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As a result of the loss of Patrick Short during the last election, we will not have the second vote needed to introduce resolutions. We also lose the ability to block unnecessary bonding, since bonding requires 4 votes. His loss now leaves Sean Byrnes as the lone Democratic voice of the people on the Township Committee. For 30 years, a Republican majority has controlled Middletown. During this time the Township operated with a “shadow government” lurking behind the elected officials. Real control in Middletown rested with the leaders of the Republican Party. They selected the candidates, filled the Boards with their supporters and gave jobs to their friends and family members. Members of the Party who expressed any dissent from the leaders’ approach to the Township were cut out from the Party’s activities. This culture of party dominance created an environment where the good of the Party was a factor in all decisions concerning the Township’s future. This extraordinary measure of control eventually made many of the Party members dependent to some degree on the largess of the Township. Key employees had strong family connections or friendships with the Party. The Sewerage Authority became populated with Commissioners, all of who were former Republican Mayors, Committee Members or Party leaders. They received salaries, health benefits and pension contributions. The Director of the Sewerage Authority is a former Republican Mayor earning a six-figure salary. Similar examples abound throughout the Township. The dominance exercised by the Republican Party over the local political scene cultivated a certain arrogance and sloppiness that found its way into the decision-making of the Township Committee. Township Committee meetings were a formality. All decisions were made outside the formal meetings. Reported decisions from the New Jersey Appellate Court confirm that the Republican Committee members gathered on a regular basis outside these meetings and discussed Township issues. The Republicans typically voted together relying upon consent agendas where all resolutions were adopted in a single vote. Residents seeking information about the business transpiring before them at Township meetings were frustrated by an impersonal Township Administrator and an atmosphere that discourage citizen participation in government. Not surprisingly, this one-sided approach to governing produced poor outcomes. Middletown spent close to $8.0M on a Cultural Arts Center with no business plan or concept of how it would fund its operations. Aside from the staggering debt financed by the Township, the operations of this facility run at a yearly deficit of $300,000. The HVAC system must run constantly to address a humidity problem that threatens to warp the floors. Utility bills in the summer months approach $30,000 per month, with yearly expenses for utilities exceeding $200,000. To top it off, the facility was constructed on contaminated land, which the Township knew was contaminated. This Township spent significant additional sums of money dealing with the contamination. This decision to engage in the construction of the Arts Center emanated from one member of the Township Committee insisting that this be done. With no opposition, and no public access to information, this disaster of a project was allowed to move forward. These are the kinds of things that need to be prevented from happening in the future. Sean Byrnes will be acting as the lone “watchdog” over the Township Committee in 2010, but he needs more support to ensure that taxpayers in Middletown are receiving a return on their tax dollars. |
