Morristown council authorizes Post Office purchase, and remembers Jim Mongey of Dublin Pub fame

The late Jim Mongey, longtime owner of Morristown's Dublin Pub.
0

The town council on Tuesday unanimously authorized the $3 million purchase of the 106-year-old Morristown Post Office–though precisely why remains to be seen.

Consultants will perform six months of “due diligence” that includes a feasibility study for potential uses, along with environmental and structural analyses. Depending on the findings, the administration then will ask the council to approve a bond sale to close the deal, said town Administrator Jillian Barrick.

The Morris Street post office in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
The Morris Street post office in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

If council members have misgivings at that point, they can withhold funding and kill the acquisition, Barrick assured Councilman Robert Iannaccone.

The council also approved firefighter contracts and a partial rent freeze, and heard public complaints about electric bikes and scooters on sidewalks, during an hour-long hybrid session that began on a somber note.

Mayor Tim Dougherty requested a moment of silence for Dublin Pub owner Jim Mongey.

Mongey, 83, died over the Labor Day weekend and was laid to rest on Monday.

“He will be sorely missed,” Dougherty said.

Jim Mongey, owner of the Dublin Pub, flanked by health aide Joel Ponce, and his wife, Collette Mongey, at the 25th Morristown Festival on the Green, Sept. 29, 2019. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

Mongey emigrated in 1959 from County Meath, Ireland, on the MV Britannic, and learned the restaurant business working for the Keller family at Rod’s in Convent Station.

He rose from busboy to general manager, then opened the Dublin Pub on Morristown’s Pine Street in 1973. Two years later, he started Molly Malone’s in Whippany. Trinity Pub and The Harp n Bard, ventures with his brother Pat, would follow.

Known for his pranks and wry humor, Mongey served the community as president of the Morristown Rotary, founding trustee of the Morristown Partnership, and a member of the Morris County St. Patrick’s Parade Committee. In 1996, he led the parade as Grand Marshal.

Dublin Pub rumble seat at the Morris County 2022 St. Patrick’s Parade. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

He also celebrated his Irish roots with the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, the Irish American Cultural Institute, and the Irish American Association of Northwest Jersey. He was a member of Spring Brook Country Club as well.

Mongey’s charitable works included a stint on the board of the American Diabetes Association. When unfinished renovations threatened the 2006 season at the Community Theatre (now the Mayo Performing Arts Center), he provided administrative space above the Dublin Pub, a favorite haunt of theatre performers and patrons.

Likewise, he offered a storefront to the Morristown & Township Library after it was shuttered by an explosion in 2010.

Mongey is survived by his wife, Colette, and their five children: Michelle Mongey & David Virgili, James & Ann Mongey, John Mongey, Denice (Mongey) & John Donohoe, Christine (Mongey) & Steven O’Rourke; and 10 grandchildren. He also leaves behind a brother in Ireland, Larry, and his wife Carmel; and a brother in Morris Plains, Patrick, and his wife Marion.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Mongey’s name may be made to the Loyola Jesuit Center in Morristown, or to the Morristown Rotary.

‘NEGLIGENCE AT BEST’

The town desires the Post Office, on a half-acre at 1 Morris St. near the Green, “to support its municipal operations,” according to Tuesday’s ordinance. The Postal Service also plans to maintain a presence by leasing part of the 17,000-square-foot building, which comes with nine parking spaces.

Morris County has awarded about $640,000 in historic preservation grants towards the purchase, and the council earmarked another $150,000 earlier this year.

Notices about a 2023 rent freeze, meanwhile, should start going out to tenants next month, Barrick said.

Town Administrator Jillian Barrick addresses Morristown council, Sept. 13, 2022. Screenshot by Kevin Coughlin

The council unanimously approved the freeze to compensate for a “clerical error” by a town official.

Morristown’s rent control ordinance, which applies to rental units built before 1981, pegs increases to the lower of two regional benchmarks from the U.S. Department of Labor: The Residential Price Index (RPI) or the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The wrong benchmark was applied for 2022, resulting in hikes of 3.7 percent instead of zero, according to Barrick. In a statement, she described the administration as “alarmed and disappointed by the miscalculations” of an employee who resigned last month.

These miscalculations were brought to the attention of council members in April by Casey Rauth, a tenant.

“I would say at best this is negligence,” Rauth, 43, told Morristown Green. “‘Clerical error’ is really sweeping this under the rug.”

Council members Sandi Mayer and Robert Iannaccone at Morristown meeting, Sept. 13, 2022. Screenshot by Kevin Coughlin

Rauth, who works in cybersecurity, said he had to explain to the former rent leveling official how the ordinance worked.

While doing so, he said he discovered his landlord had not registered with the rent leveling department as required, a failure that he said voided what would have been a “huge” rent increase for him this year.

The employee error prompted the town to review 20 years of rent increases, Barrick said. She said they also were calculated incorrectly in 2019 and 2012, results she said were verified by the town auditor. The differences in those two years were 1.5 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, Barrick said.

“It’s shocking to me that he hadn’t been doing his job correctly since 1998 and no one had any knowledge of it,” Council President Stefan Armington told Morristown Green. “It shows a general lack of oversight of key staff.”

Armington added it would have been hard to impose a retroactive freeze.

“It’s very difficult to force landlords to give money back,” he said.

The freeze applies to single-family homes and condos rented in an owner’s absence, and to all apartment buildings and multi-family homes from before 1981, according to the administrator. She could not provide the number of tenants affected.

SIDEWALK SCOOTERS

Bill Byrne, a resident who advocates for people with disabilities, spoke this time for pedestrians, pressing the town to enforce a biking ban on downtown sidewalks for anyone over 14. The proliferation of swift, silent electric bikes and scooters is dangerous, he said.

“All we do is talk about it and talk about it,” Byrne said. “We’ve got to start taking our sidewalks back. We’re supposed to be a walking town here. You want people to visit town and showcase it. But if we don’t enforce it, and we keep doing business as usual, someone’s going to get killed.”

Mayor Tim Dougherty at Morristown council meeting, Sept. 13, 2022. Screenshot by Kevin Coughlin

Another resident, Bierce Riley, said her neighbors’ overgrown hedges make it hard to see anyone riding on her sidewalk when she backs her car from the driveway. One kid rides a single-wheeled electric vehicle on her street at night with no headlights, she added.

Educating the public is the best approach, said the mayor and Police Chief Darnell Richardson. The chief advised citizens to call police about any sidewalk incidents.

In other business, the mayor announced another information session about the upcoming property revaluation. The Zoom meeting at 7 pm this Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, will be similar to July’s town hall presentation, Dougherty said.

An earlier version of this story mistakenly reported that tenant Casey Rauth had renewed his lease earlier this year with a large hike; the increase was rescinded before renewal this month, he said.

If you’ve read this far… you clearly value your local news. Now we need your help to keep producing the local coverage you depend on! More people are reading Morristown Green than ever. But costs keep rising. Reporting the news takes time, money and hard work. We do it because we, like you, believe an informed citizenry is vital to a healthy community.

So please, CONTRIBUTE to MG or become a monthly SUBSCRIBER. ADVERTISE on Morristown Green. LIKE us on Facebook, FOLLOW us on Twitter, and SIGN UP for our newsletter.

LEAVE A REPLY