No agreement between town and promoter yet WEST MILFORD A proposed Highlands Music Festival planned for this September in West Milford is still not quite striking the right tune. The promoter of the three-day concert planned for the grounds of former Jungle Habitat attraction has yet to convince the township council of its merits. The promoter, Al Hutchins, failed to show up to a meeting with the council in March and has submitted two revised proposals which appear on paper at least to be lessening its appeal to the town. The first and second proposals offered the town 50 percent of the net profits with zero cost to the township. As late as Wednesday evening, however, that offer has been reduced to give the township only 15 percent of the profits with the town picking up some of the costs for public safety. Al Hutchins Productions, based in New Egypt, N.J., wants to set up the show for Sept. 14, 15 and 16 to present classic rock, rockabilly and doo-wop bands. Some of the names mentioned in the proposal sent to the township include the Razorbacks, the Atlanta Rhythm Section, the Georgia Satellites, Long Live the Beatles, Papa Doo Run Run and Ron Dante’s Bubble Gum Bonanza. The show would take place inside two air dome structures on the land formerly used as Jungle Habitat. Those acres, however, are owned by the state and are only leased to the township, which causes problems and financial commitments of their own. Councilman Sal Schimmenti, who has experience working with the state on the circus held at Jungle Habitat last year, said, “What the state wants is a permit. They will be also looking for money. They own the property and they will be looking for what they call a donation.” Council President Joe Smolinski suggested the town go back to the promoter and try to have the previous figures reinstated, “I would like to go back and give it a shot back at the 50 percent,” said Smolinksi. “If the council feels a little jittery with the 15 percent I would understand why.” The idea of concerts in Jungle Habitat is not new. Councilman James Warden fielded the idea before but could not convince anyone to take the idea on. Warden said, “I did speak to promoters to use Jungle Habitat, professional promoters, who do big bands and they weren’t interested in it. Number one, because the township doesn’t own it; number two, because the state required us to have a contract; and number three, because they felt that the liability was just too great for them to take a chance.” Warden also said, “I don’t want to give the go ahead on something where I haven’t spoken to them personally.” The consensus of the council was to reach out to Al Hutchins Promotions and invite them to a council meeting for discussion and hopefully get the profit share back to its former level. On its Web site, Al Hutchins Promotions advertise two upcoming events it is staging, one in its hometown of New Egypt and the other Bristol, Pa. The phone number given for the company is also listed for Al’s Signs and Truck Lettering. In other business: The council will hire a consultant to look at the West Milford 2007-08 School District Budget. Because it failed, the budget must now go before the council before it can be passed. In other years, it has hired a consultant to help decide if and where cuts should be made. Former Councilman Joseph Elcavage, who recently offered a public apology for his part in posting lies and innuendo on the internet for political reasons, went before the council again this time to tender his resignation from the Board of the Municipal Utilities Authority. Elcavage resigned from his council position over a year ago because of accusations of his involvement with the Internet scandal. He apologized a few weeks ago to the council and to the public as part of his settlement of a lawsuit brought against him by Councilman Jim Warden and Mayoral Candidate Bettina Beire, who were the subjects of the false stories.