Thursday, October 25, 2012
Video: LVGA Meet The Candidates Night
The Lincroft Village Green Association hosted a "Meet The Candidates" night this past Tuesday. The Candidates attending were for the offices of County Freeholder - John Curley, Bill Shea, Kevin Lavan and Serena DiMassa; County Clerk - Clair French and Michael Steinhorn; and Middletown Township Committee - Linda Baum and Steve Massell.
The event was moderated by the League of Woman Voters who selected questions that were submitted by the public. It was an interesting night, a lot of very good ideas and information were exchanged between the candidates.
For those from Middletown - I being one - who came to hear what Linda Baum and Steve Massell had to say about moving our township forward walked away, I'm sure, more impressed with what Ms. Baum had to offer than Steve Massel, just watch the video to see what I mean.
Linda Baum was the more articulate candidate and showed a real command of the issues that she was passionate about, she spoke off the top of her head, without any notes. Massell on the other hand, was wooden and read directly from a "script".
If you want to quickly read a little bit more about what was said between Linda Baum and Steve Massell, Middletown Patch's Christina Johnson posted a nice little summary of what was said between the two.
But of course the best way to judge for yourself how each candidate did was to watch the video, in my opinion Linda Baum was much more impressive than Massell and deserving of residents vote.
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16 comments:
I had to laugh when Steve Massell who has barely made 6 comments in the 3 years sitting on that dais, when he took credit for "saving the swim club"
What a joke!
Linda Baum was very impressive.
How can Ms. Baum have been "impressive" when her ideas are full of holes?
Dissolving the TOMSA would not save a whole lot of money because the actual employees of the authority would still have to work for the town, up to and including the Exceutive Director. So, maybe the $10,000 or so paid to the members of the authority and perhaps the fees for the attorney (some of which would have to be paid out in additional legal fees anyhow, most likely). Not very helpful at all.
The town can't rely on volunteers for policy decisions - taht wold be chaos, and besides, we pay for our professionals anyway, why add more costs (volunteers do cost money in expense, equipment and insurance)?.
She HAS attended meetings and studied the issues - she just hasn't understood anything she has heard or studied.
Nice lady, bad candidate.
Legion,
If you took the time to watch the video instead of arrogantly dismissing what you think she has said or proposed, you would be as ignorant as you often seem to be.
Big savings, much more than $10k, will be saved just by eliminating the engineering firm, the lawyers and other professionals that the TOMSA employs. The township already has their own professionals that could do the job.
No duplication of services will save residents plenty.
Mr./Ms. Legion:
You are way low with your $10G figure; since, it was this time last year, Ms. Bouw answered me at the Oak Hill Forum (that she video-recorded, without asking my permission) (*maybe you saw the video?)
that she makes $21,000 annually serving on TOMSA, *as she shook her head, denying the higher cost that was quoted.
I watched and listened to all of the video. What Steve Massell presented was other peoples thinking -- mostly that of Brian Nelson and Tony Fiore (most likely Peter Carton, as well) and he demonstrated a weak grasp of how the Sewerage Authority is organized and run. His reasons for not reorganizing the authority are flimsy: 1) regulatory issues (DEP) would continue to be handled the way they have been handled; 2) unique employees would be retained and I would suggest cross traing of other employees; 3) the 30% of residents who don't have access will continue not to have access to sewers and those with access will continue to pay for service with fees, not taxes; 4) the sewer rates will go even lower because duplicate management (legal, accounting, engineering and executive board) overhead will be eliminated. Disolving TOMSA will eliminate unnecessary costs without diminishing the service and product produced. Smart businesses are always looking to steamline processes and increase departmental productivity to create a stronger bottom line. Ms. Baum was articulate and her position was critically thought out and clearly presented. She has a skill set and brings professional experience that would significantly contribute to improving municipal government in Middletown. Massell says he is for video taping and televising Township Committee meetings, yet he fails to take advantage of the free production work that has been handed to him for eight consecutive months months. The airtime is provide free by Comcast and Verizon. So, where does the $100,000 dollar cost come from that he references and what is the exact source(s) of his information -- where is the research footnote? I hope it isn't Dr. Scharfenberger because as an adjunct professior he should know that all research should be documented.
Is it true the TC will be forcing the Library to close branches and cut back hours after the election?
Sounds like an underhanded move this devious bunch would hatch.
As I've said before, I welcome the opportunity to discuss the issues at length in a one-on-one debate with Mr. Massell, who has refused. Inaccuracies spouted by anonymous commenters is a poor substitute. Recently, Hazlet dissolved its sewerage authority and Monroe Twp dissolved its Municipal Utilities Authority. Both realized enormous savings for taxpayers.
This township is governed by a VERY DEVIOUS BUNCH OF HACKS that continue to hatch money graps to pay for their questionable patronage. NEVER ENDS.
As for Chantel Bouw,she is an employee of the Sewage Authority with salary and benefits....Pat Parkinson's side kick if you will. Hardly believe she works for the salary quoted here....not in this town as she and her husband are part of the hierachy of the local Republican party. Have no fear,the local Republicans take care of their own in Middletown.
It is possible that a considerable amount of money could be saved if the Sewage Authority was dissolved and those sewage board members' health benefits and pensions were no longer an obligation of the taxpayers in this community. Those are the parasitic benefits and patronage paid to the Republican party cronies ......
Yeah, it would SAVE MONEY,real money!
Wouldn't surprise me in the least if the TC closed Library branches, after all we pay higher taxes and receive less services, ie. fall brush and spring leaf collection. Of course the TC will put the Library issue off until after the election. Which is also when you will hear of the 342 housing development being approved in the south side of town. After all the attorney for the developer is a former republican mayor of middletown, Rick Brodsky. This TC lacks any sense of what is right for the residents. Scharfenberger campaigned on transparency, so why are the TC meeting still not televised and why did he hide his political plum $90K per year state job from us before the last election? I can not trust them to do what is right for the residents.
Anon 8:55 AM,
I don't know and I don't doubt that they will do it. It wasn't until after he was elected to his most recent term on the Township Committee that Gerry Scharfenberger made it known, that is confirmed when asked, that he had accepted a fulltime $95,000 a year salary with the State of N.J. He had been working for the State since late July of the year he was re-elected. During that time period he had been asked by multiple reporters for multiple news sources about his employment AND he never mention that he was a salaried state employee. He LIED about his employment because he didn't want to "unfairly influence" voters in "his favor" if they knew he was a state employee. So, again, I don't doubt that Massell and Fiore and the rest of the Carton-Nelson team would hold back information about the future operating status of Middletown Public Library because they don't want to influence all of those library patrons to vote for Massell, November 6. If the library were a revenue stream like the cell towers were for us until financial wizard Scharfenberger sold the rights to the revenue to investors, then it would have been sold already.
Ms. Fowler -
What makes you think that the town could absorb the work performed by the current employees of TOMSA?
Likely they couldn't, so that those salaries and benefit costs would not be saved.
The same is true of the engineering and attorney functions. While they could be performed by the townships engineers and attornies, the savings would be minimal because that additional work would have to be paid for.
Oh, by the way guys, the Library Board decides how to spend Library money - not the TC - so any changes in service will be their decision.
You can thank the past Library Boards for the mismanagement that will lead to what is coming next...
Yes the Library Board does decide how to spend the money. However since the Board has been gutted by this mayor and tc of independent thinkers and replaced with republican controlled puppets of the tc, in essence the the tc decides how the money is spent. Even one as shallow as us ms. legion can see that. Mismanagement at the library? Not so, the money the tc took and said it would spend to do the improvements the board had planned to do an engineering already paid for has not been done. Obviously the tc will spend money again to perform the engineering work, as they said they would, with their favorite politically loyal engineer. And yet we wait for those improvements. Why does the tc not take over the arts center and their $100k+ per year electric bill? Another engineering feat by their loyal "professionals". What a joke our tc is.
Legion,
Whoever you are,you are full of SH-T !
The law requires library service and the people in this town will rise up against this bull crap.
Perhaps you republican dictators will finally get the boot in the $ss out the door that has been a long time coming.
Legion,you are nothing but a trouble monger,each and every one of you that posts as Legion and defends these actions !
Middletown is run like a concentration camp by a bunch of nitwit thugs !!
Anon 11:18 And don't forget the solar panels study by Birdsall Engineering that was done and paid for with our tax monies, thanks to the 'forward thinking" Middletown Twp. Committee... How many tens of thousands of dollars went down the drain for that? Could've been used to pick up these branches we all have!
Dispanding the TOMSA board would save $100,000 alone in salary, health and pension benefits annually. Why are they getting anything, anyway, since all the other town boards are volunteer boards??? The town's own ordinance states the TOMSA board members aren't supposed to receive any compensation other than salary, so why are they? I've heard that when the board was first formed in the 1960s, they did not receive health and pension benefits. Somewhere along the line, someone got the bright idea that they could get away with it. And they have, with the full approval of their friends on the Town Committee. This is a huge violation of the public trust.
Anon 12:24 PM,
You are partially correct about a town ordinance, originally sponsored by S. Byrnes when he was on the Township Committee, which was re-written a then sponsored by Scharfenberger and Brightbill. This ordinace said that any "new" TOMSA board appointees whould not be entitled to health care and pension benefits and it also GRANDFATHERED existing board members to keep their benefits if they were re-appointed. So, when the Township Committee reorganized the following January, they decided to RE-APPOINT (grandfather) board members -- Stokes, Hinckley, Smith, Boun -- from the prior board. Essentilly, they chose not to save taxpayers the cost of health care and pensions for those that they decided to re-appoint. To date, Hinckley has about 30 years on the board with equivalent pension credits and Stokes has about 25. Joan Smith has her time on the Township Committee and on TOMSA to add to her pension credits. All of the above mentioned are active members and officials within the Middletown Republican Party. And their FINANCIAL reward for their Party loyalty and service comes from the fees that the Sewerage authority receives and from taxes that pay for health care and pensions. Other than cleaning waste material, TOMSA is a patronage pit for the Middletown Republican party.
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