By Sunayana Prabhu
RED BANK – Following Mayor Billy Portman’s decision Feb. 22 to veto the short-term rental ordinance passed by council 5-1 at its Feb. 8 meeting, council president Michael Ballard has called for a special meeting to discuss the action.
Ballard said in an emailed statement Feb. 26, that he was “requesting a Special Meeting be convened by the Red Bank Council to discuss the timeline and processes by which Mayor Portman issued his veto, and whether the Council is open to taking up a vote to override the veto that the Mayor issued.” That meeting has been scheduled for March 3.
The issue of short-term rentals in the borough has been before the council for months, with residents on both sides speaking out at council meetings. The measure was passed after “three council discussions in 2022 and another two council discussions in 2023,” Ballard said in his statement. The ordinance allows short-term rentals in commercial and mixed-use areas, but not residential zones, a move council saw as a compromise.
Ballard and council members Ed Zipprich, John Jackson, Jacqueline Sturdivant and Angela Mirandi voted to adopt the ordinance; council member Kate Triggiano voted “no.”
According to Ballard, Portman “blindsided all five yes-voting members” by issuing a press release stating he would, “for the first time in Red Bank in over 40 years,” veto an adopted borough ordinance.
Ballard said the mayor never mentioned his intent to the council at the Feb. 22 council meeting which took place just hours before his statement was released to the press.
“I awoke to an Asbury Park-based free newspaper’s front-page headline screaming of the veto, with Portman’s press release published inside,” Ballard said.
He questioned the timing of the release, noting it had to have been provided to “an out-of-town publisher days before the public and the Council were informed of this unprecedented rejection of norms and public opinion.” According to Ballard, the council received official notification from the borough clerk in the “late morning” of Feb. 23, after the release “had already been splashed across newspapers and websites around Monmouth County.”
In his response, Ballard accused Portman of reneging on his campaign promises of “transparency, civility and common-sense council interactions.” Ballard called the veto and statement a “political stunt” and alluded to Portman acquiescing to “money-based, non-resident political influencers and donors.”
But in a brief response to Ballard’s statement, Portman told The Two River Times in an email Tuesday, Feb. 28, “I did what I thought was best for the residents of Red Bank, and I will continue to do what I think is best for Red Bank.”
New Jersey’s Optional Municipal Charter Law states that a mayor has 10 days after receiving an ordinance to either approve or veto it. The law also requires the mayor to return the rejected ordinance with a signed statement detailing his objections to the council by delivering it to the municipal clerk.
In his press release Feb. 22, sent 14 days after council passed the ordinance, Portman said his veto is in the interest of the residents “who share their homes with travel nurses, with visiting artists performing at the Two River theatre, or with people in town visiting family. We heard from neighbors who had formed an informal supportive network of hosts, some of whom use the extra income (from short-term rentals) in order to afford to stay in their homes.”
Portman also pointed out that, before the final council meeting of 2022 when the ordinance was tabled, Ballard promised there would be a meeting with the public in January to work out the contested details. “This meeting never happened,” Portman said. Instead, “councilman Ballard came back with an even more restrictive ordinance that was introduced and passed this month by his council-majority bloc.”
In his rebuttal, Ballard explained that the council passed the ordinance after “impassioned pleas from residents” to stop allowing short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods. But Portman said the ordinance goes against the rights of Red Bank homeowners in all districts. He said he is against differential treatment given to property owners depending on where they live, noting an “outright ban would be more equitable.” He further added that the council majority “ignored” a simple solution that would “require that short term rentals are owner-occupied. This would eliminate the concerns raised about individual properties, while preserving the rights of Red Bank homeowners in all districts.”
“Having received voluminous e-mails and feedback from Red Bank residents in support of allowing at least owner-occupied short-term rentals,” Portman said, “I believe it is my obligation as mayor to veto this ordinance.”
Ballard insisted Portman’s actions “have violated the trust of the voters and expose him as a Politician eager to resort to secret, backdoor shenanigans for political gain.”
As per guidelines of the New Jersey League of Municipalities, a council may override a veto by a two-thirds majority.
The article originally appeared in the March 2 – 8, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
