Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Guest Post by Robert Dovey


Mr Dovey sent this to me yesterday, I became aware that the letter sent by "A very embarrassed Edgewater Park Republican" to Mayor Hall and Council Members was included in the information packet given to the public at the Township Committee Meeting last night. This is the first time an anonymous letter has been included in the correspondence given to the public. I suspect it was done on purpose. The township solicitor was surprised it was included in the packet. The Township Clerk has some answering to do, since she never has allowed this to happen before. This action may result in a lawsuit, because the people mentioned in the letter are not public officials.



The School Budget passed 291 for, 208 against. The three School Board running for re-election also won (no opposition) Lester Holley 349, Raymond Rebilas 361 and Susan Strasser 360.



The following is from Mr. Dovey


"Dear Edgewater Park Reporter,


I am responding to the Anonymous Letter sent to Mayor Hall and Council Members, dated 3/14/08.

A copy of the letter was supposedly sent to the following; The Burlington County Republican Party, The State of New Jersey Republican Party, The Burlington County Times, The Edgewater Park Sewer Department and Members of the local Republican Party.

The Sewer Authority, The Mayor and Council and The Diamond Family are the only ones that have received copies of this letter as far as I know.

I have checked with the County and State Republican Parties, the Edgewater Park Republican County Committee Members, as well as the BCT, and except for the copy sent to the Diamond Family, no one else has received a copy of this letter.

The letter was referred to by the Sewer Authority Chairman; David Levay at the Authority's April Meeting, April 9th during correspondence, but Dave was advised not to read the letter because it was not signed with the name of the author.

As to the comments made about me, I will not dignify the personal attacks made against me but do want to correct comments made as facts in this letter.

The first correction, "We all know he is causing a lot of wasted time in the township offices requesting copies of everything from ordinances to receipts for toilet paper."

I have made two OPRA request, and both requests were rejected by the Township Clerk. The first was for copies of emails and letters between the members of township committee and the Sewer Authority Members. It was rejected because the request was too vague. The second was for the 2007 budget showing the line item budgeted amounts, and what was spent each month and what was left to be spent. I have received this budget information in past years with no problem. I don't believe my request required a lot of time on the part of township officials to fulfill, all they needed to do is copy the spreadsheet budget report that is done each month by the CFO, to a CD disk. The Email request was rejected without any work being done.

The second correction, "This is because he wants her job (Administrator) if the republicans take control of the township government." I do not want, nor have I asked to be considered for the Administrator's position in Edgewater Park so you can put this rumor to bed. I was asked by committee members of two towns in Burlington County , to apply for the Administrator positions in those towns, when they had an opening. I turned them down. I am not qualified to hold that position. This rumor was used in Democratic campaign literature during past elections.

The third correction, "Mr. Dovey is most upset because the sewer office is now going to be open five days a week. This means his wife now has to work five days instead of three." I am upset because it will cost the sewer tax payer additional money to keep the office open, an additional two days a week. With the additional cost of the Willingboro MUA, now contracted as the Authority Operator and maintenance contractor, the large increase in legal cost for the Authority Solicitor, our sewer rates will be increased this year. If you doubt this, check the Auditors ESPA 2007 Audit Report and Recommendations. The Authority Members have also entered into a contract for new office space and $20,000 for the renovation of that space. The Township will now lose the $12,000 dollars in rent they received from the Sewer Authority (Aprox. 1/2 cent on the tax rate) and the Authority will be paying double for the new office rent along with the cost for unities and insurance. Does this make sense? Now you know what I am upset about..

The fourth correction, There is no one who has lived in Edgewater Park for nearly seventy years, who is a member of the Republican County Committee or Republican Club.

The fifth correction, "Mr. Dovey placed the name of Mr. Daly's young son on the "blog"." I never placed the name of Mr. Daly's son on the blog. Check out the all of the comments (3) made by me to this blog. None concern Mr. Daly's son.

The sixth correction, "Mr. Dovey blasted the mayor's husband for receiving two pay checks". I have never blasted Mr. Hall about receiving two pay checks. I have never ridiculed Mr. Hall for anything he has done. I did sit quietly, as Mr. Hall interrogated my wife about her salary, during an Authority Meeting for 45 min. Mr. Hall who was appointed by his wife to the Sewer Board voted to approve my wife's salary every year he has been on the Authority Bd. Mr. Hall has also recently removed from the Authority's Office her time sheets, and Contract to examine. Mr. Hall also questioned her hours, sick time, acuminated sick time and vacation time that are part of her contract and vouched for in the Audit. I have to say Mr. Hall's petty performance during the past three Authority Meetings is pretty remarkable for a man with a life threatening illness. I know what it is like for a family member to battle cancer. Both my Mother and Mother-In-Law, battled breast cancer twice. They suffered tough times while receiving the treatments to battle their cancer. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

The seventh correction, "Mr. Dovey has informed all of us that Chuck Ryder and Dawn Diamond will be running for town council in the upcoming election." Chuck Ryder and Joseph Galgoci are the Republican Candidates for Edgewater Park Committee.

The eighth correction, "Please know that there will be a new group of republicans in charge very soon and we will NOT conduct business the " Dovey Way "." I am the current Republican Chairman, and I am not aware of any changes to our County Committee .. I have never been approached by a member of our party to complain about my chairmanship. I have received critical comments about not responding to our opposition when they have resorted to personal attacks against our candidates. In the past I have resisted any efforts to return the favor. It will now be very difficult for me to stop this tactic in light of the letter.

I do not believe this letter came from any Edgewater Park Republican.. I believe it was created and sent by some members of the Township Committee and their friends. This was to try and embarrass me, my family and to send a message to the Edgewater Park Reporter and those of you that dare to question, criticize or make suggestions about the way they are governing our town. They want you to know that they will do the same to you with their intimidation tactics. This method distracts from the real truth of how they have mismanaged our town, so they do not have to answer for the tax increases, selective ordinance enforcement and the closed way they conduct our township business.

Mayor Hall has been making phone calls to residents about this letter and reading it to them. It doesn't surprise me Judy is doing this; she is very good about spreading gossip when she wants to get her way or get even.

The personal information spread about me and others in this letter will probably be seen again this fall in the Democratic campaign literature.

I hope that this letter and the tactics used will wake up the residents of Edgewater Park . Please pay attention to what is happening to our town, the tax increases, and the causes and how you are treated when you dare to question, and not to the smear gossip that is meant to distract you.

This is not about who is a Democrat or Republican. It is about good government, management and leadership for our town. We need people who care about you the taxpayer, and not the solicitors, engineers or developers and how much they contribute or how many sports tickets they give out to committee. We should care how they responsibly deal with controlling the property tax in our town. This committee has shown they have done a bad job for all of us taxpayers, Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike. This committee has run and managed our town for the past eight of nine years, and the record speaks for itself.

Thank you for allowing me to respond,

Robert Dovey"

Thank you Mr. Dovey,

The Edgewater Park Reporter





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12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I must say, of the EP residents I have met, Mr.Dovey has the best understanding of the political atmosphere & what is wrong in the town.
The more I hear about Mayor Hall, the more I wonder where her trailer is parked?
How the hell could we allow someone like this in any position of authority?
This would all make a great TV sitcom, if I were not a resident here having to deal with their misdeeds.
One last question; why does this town allow family members of government officials to sit on any board or authority, let alone be nominated by the official? This is not allowed in much of NJ, and is the first time I have actually seen it taking place. What a serious conflict of interest.

Anonymous said...

Way to go Mr. Dovey. My only wish is that other people would speak up as much as you. Thanks for not letting these classless people get to you, however, anyone that knows you knows that you will fight to the end for what you believe is good for the town. Please don't let the scum get under your nails!

Anonymous said...

To anonymous that notified the Asst. AG's office: You asked to be notified about the township's wrong doings with regard to Open Public Mtgs. Act. How the hell do they get away with publishing their closed session mtg. time as 6:30 pm and Public Mtg. time at 7:30 pm and then if they get done closed session early like 7:00 pm they just start the public mtg. early without any regard for residents who are coming at 7:30. I think the County Prosecuter should be notified too because I understand that E.P. is on his list already with several OPMA complaints.

Anonymous said...

hey, what's with 499 people voting on the budget and only 349 to 361 voting on the bd. members?
Are the taxpayers telling you Democrats running the school bd. too that some of your own party have had it too with the wasteful spending?
I heard that Mr. Dennis Robbins of Silver Park told the township Comm. last night that the school bd. hid money in their operating budget and didn't have to raise taxes as much as they said they did. Is this legal or are we just suckers if we approve whatever they ask for? EP reporter, is it illegal to bury funds in a budget or just unethical? I also heard that Mr. Robbins is the new volunteer property maintenance inspector. He drives around and rats on people if he doesn't like the way your house or driveway looks because he cares about how beautiful EP should look. If he truly cared about EP's appearance he would stay indoors.

Anonymous said...

This committee is in for a big surprise when the shoe falls on them. It is going to take about six months for everything to come out, but when it does, the people with the big mouths in town will finally be made to shut their mouths (by their attorneys).
A lot of school boards act in the unethical manner of "hiding money" in the budget. That is why they are so wasteful with tax dollars. I had written earlier that most towns in the area were either lowering their school taxes or keeping them the same for 2008 because of the additional state support. Without even seeing the School budget, I was concerned when I heard that they were raising taxes again = wasting our money.
Some of you decided that it was hurting the school voting against the new budget, but in reality, it only forces the school board to DO A BETTER JOB SPENDING OUR MONEY when they have to produce a better budget. We missed our chance again.

Anonymous said...

You mean Baby Hughey fits behind the steering wheel???? How is that possible. He is so pathetic, who would even acknowledge his existance? If the Township has to resort to this you know we are in BIG TROUBLE. Oh well, more ammunition for the Republicans! Way to go Democratics, keep digging your own grave, we love it!

Anonymous said...

Hi All

I served on the Township Committee with Bob during the 1990s. I prefer to remain anonymous, due to my business. I can tell you that Bob protected Jim Hall from the efforts of the Administrator at that time to get rid of Jim Hall as the Township Treasurer. I also know that Jim and Judy Hall became very bitter against the School Board because the Board did not give Jim the deal he wanted when he retired. Jim and Judy let everyone know how Jim got shafted and that it was in retaliation for Jim objecting to the retirement deal given to Superintendent Dold. I also know back in the 1980s, that former Mayor Rapagna who I believe is related to Judy Hall, also wanted Jim fired as the Township Treasure, and Lou got very upset with Bob, Vince and George when they hired Jim back.
I do not live in town now and based on what I am reading, glad we moved. As an ex-committee person and a member of Mayor Hall's Democratic party, I had many a difference with Bob, but I never got personal nor did Bob. I think it is sad that the current elected officials have stooped to this level. They are with their actions making it difficult to get people to run for office. Why would anyone want to put up with this type of personal attacks.
God bless and I hope that some action is taken against the Township Clerk for permitting the anonymous letter to be included in the public information package. It would never have happened with our Clerk at the time.

Anonymous said...

The letter is so Judy, Tom and Jim. You have not heard the last. I bet Tom's wife and Judy are calling the phone tree right now. To bad for them the word about how they have poorly governed is getting out to the taxpayers. Keep it up E.P. Reporter. Give us more of your picture humor. I think it is getting to them after all, look Mr. Daly Isn't running, Mr Atzert quit (again). I hope the rest follow.

Anonymous said...

Mayor Hall; Do you think we are stupid? At the meeting last Tuesday you said that you didn't know the Sewer Dept. was being kicked out,and that the Sewer Office wasn't going to be used for a Mayor's Office, it is going to be used for storage for Linda. Why did you repaint and install new carpet in the Sewer Office if it is only being used for storage? What a waste of the taxpayers money. Try telling the truth and maybe this blog will compliment you. Try to not cover up for the bad management of your neighbor and friend, Township Administrator/Clerk, Linda Dougherty. Maybe Linda is trying to coverup for you and Committee.

Anonymous said...

I read here & get informed about what is really going on. The blog serves a good purpose & unfortunately is needed.
But I didn't like the personal comments about Mr. Robbins. Please just stick to the facts, no name calling please!
I think to publicize the blog, "someone" should put up some signs around town with the blog address. Sure they will be taken down but if more people see them & visit here then its worth it. Registered republicans could have signs on their lawn (with their permission) & the Pullion Gang couldn't do a darn thing about it. Many residents still don't know this site exists & they should know.
Hey, maybe the pony lady will put it on her sign if you give her some farm food for the zoo! She could use the help for her run for freeholder.

Anonymous said...

Hey, EP Reporter, Where have you been? No news since the 16th.

To anonymousr 4-18 4:07 pm
The EP reporter wasn't picking on Mr. Robbins; and it was only because he "RATS" on other residents (in parts of town no where near his residence too)whom may not be able to afford to keep their homes as nice as his because their taxes keep going up. His head is so far up Committee's collective backside that he could tell you what they ate for their last meal.

Anonymous said...

Dear Anonymous 4-18-08 4:07 PM,

Why do you assert that this blog should be advertised by registered Republicans on lawn signs. This blog may be operated by Independents or perhaps even Libertarians, who look out for the rights of all residents. We see the need for change in EP; it just so happens that those currently in control are Democrat. It is rarely an ideal situation when one party holds all seats because then the residents do not have a watchdog on committee. A watchdog although not in majority control brings more openness for the residents. The lawn signs are a great idea though! In the mean time just pass the blog link on to all your friends & family in your address book.