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DOHERTY AND DiMAIO: HIGHLANDS COUNCIL'S CLAIMS OF UNLIMITED POWER HIGHLY DISTURBING
By scmysakDOHERTY AND DiMAIO: HIGHLANDS COUNCIL'S CLAIMS OF UNLIMITED POWER HIGHLY DISTURBING
Assembly Republican members Michael Doherty and John DiMaio today expressed outrage at the Highlands Council’s claims of unlimited authority over the citizens who reside in the region, saying the group has clearly overstepped its boundaries.
“The Highlands Council is an unelected agency that apparently has arbitrarily assumed it has dictatorial power over the citizens of the Highlands region,” stated Doherty, R-Warren and Hunterdon. “It’s outlandish that a group of political appointees thinks it can lord it over a specific populace under the guise of protecting the natural and agricultural resources of the Highlands through land use controls,” stated Doherty.
“Since the Legislature cannot delegate unlimited authority to any agency, it’s time for state lawmakers to reign in this rogue agency that just a short time after its creation, began dreaming up new big government schemes to burden our constituents,” he said.
The issue arose last month when Doherty expressed his opposition to a Highlands Council’s proposal to require the licensing of residential septic systems in the region and requested an explanation as to where the Council gets the authority to impose such a mandate upon the municipalities in the Highlands region.
In response, Highlands Council Chairman John Weingart outlined in a letter specific areas in which the Council has authority, but, at the same time, noted its authority is “not limited to,” which Doherty and DiMaio interpret as the agency having unrestricted power.
“The residents of the Highlands should not be subject to the whims of a group of political appointees who believe they have absolute power,” said DiMaio, R-Warren and Hunterdon. “It doesn't work that way in our country, that’s what makes Chairman Weingart’s comments so disturbing.
“The Council already dictates allowable land uses and regulation of homes in the region,” he continued. “Now it wants to impose what amounts to a toilet tax on a very specific population of people. The Legislature clearly needs to step in and pull the plug on what this agency perceives to be an unlimited power source.”
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