Here in New Jersey voting for the June 4th Primary has already begun. Vote-by-mail ballots were sent out weeks ago and statewide early voting started yesterday. If you're a Monmouth County Republican Primary voter this year, you get to vote for a contingency of delegates to the July 15th Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, to support Donald Trump.
I wonder how many of the names on this listed of Republican Delegates might change their support for Donald Trump now that he's a convicted felon and once again a proven liar? Any local names stick out to you? How about Middletown's very own State Assemblyman, Gerry Scharfenberger (LD13) and his Son-in-Law, Middletown Mayor Tony Perry?
We know that Scharfenberger has no shame and couldn't care less if Donald Trump is a convicted felon or not, Scharfenberger has no scruples, but what about Tony Perry? He's worked awfully hard the past few years to get out from underneath his father-in-laws shadow and to appear as a likable, babyface, jovial everyman, in order to appeal to as many people as possible. However, his moderate persona doesn't back up his many political extremes, which I'll be posting about in later blog posts.
Make no mistakes, Tony Perry is part of the Monmouth Trump Team. Perry should distance himself from Trump as soon as possible before the stench of a convicted felon permeates the air around him and he is unable to wash it out of his pores or cover it up with cologne.
I want to hear Tony Perry say that he does not and will not support a convicted felon for any political office, let alone the highest office in the land, the Presidency of the United States of America!
(Slate of potential Trump delegates to the 2024 Republican Nation Convention)
It came to light yesterday that the Middletown Township Republican Executive Committee (Middletown GOP) has failed to file required New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (NJ ELEC) paperwork for the past 16 quarters, going back to October 2016. The last report on file with the NJ ELEC is for the 3rd quarter of 2016.
This is bad on so many levels and furthers the argument that myself and others have been making over the years, Middletown Republicans are corrupt to the core. Where are they getting their money from? Who are they giving money to? Pay-to-Play comes to mind as well as the wheeling of campaign donations and expenses and potentially money laundering isn't out if the question.
As for the last report on record with NJ ELEC all the way back in 2016, the Middletown Republicans had $39,439.11 on hand after reporting. How much money did they have on hand afterwards to end the year? We don't know because a 4th quarter, year end report was never filed, neither were subsequent reports thereafter for the next 15 quarters leading up to October 2020.
We know the Middletown Republican Executive Committee has been active during this time because expenditures of $19,650 have been reported by outside candidates and committees in their NJ ELEC filings, the most recent being a $650 donation to Sheriff Shaun Golden for his reelection campaign, made in February of 2020.
Maximum fines associated with this non-compliance can be as large as $8,600 per incident. 16 quarters of failing to file reports with NJ ELEC could cost the local Republicans upwards of $138,000. Interestingly however, the organization is not responsible to pay these fines. As punishment, it's the organizational Treasurer and potentially the Organizational Chairman who are on the hook for payment.
What's so interesting and intriguing about that little fact is that the organizational Treasurer for the last report filed back in October 2016, was the wife of current Middletown Mayor, Tony Perry. Mrs. Perry also happens to be the daughter of former mayor, now LD 13 Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger.
There is a major conflict here and it just might behoove Perry to resign from the mayorship of the Township as well as step down from the Township Committee itself. Since Scharfenberger appointed his son-in-law to the Township Committee back in 2017 and his daughter failed to file the proper paperwork with NJ ELEC, he has some explaining to do himself .... Stay tuned for further developments.
I know I haven't posted anything directly to this page in a while but here is something that I just couldn't pass up.
In 2017, Gerry Scharfenberger appointed is son-in-law, Tony Perry, to the Middletown Township Committee. In 2018, Perry got a hold of a list of township resident emails from Middletown using an anonymous OPRA request which his campaign used to sent out an "anonymous" email to residents from a non-existent shadow group attacking his opponent, Sean Byrnes. He still maintains no knowledge of the incident even though he was caught red handed by the Asbury Park Press.
Now you have Dan Scharfenberger, Gerry's son, acting as the campaign manager for the Mayor of Hamilton Township, running an anonymous blog that exposed expunged criminal information of the mayor's Republican primary campaign opponent, David Henderson. It is a crime to release information on expunged criminal records.
Although it's a misdemeanor charge, Dan Scharfenberger, nonetheless is was under criminal investigation for releasing the information on Henderson.
Here are a few links to multiple reports concerning this posting:
Seeing how there's a meeting of the Middletown Township committee happening tonight, I thought it best to get caught up by posting the video of last week's annual reorganization meeting.
For those that may not be aware, the new kid on the block, Gerry Scharfenberger's son-in-law, Tony Perry was appointed to be this years acting Mayor and Tony Fiore was appointed to act as this year's Deputy Mayor.
For those that like to follow along, you can download a copy of the Meeting Agenda, where you can find a full list of names who have volunteered for various boards and committees along with any resolutions that may have been acted upon during the meeting.
************************************* Update: 5:20pm It has been brought to my attention that there is not a meeting of the Middletown Township Committee scheduled for tonight.
I can't believe that I haven't posted about this earlier, but seeing how the Middletown Township Committee will be meeting tonight for the last time before the November 6th election, I thought that I better say my piece about this.
Over the weekend of September 29th, a mysterious email started to make the rounds to inboxes of Middletown residents. The email from a group calling themselves, "RESIDENTS AGAINST OVER DEVELOPMENT", warned about the over development of Middletown, specifically the Village 35 project that is being planned between Kings Highway and Kanes Lane, along Route 35. Upon closer inspection this email was nothing more than a thinly veiled attack on Middletown Democratic Candidate for Township Committee, Sean Byrnes.
No one seems to be sure exactly how many residents through out the township received this email (I personally did not receive it), but it's safe to say hundreds did. Through a little detective work and the process of elimination, it was determined that the common denominator between those that received this email was that all subscribed to the township's Alert system.
Not sure that this was the case, Sean Byrnes attended the Oct. 1st workshop meeting of the Township Committee and asked for assurances that the email which residents received 2 days earlier did not come from the township. More specifically, if anyone on the committee had knowledge of the email or if it came from anyone on the committee seeking election this year (the video below is queued to the start of Byrnes's question).
As you'd expect, everyone at the table denied any knowledge or involvement with the email. There was however, evidence to suggest otherwise.
The email from Resident Against Over Development was sent through the automated email service MailChimp. As part of the service, those that receive emails can opt-out from receiving emails by clicking on the link to unsubscribe. When the unsubscribe link was followed all the way through to completion, the link took the unsubscriber to the Twitter page of Committee person Tony Perry.
On October 5th, the Asbury Park Press jumped on the story and published, "Middletown official won't deny sending mysterious political email", in which Tony Perry wouldn't deny having any knowledge of the email previously. He also, unpromted, offered that the Township email lists are public record that anyone can access via an OPRA request.
After the Asbury Park Press's article was published, the local Middletown Patch published a follow-up report, "Middletown: OPRA Request Forced Us To Share Residents' Emails", where it's evident that after the Press's article came out, Township officials decided that the best course of action was to deny knowledge of the email and blame an anonymous OPRA request for the release of a list of township residents email addresses. When the Patch questioned Perry about any knowledge of who may have been behind the email and linked it back to his campaign Perry stated that, "he hires various political consultants to run his campaigns".
That's not a very convincing denial. To blame this on various "political consultants" running his campaign is weak and shows what kind of backbone Tony Perry has; one that's crooked and spineless. I suppose though I shouldn't expect anything different from someone who was appointed to his seat on the Township Committee by his father-in-law, Gerry Scharfenberger.
The attempt to deceive Middletown residents by sending out an anonymous, dirty trick email, thinly disguised as an anti-development appeal is underhanded and unethical. Middletown Republicans must be truly afraid of losing control of the township committee this year, to have been so desperate to send this kind of email to hundreds or thousands of residents, hoping that it would swing a few votes in their favor.
It also shows the lack of character of Tony Perry and those currently running Middletown. If Tony Perry continues to refuse to take ownership of this and would rather continue to cover it up after tonight's Committee meeting, where I'm sure he'll be asked about it, then he doesn't deserve to be elected and hold office in Middletown or anywhere else for that matter.
Earlier todayPoliticsDW.composted an article that stated Governor Murphy fired fellow Middletowner and former Township mayor, Gerry Scharfenberger from his $95,000 a year job as Director of the Office for Planning Advocacy (OPA) for the State of NJ.
The reason being given for Scharfenberger's termination " ...was a result of his refusal to endorse Murphy's plan" and his refusal to show at Friday's press conference in Marlboro, where Murphy announced his plan to that would allow residents to pay a portion of their property taxes, that exceeds $10,000, as charitable contributions to their towns, as a way to off set and get around the limits that the Trump Tax plan has placed on the federal property tax deduction.
Rumor had it that Scharfenberger wished to stay on as the head of the OPA, going as far as asking Murphy if he could retain his position within the administration. From published accounts, Murphy was considering it even though many of his advisers were pushing him to get rid of him. I'm sure that Murphy's decision to Dump Scharfy, was made much easier after Scharfenberger, a Republican, was appointed as a Monmouth County Freeholder last week to succeed Serena Dimaso, who was elected to the NJ State Assembly this past November.
The website PolticsDW is operated by the infamous David Wildman, the Chris Christie crony partially responsible for the George Washington Bridge closing debacle know as Bridgegate that dogged Governor Christie for the last two years of his governorship.
Today, an APP article ("Curley Loses GOP Backing for Race" 2/7/18 ) notes that Middletown's former Mayor Scharfenberger is now a county freeholder. He has THREE government jobs at the moment!
Gov. Christie said that only one such post was allowed, but he did not enforce it for those within his own party, including his head cheerleader Scharfenberger. Will Scharfenberger finally do the right thing and give up two of his jobs?
Gov Murphy, who is trying for transparency in government, should look into this years-long travesty and clarify the policy on government jobs.
Last week Insider NJ published this little tidbit about whether or not Governor Murphy will cut loose follow Middletowner, Gerry Scharfenberger from his job as Director of Planning for the State of New Jersey. Evidently Gerry wants to keep his job, but seeing how it was a political appointment to begin with I doubt he has much of a chance keeping his $95K a year position.
And when taking into consideration that he is a Republican in a Democratic administration, his extreme partisanship and the fact that he wants to run for the Monmouth County Freeholder, I say .... Cut him loose.
Middletown Twp. Committeeman Gerry Scharfenberger, the frontrunner to grab Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso’s (R-13) freeholder seat, apparently wants to keep his job as Director of Planning for the State of New Jersey, a source tells InsiderNJ.
But Democrats heady with Murphy partying over the course of the last few government-transitioning days, are reluctant to comply, the source said, as they consider some of the loyal Republican’s pre-election statements on Facebook.
“The difference between the two candidates could not be more stark,” wrote Scharfenberer. “If we don’t want New Jersey to face a $1.3 billion tax hike, the designation as a sanctuary state, legalized pot, and record-breaking increases in spending, then everyone will come out to support Kim [Guadagno] and the entire Republican ticket.”
Whether or not Murphy keeps Scharfenberger, sharpening to run countywide even as Democrats look to compete to hold ground won last year in LD11, could have political consequences for the governor, who resides in the committeeman’s hometown.
As promised, here is the video and the business conducted at the November 13th meeting of the Middletown Township Committee. I haven't had time yet to go through he whole video but here are the highlights:
The Committee seat left vacant by Steve Massell was filled with the appointment of Anthony Perry, the son-in-law of Mayor Scharfenberger. The Mayor actually saw no conflict in voting to sit his son-in-law on the same governing body that he sits on.
A certificate recognizing the Thompson Middle School Girls Cross Country Team was presented for winning the title in their sport.
A proclamation was presented to the Municipal Alliance for recognizing December as National Impaired Driving Prevention Month.
Other proclamations were read into the record.
Ordinances were passed that granted an easement to a land locked property and to dissolve the municipal garbage district.
An ordinance was introduced to amend the enforcement of nuisance penalties.
As always you can download a copy of the Meeting Agenda that contains the discussion items and the proposed resolutions and ordinances that were voted on or presented during the meeting. A box around an item is a link, bringing you further into the document to that resolution or ordinance. At the end of the resolution there will be a link bringing you back to the agenda. Attached to this agenda is also the monthly bill list, so that everyone can see how the Township is spending our tax dollars.
I'm a little late to the party on this one but I just have to give my thoughts on the matter.
It was reported on the Middletown Patch (and other places) this past Monday, that Middletown's appointed mayor Gerry Scharfenberger,plans to seek a seat in the NJ State Assembly for District 13 and made his intentions known on his Facebook page. It was also reported that current Monmouth County Freeholder Serena Dimaso and Fair Haven Councilman Bob Marchese will also be seeking that seat. The three will face off against each other during the June Primary to see who will run against the eventual Democratic nominee.
The Assembly seat that the three are vying for will either be Assemblywoman Amy Handlin's seat or Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon's. Both are seeking the party nomination to succeed retiring Monmouth County Senator Joe Kyrillos, in the NJ State Senate.
I knew that when Joe Kyrillos announced that he wasn't seeking reelection that someone on the Middletown Township Committee would be looking towards Trenton.
At the time, I personally thought that it would have been Tony Fiore, seeing how he's a co-chair for the Monmouth County Republicans and may have been looking for a venue change. However, I changed that opinion recently when Scharfenberger's buddies on the Township Committee reappointed him mayor during Reorganization day on January 1st.
It's always been the M.O. of the Middletown Republicans to appoint those that are seeking reelection as Mayor or Deputy-Mayor, which would have made either Stephanie Murray or Tony Fiore, the ones to fill those positions. It was in fact Murray this time who was appointed Deputy-Mayor and Scharfenberger who was appointed mayor. I suppose it's more impressive if you give the impression that you are the appointed elected mayor of Middletown, seeking higher office rather than just a sitting Committeeman.
That being said, here is my primary day prediction; Gerry Scharfenberger will bee seeking Amy Handlin's seat in the Assembly. I think both Handlin and Scharfenberger will win their primary campaigns easily. The reason is simple; nearly a third of all registered GOP voters in the 13th District are from Middletown! That's one hell of an advantage for anyone seeking election in the 13th to overcome.
Yesterday Middletown held it annual reorganization meeting at Town Hall. At the meeting the Committee selected a Gerry Scharfenberger to be its new Mayor and Tony Fiore Deputy Mayor.
Also taking place was the swearing of numerous volunteer members of various boards and commissions (although many were not in attendance), as well as, new Fire and EMS officers.
Stephanie Murray's outgoing mayor's addres @ 19:52 -31:05
Gerry Scharfenberger's selection as Mayor and swearing -in @ 32:22 - 34:21
Tony Fiore's selection as Deputy-Mayor and swearing-in @ 35:35 - 37:41
After the swearing in ceremonies both the mayor and deputy-mayor gave there in-coming comments, which was followed by the swearing of numerous volunteer members of various boards and commissions (although many were not in attendance), as well as, new Fire and EMS officers.
Brief Committee Comments can be seen @ 1:47:21 - 1:50:19
The expressed opinions or views of this letter does not necessarily represent the opinion of the MiddletownMike blog:
Middletown Township Committeeman Gerry Scharfenberger has proposed that the committee pass a resolution at its March 16 meeting to support the so-called Southern Reliability Link Pipeline (SRL).
At the March 2 meeting, Scharfenberger admitted to having only cursory knowledge about the project and indicated that his only information source was an industry representative. How, then, could he feel he has enough information as a public official to support the project or ask other public officials to support it?
The SRL, a 30-inch high-pressure gas pipeline proposed by New Jersey Natural Gas, would run through Burlington, Monmouth and Ocean Counties parallel to an existing pipeline further north. It’s unlikely that the industry representative mentioned the risk of explosion, that the pipeline isn’t necessary — a solution in search of a problem — or that the end game is increasing overall capacity to maximize liquified natural gas exports, which would greatly increase the domestic price of natural gas due to higher prices on world markets. This prospect explains the company’s willingness to make the large capital investment, a burden that will be borne by New Jersey ratepayers.
It’s also unlikely that the industry rep mentioned that a direct impact will be the further expansion of fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, a highly polluting form of natural gas extraction that poisons our air, land and water with hundreds of toxic chemicals and releases radioactivity and substantial quantities of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
The Township Committee should explore renewable energy initiatives, not support unnecessary fossil fuel infrastructure that endangers the public and exacerbates climate change.
The following letter appeared today in the Asbury Park Press. It should be of particular interest to Middletown residents, it does bring up a few questions about some of "Christie's Team" members have been entrusted to run our town:
Thanks to the Asbury Park Press for reporting the many ways in which “Friends profit from Christie connections,” in its aptly titled March 9 article. Fortunately for Gov. Chris Christie’s allies, the cronyism has made its way to the local level, too.
In 2010, Christie appointed his friend and fellow Republican Gerald Scharfenberger, a sitting member of the Middletown Township Committee, to the position of director of the state Office for Planning Advocacy at a starting salary of $95,000.
Scharfenberger, who today remains both a local elected official and a state-appointed official — the kind of conflict Christie vowed to address when he took office — “gave back” by throwing a gubernatorial fundraiser at his palatial new Middletown residence last year.
In 2012, Scharfenberger and the all-Republican Middletown Township Committee, including then-Mayor Anthony Fiore, backed the governor’s choice of AshBritt for storm cleanup, a contract mired in political backscratching that was twice the price it should have been. AshBritt made nearly $15 million in Middletown alone.
Add to the well-connected list Middletown township attorney Brian Nelson, a member of Christie’s 2009 transition team who was appointed in 2011 to the board of the state’s powerful Economic Development Authority.
The EDA decided it was OK for taxpayers to fork out an extra $2.2 million for a tourism campaign featuring the governor himself. It would be nice to know how Nelson voted in that scandal, but, alas, someone decided to black out the names of the scorekeepers. Hopefully, taxpayers are keeping score, too.
It is ironic that the Middletown Township Committee candidates Scharfenberger and Settembrino who bill themselves as "The Christie Team" suffer from his same lack of transparency. Just as a suit against the Christie administration alleges that it has "...failed to make public the most basic documents explaining the criteria for determining who gets [Sandy] recovery money and who doesn't...," the Middletown team has refused to share open information about the cost of Middletown's health insurance plan and details about the Middletown Disaster Relief Fund.
We know that Scharfenberger is clearly a paid member of "The Christie Team" with his $95,000/yr. state job given to him by Christie, but we hope he will break from the team and share information.
Before I post the latest video of the Middletown Township Committee at work during this past Monday night's workshop meeting, I have to post this clip, it's a classic!
During the public hearing to discuss the $1.5M bond ordinance(#2013-3087) that will be used to finance the construction of 1 artificial turf sports field on the grounds of Thompson School and other field improvements at various schools around town, resident Linda Baum asked if a cost analysis was done to show revenue neutrality regarding the borrowing of the $1.5M to construct and improve these fields. The reason behind her asking was simple, at a previous meeting Committeeman Kevin Settembrino commented that the field project would be "revenue neutral" (his words) and the bond would be paid off by the money raised through increasing the user fees that various sports leagues around town pay to use the fields. To see if this was true and verify that revenue neutrality was indeed going to be achieved, she wanted to know if any documents existed to support Senttembrino's statement.
In typical fashion, acting mayor Gerry (I learned everything I needed to know about budgeting through osmosis) Scharfenberger told Ms. Baum that yes, there was a cost analysis done but there were no documents that could be OPRA'ed by her to verify the numbers because it was all done in in their (Township Committee/Administrator's) head.
OMG and LOL, I can't stop myself from laughing! We really do have a bunch of geniuses working for us here in Middletown.
All the bids that the Township received for the dredging of the lake came in over the budgeted amount for the project, the lowest bid came in at $4.8 million - over a $1million difference in the budgeted amount.
It was stated by Township Administrator Tony Mercantante, that it was unlikely that new bids for the dredging will ever go out unless there is a "significant change to the scope of the project...".
For the past 6 years Gerry Scharfenberger and his Republican cronies, both on and off of the Township Committee, have been coddling and kowtowing to a few local residents who around and near the lake, promising them that it would be dredged. Now due to their unrealistic cost expectations, Gerry and friends will have to break their promise.
If you're like most uniformed Middletown residents you have no idea that the Township Committee held it's annual Township Reorganization meeting on Sunday, January 6th. I had intentions of posting earlier about this but waited until the video of the meeting was ready for posting (there were a few technical issues with the video that needed to be ironed out).
As usually the case for these meetings, Town Hall was filled to over capacity with standing room only available for many inside the court house and many more individuals overflowing outside, standing in the lobby.
I got there late and only stayed for a half hour or so because I had other things on my to do list that needed to get done before the weekend was over. I was there long enough however to hear Gerry Scharfenberger and Stephanie Murray be appointed and sworn in as this year's acting mayor and deputy mayor.
They both gave flowery and grandiose acceptance speeches after being sworn in (which you can watch starting at the 23 minute mark of the video). In the case of Scharfenberger, as usual, his tendency to over state matters borders on hypocrisy and dishonesty. It was almost laughable when he ended his nearly 9 minute address when stated that he would like to reaffirm his promise to be "honest" with the resident of Middletown - something that he has never truly been when confronted, but i'll have more on that as the days and weeks go by.
The rest of the meeting dealt with township business, the promotions of members of the Middletown Police Department and the swearing in of new appoints to various boards and commissions and public comments.
Pretty boring stuff.
Here is the meeting agenda for the business portion of the meeting only, where a number of ordinances and resolutions were introduced and voted upon.
Money Magazine has just come out with their annual list of the Top 100 Places to Live for 2012 and guess what town is no longer considered worthy enough by Money Magazine to be included on this year's list. That's right, Middletown.
So what has transpired over the past 6 years that would lead to Middletown dropping off the list completely? It could be any number of things really, but I would suspect it has a lot to do with the rotten and adversarial politics that has been on display during this time, which has contributed to the over all sense of decline in the quality of life in town.
What do I mean by rotten and adversarial politics? Well lets see.
We have an all Republican, five member Township Committee, that has been in control for over 30 years. Gerry Scharfenberger, Tony Fiore, Steve Massell, Kevin Settembrino and Stephanie Murray ( and lets not forget the unofficial 6th member of the committee, the Attorney, Brian Nelson) all seem to have gotten their leadership skills and honesty quotients directly from the national GOP.
Often times residents are looked down upon from the dais with contempt or scorn and told half truths or outright lies when they address the Township Committee on subjects that are not of the normal, feel good, cookie cutter variety. People questioning the Shadow Lake dredging project, those seeking to save the Middletown Swim Club from closure or the building of turf fields come to mind.
Middletown once, not very long ago, had a library that was top of the line, looked upon as a true treasure and revered by many in town. Now, it seems a mere shell of an institution that it once was thanks in part to the Township Committee politicizing and expanding it's Board of Trustees in order get rid of it's long time Board of Trustees President and to confiscation $840,000 of surplus and reserved funds to offset the Township's budget, leaving the library with very little to no funds which could be used to purchase new things like books or computers or to do any capital improvements to any of its facilities.
Middletown no longer has a Parks Department to oversee and maintain it's many splendid and wonderful parks. Many of the parks around down are in need of upkeep; grass needs to be mowed, benches need to be replaced or painted and some have been closed off.
And lets not forget the ugly and protracted - what some would call negotiations, while others would call extortion - labor talks with the members of Middletown Police force, where the Township threatened to layoff 10 policeman and several officers if the local PBA did not agree with their demands to a pay freeze and benefit givebacks. Or the politics of ourBoard of Education and the decline of our schools test scores.
I can go on and on, there is so much more to say and add as to why Middletown is no longer considered one of the top places to live by Money Magazine, but I'll leave it here for now and a follow-up later.
It will be interesting to hear how Tony Fiore, Gerry Scharfenberger and others "Spin" Middletown's decline on the list, seeing how they previously were so eager to let everyone know and never forget Middletown placement on the list in the first place.
Something tells me however that they will ignore and not mention any of this seeing how there is an election in several weeks.
I have finally received some answers to my inquiries concerning Middletown's purchase of iPads for members of the township governing body and I have Mr. Robert Superti to thank! I haven't been able to get down to Town Hall myself these past few weeks due to my work and home schedule in order to ask these questions myself, so I appreciate that Mr. Superti was concerned about this issue and took the initiative to ask them himself.
It is obvious from the responses that Mr. Superti received that the Township Clerk Heidi Brunt, mayor Tony Fiore and Township Attorney Brian Nelson and a comment made by Gerry Scharfenberger at the end, that they had all reviewed my questions and had answers ready to those questions as well as a couple of questions that Mr. Superti didn't ask, such as, did former committee member Pam Brightbill receive an iPad and return it after she step down from the Committee? The answer was yes.
And I would suppose that Scharfenberger's heads-up to Fiore to address the cost analysis between the iPad vs paper study was a refernce to my asking in a follow-up email to have the study sent to me via email to review (which, by the way was never sent).
Here are my questions that Mr. Superti asked with the responses that he recieved in red. You can also listen to the audio of Mr. Superti asking these questions and listen to hear how they were answered by playing the recording below:
How many iPads have been purchased by the township and who specifically has been issued them? 6 iPads were purchased by the Township.
What was the purchase price of these iPads? Each iPad cost $625.
Was the purchase price for these iPads discounted in anyway, if so by how much? Yes, but no one knew by how much.
Who were these iPads purchased from; Did they come directly from Apple Inc. or an authorized Apple vendor (please name)? The iPads were purchased via a government contract through Computer Direct Warehouse (www.cdw.com). Are these iPads considered township property ? Yes, they are.
Can they to be used by individuals for personal use (take and store photos, download music or games, ect...)? Yes, they can.
What happens to these iPads if Township Committee members step down from office or not relected or if a town manager leaves the employment of the township? They are Township property and are to be returned. It was stated that Pam Brightbill returned the iPad issued to her.
Did the Township purchase any kind of internet access plan over and above the purchase price of the iPads that would enable idividuals to access the internet if WiFi access is not availible to the users? Yes, the Township purchased an internet access plan but did not know how much it costs each month.
Is Town Hall wired for Wi-Fi? If so, does the public have access to the Wi-Fi network at Town Hall if they bring their own laptops, iPads or other type of smart device to a meeting at Town Hall? Yes, Town Hall is wired for Wi-Fi but the public does not have access to it becuase Town Hall is a government building and they are afraid that the public may get access to sensitive government information.
Again, I want to thank Mr. Superti for asking these questions, it is unfortunate however that he had to ask them, it would have been very simple just to respond to my intial inquiry. Instead those that run the township decided be defensive and remain silent until someone asked them directly about the purchase of these iPads. It makes it seem as if those that make up Middletown's governing body are paranoid and have something to hide.
After all, they are the ones that issued the press release touting the purchase of these iPads as money savers. They had to have known that people would question the purchase of these things when there are cheaper alternative available that would serve the same purpose.
After listening to the above audio, I do have a few follow-up question that I would like to ask for the purpose of clearifying a few answers given to the questions. I hope to be able to make it down to Town Hall one day this week to do that.
It's nice to see that one of our locally elected officials is hard at work at the job he was appointed to by our "Rockstar" governor.
For a hint at who that individual might be, take a look at the email address below.
Keep up the good work there Scharfy!
The Monmouth County Planning Board, under the chairmanship of Vincent Domidion, will discuss the Proposed final draft of the State Strategic Plan: New Jersey State Development and Redevelopment Plan, dated October 11, 2011., on February 20, 2012 at 2 p.m., at the Hall of Records Annex, 1 E. Main Street, Freehold, NJ.
STATE PLANNING PUBLIC HEARING
As part of the State Planning Public Hearing, a presentation will be given at Monmouth University on February 28, 2012 at 6 P.M. At 7 p.m. a Public Hearing will be held .
This presentation and public hearing will be held at Bey Hall, Monmouth University, 400 Cedar Avenue, West Long Branch.
To access a copy of the Proposed Final Draft State Strategic Plan: New Jersey State Development and Re-Development Plan you may go online:
