Here is some more audio from Tuesday night's public comments portion of the Middletown Township Committee meeting where members of the Middletown Swim and Tennis Club spoke in front of the Township Committee and wanted answers as to why they were never informed by the Township that the Club was losing money and that it will be closed this year.
Notice once again Township Attorney Brian Nelson answering questions for the Township Committee at ~6:30 into the clip and again towards the end of this 13 minute sound bite. Why does the Township Attorney need to answer financial questions about the Swim Club and not the Township Administrator, Township CFO or the elected officials that sit on the dais? Listen towards the end where he repeatedly states "we...,we..., we...". It's infuriating.
20 comments:
Did I hear it right and do I understand it correctly?
The $200,000.00 annual bond debt still has to be paid until the year2018.
So essentially this separate utility, by ordinance is being subsidized on the back of the taxpayers.
Seems like a lot of double talk to me.
You should see how many millions we as taxpayers owe on the Arts Center, in addition to their $300,000 per year utility bills.
It is as if the TC is saying "let them eat wood fired, brick oven, pizza."
Naaa, that's for Sunday
Anon 12:10 PM,
Correct the bond debt still has to be paid by all of the taxpayers -- even those who don't use and never used the Swim Club utility.
The utility isn't the product of the 1997 Township Committee; it is the product of the local Republican party, which has contolled Middletown for the last 30 years. The Republican Party majority that pushed this upon the Middletown taxpayer is controlled by Peter Carton (official Republican Party Chair) who is also a principal in the law frim that did the legal work that resulted in the $200,000 bond debt you referenced in your comment: his firm still does all of the bond work for Middletown.
By-the-way, the local Republican Party second in command in Middletown is Brian Nelson who is also legal counsel for Middletown. He's the appointed, not elected, guy who jumped into the conversation when he should of just kept quite because there were no legal issues, at that point in the conversation, that were part of the conversation that was taking place.
Anon 12:10 PM,
Correct the bond debt still has to be paid by all of the taxpayers -- even those who don't use and never used the Swim Club utility.
The utility isn't the product of the 1997 Township Committee; it is the product of the local Republican party, which has contolled Middletown for the last 30 years. The Republican Party majority that pushed this upon the Middletown taxpayer is controlled by Peter Carton (official Republican Party Chair) who is also a principal in the law frim that did the legal work that resulted in the $200,000 bond debt you referenced in your comment: his firm still does all of the bond work for Middletown.
By-the-way, the local Republican Party second in command in Middletown is Brian Nelson who is also legal counsel for Middletown. He's the appointed, not elected, guy who jumped into the conversation when he should of just kept quite because there were no legal issues, at that point in the conversation, that were part of the conversation that was taking place.
Brian Nelson is not smart enough to keep quiet. He's got a mouth bigger than he is !
He's this mob's mouthpiece and never shuts up !
Peter Carton's law firm also handles Monmouth County's bonds and notes. His tentacles of power are more far-reaching than most realize.
Granted, going to bond is inevitable, HOWEVER, the terms of the debt benefit the Cartons, his law partners, etc., and NOT the trusting township and county taxpayers! An example of that is already given in these comments, about the swim club's bond debt.
Look at what happened this week in a single day: Google, Craigslist and Wikipedia 'went dark" in protest of the legislation that would've affected them, and the inconvenience created by that action in the lives of a great many consumers got them to rise up and make a clamor so loud that the legislation died by that night!
We as Middletown residents have it in our power to do the same. We'd just need to be mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore infuriated; we'd need something taken away from us that we're not willing to part with, even for a single day, and we'd make our voices heard. We'd affect change. We have it in us to do that. We just haven't been inspired enough yet.
Obviously taking our pool club away isn't enough incentive for enough of Middletown voting bloc to start a grassroots movement. Eventually taking the burden of the Arts Center off our backs may still not cause us to rise up. Not enough of us use that either.
What will it take?
How about an election to rise up---oh yeah, you keep losing those..............
Interesting comments about loudmouth Brian Nelson. And the tc appointed a Larry Nelson to the library board along with 4 other new members. Politico-wannabe Tristan Nelson sat in the audience at the library board meeting, too, along with some republican cronies who stared and smiled at the new board members to make sure they did as they were told and bullied the remainder of the board. Thank God, Stephanie Murray isn't the deputy mayor,she sounds like a real idiot! Massell, the new deputy mayor, along with Kevin Settembrino were also present for a short while-more intimidation for whomever they could work their magic on. The flimsily-clad insinuations about money mismanagement by the library board sounded ridiculous coming from the mouths of members of the TC (republicans) who mismanaged township funds so badly that they are looking to gut any well-run township entity. Now they're looking to cut staff and hours at the well-run library to use the money to plug other holes in the dike. Too bad they refuse to have as large a board to oversee the money management of the sewerage authority-some of whose members were also present at the library board meeting. Oh,that's right they have to make sure those former mayors and their ilk of TOMSA have lots of slush money to play with along with their township cars and free gas, not to mention a sexual harassment suit settled on the backs of the taxpayers. The best part is the suggestion by the new board members to have a lawyer present at every library board meeting! how the heck does that save taxpayers money? Stephanie and her sidekicks happened to favor a lawyer who already does work for Middletown-he must give some good kickbacks! Middletown residents take heed! P.S. it would be interesting to find out if any of these new TC members, aside from the elementary school principal, Cynthia Wilson, who's a library proponent and clearly the only newbie who has a brain in her head-has a library card! Or are these supposedly "educated" people like Settembrino who claimed he never needed a library when he was in college. Duh! How the hell do these people live with themselves?
Anon 10:46,
Just for the record Brin Nelson is no relation to Larry Nelsen or Tristan Nelsen.
The Nelsen twins are father and daughter. Brian Nelson spells his name differently .
Anon 8:44 PM,
The answer to your question is education: a regular program of issues that the township faces and the cost associated with the issues. the public needs to know what the township committee isn't telling them.
Prior to the appointment of this board there was an attorney who sat on it (not as a paid legal representative) and made sure that the interests of the library preceded those of the township committee and the partisian goals of the local Republican party, which was why he was not reappointed.
Anon 10:03 PM,
How about a referendum to bring about some change?
Sour grapes make for a bitter whine.
The sleeping giant that has yet to rise up and effect drastic change in Middletown are the 3/4 of our township registered voters who cast no vote.
What's that come to in numbers,
anyone know?
How many townhouses can we jam in that location?
Anon 1:21,
Milne was replaced with a lawyer. His name is mike Convry. I don't know how that is an issue. I think through the year the ineffective use of funds will be evident. My friend was at the meeting and he said they really sound like they don't want to rape the library, but make decisions to spend the money they get go further. Whether that be more material or whatever.
I was at the meeting as well and they were very adamant about "dollars and cents." They are supposed to be representing the library's interests as well as the taxpayers. If 2/3 of the taxpayers have library cards, then they should do what's best for all. Raping and pillaging the library's funds (there because of PROPER MANAGEMENT) so they can use them elsewhere because of the tc's mismanagement will not benefit the cardholders/taxpayers especially in light of all the BOE cuts for materials, library books and school libraries. Our great library provides programs, materials (yes, even movies! which the TC is against) and job help which in these tough economic times, allows access to those who are not able to afford them otherwise, up to including summer reading books for the township's students. I'm hoping they don't ruin everything good in this township.
It's an issue because Milne was looking out for the best interest of the library. This new guy isn't. He's the friend of some relation of Steve Massell's which is what he said the night he introduced himself. He all but suggested that the library have a purchase order for each item (book, movie, CD, etc) which shows that these new appointees don't have a clue on how libraries are run. They had almost a month to get ready for the meeting but none were prepared, especially Stephanie Murray. She sounded as intelligent as the heroines in her romance novels. Duh!
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