Interview: Monroe Village Trustee John Karl on Unwanted Goose Droppings, Flooding, and Absentee Landlords
With an upcoming election in the Village of Monroe, The Monroe Gazette spoke to the two Village Trustee candidates on the ballot. Up next: Trustee John Karl
On Tuesday, March 19th, there will be an election in the Village of Monroe. Voting will be held at Village Hall from 9am to 9pm. Two Trustee seats and a Village Justice seat will be on the ballot.
For the Trustees, what’s on the line is another four year term. Both current Trustees John Karl and Debra Behringer are running for re-election.
The Photo-News does this thing where they let the candidates submit statements without asking any questions, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, I think anyone running for office should be asked some tough questions.
So! Below is my interview with Trustee John Karl.
The Monroe Gazette: The Village of Monroe does not currently have a list of all LLCs that own property within its borders. Do you support the creation of a registry of local LLCs? Will you support making that registry publicly accessible?
Trustee John Karl: Our Village tax rolls do identify LLC's and addresses that tax bills are sent to. If you go to villageofmonroe.org you can go to pay taxes and in the search box type in LLC and a list of all that are in Village will come up with addresses. If a private citizen has their information public, then an LLC should as well. The State and Federal government are cracking down on this as well and like you or I it should be public information.
The Monroe Gazette: Will you push for tighter rental property ordinances? For example, would you support tripling fines levied against negligent rental property owners?
Trustee John Karl: This is addressed in our updated Comprehensive Plan and the document is on our website. It starts with following the Local Laws of our Village and as a property owner becoming familiar with the Village Code. Most court action is handled by our justice court and fines set by the judges.
The Monroe Gazette: Village Residents are currently complaining about LLCs renting property in the village and not taking care of said property. Do you think this property neglect is a deliberate action by those property owners? If not, what do you think is causing this problem and how will you address it in your next term?
Trustee John Karl: Absentee landlords are a common problem, and the village board has hired a Code Enforcement Officer to handle property maintenance violation and get violators into court or before village board to clean up properties and failure on property owner to correct violations or allows Village to hire its contractors or DPW to clean property up and bill owner, if owner fails to pay bill it would be relived to property taxes. Deliberate or not, it is the responsibility of such property owner to maintain properties and if they don't, we will, after a public hearing, take action to rectify the situation at owner's expense.
The Monroe Gazette: Do you support ending single family zoning to allow for environmentally friendly multifamily housing that's affordable and accessible to all residents?
Trustee John Karl: Most people move here to a single-family home and our zoning allows for a variation of different uses within the village. Those zones are on the website and recently updated Comprehensive Plan. We need to find affordable rentals for our volunteer first responders as they are the life blood of our community. We need to keep them in our village and not see them get trained and leave to a more affordable place to live.
The Monroe Gazette: The New Jersey Animal Protection League recently appeared before the Village Board to present non-lethal geese mitigation methods at Crane Park. Do you support the use of these non-lethal methods?
Trustee John Karl: I have supported non-lethal as a first step to keep our geese population manageable. The health hazards of goose dropping are one lb. per day, per goose which with several hundred geese adds up quickly. It affects the walkways for walkers as well as the grass area during our summer park concerts and carnival as well as water quality and destruction of grass. It becomes a fine balance with complaints from those who actively use parks as well as those who want more geese than we have room for. We have used the USDA for many years with minimal success and welcome the Animal Protect League of New Jersey partnering with the village and the USDA to find common ground. The oiling of eggs in nests with corn oil to prevent them from hatching is the start to hopefully slow the population down and again keep a manageable population.
The Monroe Gazette: Would you agree to not endorse or support any further lethal geese roundups like the Village conducted in June of 2023?
Trustee John Karl: If non-lethal measures work, then using other means doesn’t need to happen and we can all co-jointly enjoy the parks. Health and safety take priority in curbing unwanted droppings. We also need to ask those who walk their dogs to clean up after them and take responsibility to keep our parks clean.
The Monroe Gazette: Last Fall, the Village experienced historic flooding. Because of climate change, the flooding will likely become more common. What flood mitigation methods do you support, or plan to work on, in your coming term?
Trustee John Karl: We need to work with our state and Federal agencies to clean and dredge the Ramapo River to move water, so it doesn’t back up especially in low lying Friedman Homes area. Other area of concern is along Rt 17m and Gilbert St, which is a NYSDOT issue and upgraded drainage need to be installed to handle heavy rains. The more impervious the surface we have, the greater the flood risk. Green space is critical to help allow for absorption into the ground and eliminate runoff into over burden streams and rivers.
The Monroe Gazette: Do you support an emergency order to halt all planned and new construction on Lakes Road, the portion in the village, until the flooding issues can be mitigated?
Trustee John Karl: Only minimal properties lie within the village, and we are actively pursuing the Roscoe Smith property to use as passive recreation. Round Lake flows into the village and into Millponds and into Ramapo River. Walton Lake discharges into Seely Brook and flows towards the Moodna basin through Goose Pond Mountain State Park which doesn't affect the village. NYS is a home rule state, things that are outside of our jurisdiction we can comment on but have no authority over.
The Monroe Gazette: What is something you accomplished in your last term that you are most proud of?
Trustee John Karl: Replacing the transmissions line from Mombasha Reservoir to our water treatment plant, which was over 8,000 feet of 18” water main, as well as over 5,000 feet of water main in our distribution system. Also purchasing 2 properties along our reservoir to protect our water supply. Updating our long overdue Comprehensive Plan, which was a monumental task, as we had gone into a building moratorium for 1 1/2 years.
The Monroe Gazette: Is there anything I did not ask you here that you would like village residents to know about your plans for another term?
Trustee John Karl: Continuing to serve in the village I was born and raised in, safeguarding our water supply and continuing the cleaning of the reservoir from invasive weeds. We need to clean the south end as it has runoff and silt, and sediment that is affecting the lake with shallow waters and heavy vegetation. My term was actually a shortened term of 3 ½ years due to COVID-19 and delayed the election until September 15, 2020. I bring many years of experience and knowledge to share with the village board and want to continue our great working relationship. I volunteer at the Food Pantry at Sacred Heart every Monday morning and see firsthand those who need a helping hand. I proudly serve in the Monroe Fire Dept, and I am in my 46th year of active service. Thank you for the opportunity to serve as a Trustee here in the village, should you need to contact me I can be reached thru the Village Hall at 845-782-8341 X 121 or trustee.karl@villageofmonroe.org