At a council meeting last Thursday, December 14, the Mahwah council negated ordinances associated with its state lawsuit stemming from what was widely viewed as its discriminatory action against Orthodox Jews. The council rescinded Ordinance 1820 which was the ban on non-residents of Mahwah in town parks. The council also disavowed the proposed amendment on banning “devices” from utility poles.

Last summer, when the Mahwah Township Council passed an ordinance to keep non-New Jersey residents out of Mahwah parks and proposed an ordinance that would have banned signs on utility poles to also include “devices or any other matter,” they were associated with resident complaints against Orthodox Jews from neighboring towns and were seen as a direct bid to halt construction of the Bergen-Rockland eruv. Over the next five months, Mahwah leaders, residents and local officials defended their perspective against a rising din of statewide and county concern and disapproval, which resulted in Mahwah being sued by the state by three separate state agencies.

In recent weeks, previously supportive residents began to express concern during public comments at public meetings about the rising cost of fighting the lawsuit.

A spokesperson for the Bergen Rockland Eruv Association’s law firm said, “We welcome this development, which is expected, but our complaint is not at this time resolved.” The council had also authorized Mahwah’s zoning officer to issue summonses against the Bergen Rockland Eruv Association for violating the existing sign ordinance.

The council voted to rescind the ordinances on advice of legal counsel. Mahwah is preparing its response, due January 16, to a nine-count complaint against the township filed by outgoing New Jersey Attorney General Chris Perrino. Perrino had called the ordinance against non-residents in the parks “discriminatory” and “the target of small-minded bias.” Incoming Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, who was previously the Bergen County prosecutor, had, last summer, instructed Mahwah’s police department to ignore the ordinance to keep non-residents out of Mahwah parks after it was passed, warning that it could lead to a violation of constitutional rights by profiling and illegally targeting out-of-state Orthodox Jews.

Last week, Mahwah Mayor Williams Laforet, who has been advocating the “walk back” of the ordinances since taking counsel in the summer, tried to address the council meeting but was stopped by ordinance-advocate council president Robert Hermansen, who said the township attorney had advised against any public statements. Laforet went into the hall to make his remarks, where the mayor excoriated the council for their refusal to heed warnings about the consequences of their actions.

While the votes for both ordinances were unanimous, Mahwah councilman Steven Sbarra, who had advocated continuing to fight the lawsuit, did not attend the meeting. Shortly before the November election, he characterized the lawsuit, in the Bergen Record, as “a ploy to get Phil Murphy elected by getting the independent Jewish vote.” Hermansen announced that he had resigned his seat on the council.

In a related development, the U.S. District Court of New Jersey has scheduled oral arguments on January 9 for the Bergen Rockland Eruv Association’s request for a preliminary injunction against Upper Saddle River’s ordinances to halt construction of the eruv. A representative of the association’s legal counsel said, “Since it is our motion and we asked for arguments, we welcome the opportunity to present to the court and answer any questions the court may have.”