Op/ed report
JACKSON TOWNSHIP, NJ – Before they lose control of the township council, council members opposing re-elected Mayor Michael Reina have proposed a new Shade Tree Commission ordinance that will give the township the power to charge residents for tree removal services, fine them up to $1,500.
Worse, this new shade tree law is being pushed by one of the township’s most prominent tree removal companies, Aspen Tree Experts.
Owner Steven Chisolm, of Aspen Tree Experts, is also one of the elected township council members pushing the new ordinance that is set to be approved at the next council meeting.
Ordinance #31-22 would empower the volunteer Shade Tree Commission to have code enforcement powers outside the purview of the township code enforcement department.
Residents are concerned over the appearance of impropriety because Chisolm is not only a councilman, but his father, Steven Chisolm, Sr., co-owner of Aspen Tree Experts is also the commissioner of the township’s Shade Tree Commission.
According to political corruption watchdog Richard Ciullo, “Indeed the windfall that both companies stand to gain from this proposed ordinance revision doesn’t just stop there however. When the tree maintenance and removal business is slow, Chisholm Sr. and McCabe could write their own meal ticket simply by instructing employees to drive around town, search for trees that are in questionable condition and report back to them the addresses of the properties. Both men could then simply show up at a property address, issue a violation and fine with their new found enforcement authority, and then have their own companies perform the mandated work while lining their own pockets.”
That prospect has residents worried over the township being used as an income source for a private company owned by two people who have the power to enact such a scenario.
In a nut shell, one member of the township government who owns a tree business now has the authority to force residents to hire a tree business or be fined by the township, which would then hire that tree business and force the homeowner by law to pay the initial tree trimming business by way of a fine.
The move is the outgoing council’s last powerplay before being replaced in the 2023 re-organization meeting.
Luckily, Mayor Michael Reina can choose to veto the ordinance. By the time the council chooses to override the mayor’s veto in 2023, Chisholm and his allies will not have sufficient votes to overturn the mayor’s veto.