argued that the formation of this committee was urgent due to the families and businesses that are still suffering from Ida.

“I think that is absolutely irresponsible,” Eglow said in response to Miggins. “Not only did I grow up in Millburn, but my house has flooded … To delay this is so irresponsible and so negligent to our community.”

She added, “We have selected people with something to offer, who have history, who have education, who have the desire to be part of this community. This is not partisan, this is not politicized. This is urgent.”

Prupis later noted that the committee could work with neighboring towns to reduce flooding by lowering the water levels in certain reservoirs.

But both Wasserman and Vinayak agreed with Miggins that they would like to delay the resolution.

Prupis complained that her colleagues on the committee had had the list of names days before the meeting and hadn't given her any comments before the meeting.

The Members

Selected members included Cary Heller, the owner of Millburn Courtyard Associates LLC, who previously sued Millburn for the Downtown Complete Streets Project, and Nicolas Volpicelli, who ran against Miggins and Vinayak in the 2020 committee elections, but lost.

Prupis specifically brought up those names and argued that Miggins and Vinayak were politically motivated in wanting to delay creating the flood committee.

“I’m not going to lie to our community," Prupis said, "and I’m going to be honest. Because you didn’t want Cary Heller, and you didn’t want Nicolas Volpicelli. To our community, this is a very sad moment … I’ve never been so disappointed.”

'I Had To Have People Rescue Me'

Miggins responded, “You seem to forget, mayor, that I lost my car and I almost lost my life that night. So don’t tell me that I don’t know what I’m talking about. I have no car, I had to have people rescue me, 911 didn’t pick up the phone."

She added, "I think there needs to be more research, and waiting two more weeks or a month is not going to stop [the formation of the committee].”

Neither Miggins, Vinayak nor Wasserman responded to the comments about the resolution becoming a political issue. They simply reiterated that more research needed to be done first.

Prupis again emphasized the urgency of flood mitigation in Millburn.

After the majority of the committee — Miggins, Vinayak and Wasserman — voted “yes” to table the resolution to Oct. 19, Prupis ended the discussion by apologizing to the public.

“This is a failure of our government, and I am sorry,” she said.

People can watch the entire township meeting on Millburn’s YouTube here.

Essex County was added to FEMA's Disaster List for Hurricane Ida relief, and people can apply for assistance here.

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