October 2, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 7 Mahwah Council approves candidates’ signs in rights of way by Frank J. McMahon The Mahwah Council has passed a resolution autho- rizing the four candidates in this year’s race for a seat on the township’s governing body to place campaign signs on public property in the township’s rights of way. A township ordinance requires the approval of the council before anyone can place signs on public property. Candidates Robert Hermansen, Jonathan Marcus, Gregg Sgambati, and Jonathan Wong, sought that approval at the Sept. 12 council session and agreed to follow up their request in a letter to the council. At that meeting, the council also allowed a resident to place garage sale signs on township property in the rights of way. Hermansen asked the council for an explanation of the requirements for the signs. Councilman Steven Sbarra pointed out that, last year, the candidates all agreed to limit the signs to the size of normal political signs and to take them down within a week after the election, but said there was no date set for when the signs could be placed on town- ship property. Councilwoman Lisa DiGiulio noted that a condition of approval in the resolution authorizing the placement of signs in the rights of way indicates they can be placed there from Sept. 13 through Nov. 11. She also pointed out that, last year, all the candidates agreed not to place signs in the rights of way that would block the view of motorists. Council President Harry Williams was not present at the recent meeting. Last year, however, when the issue of polit- ical signs in the rights of way was considered by the coun- cil, he voted against granting that permission to anyone for aesthetic reasons. The sign issue was debated extensively by the council last year, and approvals were ultimately granted to the 10 candidates who ran for the mayor’s seat and three avail- able council seats. Resolutions were also passed to grant the same permission to a freeholder candidate and two resi- dents who wanted to post garage sale signs. Prior to passing those resolutions, the council reached a consensus that all signs in the public rights of way should be banned and an ordinance was introduced to amend the existing ordinance, which prohibits all temporary signs in the public rights of way and on public property unless council permission is obtained. At that time, the council acknowledged that the existing ordinance had not been enforced, but many council mem- bers wanted to eliminate the governing body’s ability to grant permission to applicants. The problem the township council wanted to address (continued on page 14) Girl Scouts sponsor Broadway trip Girl Scout Ambassador Troop 903 will sponsor a Nov. 3 trip to see the award-winning “Matilda” on Broadway. This trip will include round-trip coach bus transpor- tation from Mahwah High School, lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., and a mezzanine matinee ticket to the show. The cost is $110 per person. The number of tickets is limited. Contact Susan Stein- berg at (201) 248-0125 or GSTroop903@gmail.com for tickets and additional information. The deadline to order tickets is Monday, Oct. 28.